A Funeral for Jerry Falwell

He blamed the so called "pagans" of the world for the atrocity of 9-11. He claimed a Teletubby signified homosexuality. He declared AIDS as a wrath of God. By all accounts, many people make the claim that the Reverend Jerry Falwell was a bigoted minister who simply wanted to control religion.

In the 73 years of his life, which ended suddenly on May 15 due to cardiac arrest, Rev. Falwell was your true Baptist fundamentalist, a man who spent it all in Baptist churches, actually led services at a Lynchburg, Virginia megachurch, and flip-flopped between Baptist organizations in order to tell the tales of evangelicalism. But this did not mean he led a pius life either, as his strict religious principles counteracted with the national standard of belief and made a lot of people throughout North America very angry at him.

He was born on August 11, 1933 to Helen and Carey Falwell in Lynchburg, which would be his hometown all his life, and the site for his grandest achievement, Liberty University. His family included his twin brother, Gene.

He calls Brookville High School his alma mater, where he started on the football and basketball teams during his time in the Lynchburgh school.
But, it wasn't until he started college that he truly went before God. Before he began his church, Falwell matriculated in a community college in Lynchburgh, but midway through his collegiate studies he transferred to a small Bible college in the Missouri, where he graduated in 1956. He then set out an attempt to convert all of his home city into a truly Christian community. Using his degree from Springfield, Missouri's Baptist Bible College, he came back to Lynchburg, started a church, and declared himself to be God's number two. Later he added three honorary doctorates to his resume, two of which came from seminaries. And, although he did not truly earn a doctorate, he added "Doctor" to his name throughout his life.