BBC:
Leading US conservative evangelist Rev Jerry Falwell has died in hospital in Virginia after being found unconscious in his office, his assistants said.
Doctors gave Rev Falwell emergency treatment at Lynchburg General Hospital but could not revive him.
Rev Falwell, 73, survived two serious health scares in 2005 but had a history of heart problems.
He became a figurehead of the religious right in the 1980s, founded the Moral Majority and later Liberty University.
Falwell basically founded the evangelical movement, turning a christian message of love into a crusade of hatred, bigotry, misogyny, and intolerance.
In 2001, Falwell issued an apology to gays and lesbians that wasn't really an apology. After 9/11, Falwell had ranted on Pat Robertson's 700 Club, saying, "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America. I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"
In true Falwell fashion, his apology was complete bullshit. "I would never blame any human being except the terrorists," Falwell said, "And if I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize." See, it was that whole 'I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen"' thing that left that impression. He did blame them and the ACLU and PFAW and, by extension, me and you.
I wish I could say something nice about him on the occassion of his death, but all I can muster is, "Good riddance."
