Falwell legacy to live on in U.S. politics

By Ed Stoddard

DALLAS (Reuters) - The legacy of Jerry Falwell, the combative U.S. preacher who died on Tuesday, lives on in the White House and a Republican Party divided by the conservative causes he held dear.

Analysts say while his influence had waned in recent years, Falwell was a pioneer in mobilizing evangelical Christians into a political force that pulled the Republican Party to the right on the hot-button issues of God, gays and guns.

Dubbed the "Religious Right," Falwell's movement was instrumental in putting the devoutly Christian George W. Bush into the White House for two terms.

"Falwell was the figure most closely identified with the most important political movement in America over the last 30 years," said Matthew Wilson, a professor of political science at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

"He spearheaded and galvanized the movement of evangelicals into the Republican Party and they became the foot soldiers of the Republican Revolution," he said.

Falwell, who was 73 when he died, tirelessly carried the banner for the Religious Right into the political arena to battle against abortion, homosexuality, feminism and other issues that conflicted with fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

Falwell saw evil in a once-great America that he believed was in an advanced state of decay. His views struck a chord with many Americans who were uneasy with what they regarded as the permissive culture that took off in the 1960s.

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