By Bailey, Ronald Is the Fourth Great Awakening finally coming to a close? AMERICAN SOCIETY periodically weathers decades-long storms of moral renovation set off by thunderclaps of Christian evangelism.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell was stricken at his campus office and died Tuesday after a career in which the evangelist used the power of television to transform the religious right into a mighty force in American politics. He was 73.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force, died Tuesday shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. He was 73.

By Andrew Gumbel Efforts by the Republican Party

A quest to learn all that can be learned about U.S. Supreme Court nominee John Roberts has at times provided unexpectedly delicious byproducts.