Social commentator and antitheist Christopher Hitchens described his work as " Chaucerian fraud " and a " faith-based fraud . " Hitchens took special umbrage with Falwell 's alignment with " the most thuggish and demented Israeli settlers " , and his declaration that 9/11 represented God 's judgment on America 's sinful behaviour ; deeming it " extraordinary that not even such a scandalous career is enough to shake our dumb addiction to the ' faith-based . ' " Hitchens also mentioned that , despite his support for Israel , Falwell " kept saying to his own crowd , yes , you have got to like the Jews , because they can make more money in 10 minutes than you can make in a lifetime " . Appearing on CNN a day after Falwell 's death , Hitchens said , " The empty life of this ugly little charlatan proves only one thing : that you can get away with the most extraordinary offenses to morality and to truth in this country if you will just get yourself called ' reverend ' . " At one point , prank callers , especially gay activists , constituted an estimated 25 % of Falwell 's total calls , until the ministry disconnected the toll-free number in 1986 . Edward Johnson in the mid-1980s , programmed his Atari home computer to make thousands of repeat phone calls to Falwell 's 1 – 800 phone number , since Johnson claimed Falwell had swindled large amounts of money from his followers , including Johnson 's own mother . Southern Bell forced Johnson to stop after he had run up Falwell 's telephone bill an estimated $ 500,000
9/11
September 11 attacks
Jerry Falwell