Satan removes protective covering from Hell–
and Fal-well fell in.

Heaven and the Reign of God breathed a sigh of relief today when a dead Jerry Falwell was redeployed to hell.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell went a long way in life for a Virginia preacher who started a fundamentalist church in an abandoned bottling plant in 1956. His empire, Falwell’s that is, evolved into the 22,000 member Thomas Road Baptist Church, the ''Old Time Gospel Hour, '' and Liberty University which began as Lynchburg Baptist College. His greatest achievement, however, came from founding the so-called Moral Majority in 1979 as a response to Roe vs. Wade.

Through Moral Majority Falwell galvanized a block of voters now known as the religious right who helped elect Ronald Reagan president. These born-again Christians banned together to prevent re-electing born-again President Jimmy Carter in order to elect Ronald Reagan, a man who didn’t go to church and didn’t get along with his kids as the first president elected by the family values crowd. The ProConPundit intends no disrespect to Reagan. His family issues and non-religious identity were his own business. It does, however, shed light on the reality that while Falwell and his followers have spun Reagan as someone he wasn’t, the fact is that it is just another example of Reagan’s brilliant political acumen that he used Falwell and his block to his own purposes.

The ProConPundit respects Falwell as a man of conviction and appreciates his original issues: opposition to Roe vs. Wade and fighting in favor of optional prayer in public schools. Far beyond opposing gay rights, Falwell became a bombastic and pugnacious hater of gays and lesbians and those who care about them. His fate was sealed as a kook with his post 911 remarks that God had allowed or desired the 911 attack on the US by "removing His protective covering" as a result of gays and abortionists. His remarks were disgraceful and he became an embarrassing distraction from the Christian Gospel and the Savior for whom he claimed a personal relationship and life of service.

The ProConPundit prays that Falwell, in death, found a more loving and merciful God than he described.

See Fox News website for more on Falwell's death, including reaction by the gay community.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,272632,00.html

Gay Community Reacts to Jerry Falwell's Death
LYNCHBURG, Va. — While some mourned Tuesday after Rev. Jerry Falwell died at 73, there were also those who took his death in a different light.
Falwell and his Moral Majority group widely condemned homosexuality, making him a controversial figure to many — especially the gay community.
"Jerry Falwell was one of the first and most visible advocates of a more-than-30-year-old movement to bring fundamentalist Christianity into the political sphere in ways that are particularly vicious and painful to millions of LGBT people around the country," read a press release by the San Francisco Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Community Center's executive director.
“He blamed gays and lesbians for the tragedies of September 11. He fought to block civil rights for LGBT Americans," wrote Thom Lynch. “Perhaps this will signal the end of an era and allow us to find ways to live and co-exist in a pluralistic democracy."