More than anyone else Jerry Falwell "secularized" fundamentalism, turning it from an other-worldly soul-saving agency into a this-worldly world-changing agency. I am not saying he stopped believing in the earlier things, but he won't be remembered for them. I like to ask people: "Quick, quote or paraphrase a line or two of Jerry Falwell that you would consider a contribution to spirituality, piety, theology, etc." No one ever comes up with one. "Quick, tell me what he set out to achieve and did achieve in public life? "Moral majority. Updated power-fundamentalism. Amassing of clout. Devotion to celebrity. Changing his values depending on the cause and provocation." etc.

His achievement had real sweep. I think his political side was born of what I call "the politics of resentment," and then it changed quickly to "the politics of the will to power," because power seemed so close at hand, so easy to grasp, so ready to gain. . . " I think that now we are seeing some limits to that power: loss in a war his people wanted; sexual and fiscal scandals in church-and-state people whom they backed; floundering in the party they wanted to monopolize; absence of congenial to-be-believed presidential candidates, schisms (e.g. over envrionmentalism) in the movement, etc.

I am not saying that Falwellism in the religious right will disappear. By no means. But moderates to his left and toward the center have taken center stage. Other religious voices and forces have gained power, to do what James Madison wanted: have the diversity of voices speak.

Through his years many mass communicators were spooked out, and probably overstated the case for the Falwellian right's power. They are taking second looks and seeing that, while Falwell wanted to "run the show" in America, no one in religion is going to "run the show;" The population is too diverse, the interests too varied.

"Secular" means "of the present age." Jerry Falwell, who now belongs to the eternal, had a good time with temporal power, politics, the market, where he was very much at home. People are not going to speak of fundamentalisms in America as "other-worldly" or "private" as they did, we did, I did four decades ago.