The Reverend Jerry Falwell died today, aged 73. It is not known at this point what the cause of death was, but Falwell suffered from heart problems in recent years.

Falwell will probably he best known for creating a political force out of Evangelical congregations. The knock by his critics is that he was trying to mix church and state, which is just nonsense. What the moral majority sought to do was inculcate public life with the values of religious believers. The left hated the competition, preferring an unobstructed field to promulgate their values: terminating pregnancies for any damn reason, indulging every sexual whim, wiping out accountability, responsibility and other obstacles to self-indulgence.

Acknowledging that fact is Larry Flynt, who wins my vote for the classiest eulogy:

"My mother always told me that no matter how much you dislike a person, when you meet them face to face you will find characteristics about them that you like. Jerry Falwell was a perfect example of that. I hated everything he stood for, but after meeting him in person, years after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends. ... I always appreciated his sincerity even though I knew what he was selling and he knew what I was selling."