OOPS!

Bye-Bye, Jerry!

The former spokesman for America's Moral Majority, The Reverend Jerry Falwell, was found dead of heart failure Tuesday at age 73 in his Lynchburg, Va., office. As noted by Clarence Page of the Chicago Tribune, Falwell's heart failure was a grim irony to those who thought it had failed years earlier.

The Reverend Falwell can be remembered for such landmark moral positions as his denunciation of the BBC TV children's show, the "Teletubbies," because of his belief that Tinky Winky, the purple character with the triangular aerial on his head toting a red purse, is gay. He had decided to "out" Tinky Winky in the February 1999 edition of his National Liberty Journal, noting that the "subtle depictions" of gay sexuality are intentional. He later issued a statement that read: "As a Christian I feel that role modelling the gay lifestyle is damaging to the moral lives of children."

Falwell was tauted as the banner-carrier for the Moral Majority. At today's Liberty University commencement, Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich told the graduating class Saturday to honor the spirit of school founder Jerry Falwell by confronting "the growing culture of radical secularism" with Christian ideals.

Here is a sample of the Christian ideals purported by Falwell during his life.

Moral Proclamations in the Life of Jerry Falwell (in Chronological Order)

1958 ~ Falwell preaches that God meant for black Americans to serve white ones

1985 ~ Falwell offers support to the apartheid government of South Africa and denounces Bishop Desmond Tutu as a "phony."

1999 ~ Falwell publishes an article warning parents that Tinky Winky of the toddlers' show "Teletubbies" was gay.

2001 ~ Falwell blames abortion providers, gay rights proponents and the American Civil Liberties Union for the Sept. 11 attacks.