The Guardian on Jerry Falwell

It's as accurate an obituary as you'll find. Here's part of what it says:

Of the evangelical preachers who came to prominence in 1980s America, the most loved and loathed was the Rev Jerry Falwell, who has died of heart failure aged 73. In 1979, after consultations with theologians and political strategists, he founded the Moral Majority, the first of the rightwing fundamentalist movements crucial to the rise of US conservatism, of which he was an influential leader.

On television, Falwell tried to appear reasonable, a religious radical, but tolerant. Frequently, however, he made statements, usually off-camera, of such outrage and hatred that he earned himself a website called Foulwell that listed his harshest remarks. The nastiest, in a conversation with the Rev Pat Robertson on the latter's evangelical TV channel, came three days after nearly 3,000 people died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Falwell said: "The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays, and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU [American Civil Liberties Union], People for the American Way - all of them who have tried to secularise America - I point the finger in their face and say: 'You helped this happen.'" Later, on CNN, he issued a half-hearted apology.

There's no doubt about it. He was truly a hateful man.