Political leaders say farewell to Falwell

LYNCHBURG, Va. — Lawmakers and political leaders from around the world joined thousands at Liberty University here on Tuesday to pay tribute to the Rev. Jerry Falwell, who passed away last week.

Tim Goeglien, special assistant to President Bush, delivered a statement from the president during the ceremony.

{mosads}Falwell was “a man who cherished faith, family and freedom,” Goeglien said on the president’s behalf. “Laura and I are very sorry for his death.”

The president praised Falwell for having “lived a life of faith” and for calling on “men and women of all backgrounds to believe in God and serve their community.”

“Of all my time in the White House I have never met a man that loved God and country more than Jerry Falwell,” Goeglien said, no longer reading from the president’s statement. “This man was in love with Jesus Christ and this man was in love with America … How fitting that his university was [named] ‘Liberty University.’”

Falwell collapsed in his office last Tuesday and died shortly thereafter from a heart-rhythm abnormality. He was 73 years old. Lynchburg Police Chief C.W. Bennett Jr. said he expected between 20,000 and 30,000 people on the campus Tuesday, with 6,000 in the sanctuary for the ceremony and overflow seating in the university’s basketball arena and football stadium.

Former Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) and his wife Susan also attended the service. Allen told The Hill that he admired Falwell’s “ability to smile no matter what the confrontation was” and the way he stood “by certain principles and espoused them with a cheerfulness in his heart.”

Allen also noted the affection he and Falwell shared for President Ronald Reagan. The Moral Majority, an anti-abortion rights, pro-Israel and pro-defense spending movement Falwell founded in 1979 that is now commonly referred to as the “Religious Right,” supported Reagan in the 1980 election.

Also present at the ceremony was Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, founder and president of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and goodwill ambassador of Israel. Eckstein said he knew Falwell for 30 years and credited him with connecting evangelical Christians with Israel and the worldwide Jewish community.

Falwell was “one of the first to build a bridge between evangelicals and Jews in America,” Eckstein said. “It is something that is important to the state of Israel and the Jewish people worldwide that we will not forget our friends who stood with us in a stalwart way, which Reverend Falwell did.

“Today it is far less controversial both in the Jewish community and in the Christian community to support Israel and the Jewish people,” Eckstein added. “On behalf of the state of Israel … I am here to pay tribute.”