Falwell’s funeral is set for next Tuesday afternoon at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg Virgina, reports said Wednesday, May 16.
In published comments, Reverend Franklin Graham said he plans to attend the funeral, but added that his 89-year-old father, evangelist Billy Graham, "probably won’t be there,"
apparently because of ill health.
Falwell, a controversial and articulated preacher, died Tuesday, May 15, after he collapsed at his Liberty University, an assistant and hospital official said.
BUSH SADDENED
President Bush, whose Republican Party base arguably received many votes with the help of Falwell, said in a statement that his is family was saddened by the death of Falwell.
"Laura and I are deeply saddened by the death of Jerry Falwell, a man who cherished faith, family, and freedom," Bush said, adding that their thoughts and prayers are with the preacher’s wife Macel and the rest of Falwell’s family.
"As the founder of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia, Jerry lived a life of faith and called upon men and women of all backgrounds to believe in God and serve their communities," Bush said.
"LASTING CONTRIBUTIONS"
The president stressed that, "one of his lasting contributions was the establishment of Liberty University, where he taught young people to remain true to their convictions and rely upon God’s word throughout each stage of their lives."
Liberty University’s executive vice president, Ron Godwin, said the school would go ahead with its graduation ceremonies this weekend.
But he warned, "It will be something like Virginia Tech, I suppose," a reference to the Virginia Tech massacre that unfolded on April 16 on the Virginia Tech when Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people and wounded many more.
CONTROVERSIAL FIGURE
While Falwell was a controversial figure and condemned by liberals for his tough stance on issues such as homosexuality, he was praised on Wednesday, May 16, as a man whose efforts to mold conservative Christianity into a political force altered the American political landscape.
"Rev. Falwell was central in bringing and keeping issues involving family structure and sexual ethics in public debates, when many others, even among conservatives, would have preferred to ignore them," said Action Director Mark Tooley of the Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) an ecumenical alliance of U.S. Christians.
"For all of his polarizing statements and controversies, Falwell undeniably initiated a season of growing Evangelical influence in American politics," argued Tooley in a statement monitored by BosNewsLife.
ENGAGING EVANGELICALS
He said Falwell helped bring millions of previously politically unengaged evangelicals into the forefront of American public life. "He challenged religious people to apply their faith in the political sphere. In the late 1970’s and through the 1980’s, he was instrumental in the creation of what became known as the "Reagan Coalition," of which evangelicals were a key component."
In addition Falwell wanted to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. "As the founding pastor of a congregation that now numbers over 24,000 members "Falwell "foreshadowed the mega-church movement in America, which now involves millions of American Christians," IRD’s Tooley stressed.
"During the course of Rev. Falwell’s career, evangelicals went from the sideline of American religious and political life to the mainstream, where they are now America’s largest religious and political demographic."
He said that Falwell "will be remembered in history as a decisive figure in our nation’s political and religious life in the second half of the 20th century." (With reporting from the United States, BosNewsLife Monitoring and BosNewsLife News Center)
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