Falwell's Legacy

This is kind of a tough one. Was Jerry Falwell good for evangelicals or bad? Probably a mixture of the two. Good in that Christians did get truly more engaged in the political process when he came to the forefront back in the 70's. Bad in that he then became the face of the evangelicals anytime an issue came up and it was always him that appeared on all the talk shows. He occasionally had good things to say and would also say stupid things (i.e. saying we deserved 9/11 or the gay Teletubbie).

One of his biggest legacies is probably a supreme court case he lost. Larry Flynt won his case that his ad parody (tasteless as it was) was protected by free speech. Flynt famously said that "If they'll protect a scumbag like me, then they'll protect all of you." He has a point, and maybe that resonates more today in a post 9/11 world.

Falwell had really shrunk from prominence over the last 10-15 years. You just didn't hear as much from him, particularly after his misadventures taking over the PTL Club. I remember him saying he was going to shed the political limelight and focus more on his church and university, and that's basically what he did. There was brief commentary here and there after his death, and it could be that his legacy is a bit overrated.

But probably his most lasting legacy is what has become a very successful university. It's not easy building an institution of higher education from scratch, but he did it with Liberty University and it continues to grow and has even begun standing side by side with the big boys in the NCAA. Besides, the singers from DC Talk went to Liberty, so you gotta like that.