The AP reports that Jerry Falwell has died.Falwell's father and his grandfather were militant atheists, he wrote in his autobiography. He said his father made a fortune off his businesses - including bootleging during Prohibition.
As a student, Falwell was a star athlete and a prankster who was barred from giving his high school valedictorian's speech after he was caught using counterfeit lunch tickets his senior year.
He ran with a gang of juvenile delinquents before becoming a born-again Christian at age 19. He turned down an offer to play professional baseball and transferred from Lynchburg College to Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo.
"My heart was burning to serve Christ," he once said in an interview. "I knew nothing would ever be the same again."
The New York Times on "Falwell's Legacy"
Christianity Today publishes the Religious News Service on "Jerry Falwell, Architect of Religious Right"
Ben Witherington: "Mr. Falwell moves on up"
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