Jerry Falwell

Jerry Lamon Falwell (born August 11, 1933, Lynchburg, Virginia) is a Fundamentalist Baptist pastor and televangelist from the United States. He also founded of the Moral Majority movement in 1979 and Liberty University in 1971. He remains a controversial figure due to his theoligical, political and social beliefs. His parents were Carey and Helen Falwell, and he has a fraternal twin brother, Gene Falwell.

He has been married to the former Macel Pate since April 12, 1958, and has two sons (one, Jerry Jr., is a lawyer and the other, Jonathan, a pastor) and one daughter (Jeannie, who is a surgeon).

Falwell has long associated himself with 'Bible-believing, independent, local-church oriented, Baptist fundamentalism' and leads services at Thomas Road Baptist Church, a "megachurch" in Lynchburg, Virginia. He changed affiliations from the more traditional Baptist Bible Fellowship International to the mainly conservative Southern Baptist Convention.

Education

Prior to the founding of his church Falwell attended Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia. After converting to Christianity and feeling a "call" to the ministry, Falwell left Lynchburg College to attend and graduate from Baptist Bible College (Springfield, Missouri) in 1956 with a Bachelor of Theology.Jerry Falwell's Official Biography July 1, 2006 At the time the university was not accredited.

Falwell uses the title of doctor from an "honorary" Doctor of Divinity from Tennessee Temple Theological Seminary, an "honorary" Doctor of Letters from California Graduate School of Theology, and an "honorary" Doctor of Laws from Central University (Seoul) in Seoul, Korea. Such use of honorary degrees is generally considered to be fraud.

Health

On May 30, 2005 USA Today reported Falwell's condition was upgraded from critical to stable and removed him founder from a ventilator after congestive heart failure. Falwell is taken off ventilator, upgraded to stable condition USA Today May 30, 2005 President George W. Bush contacted Falwell to "wish him well." He was eventually released from the hospital and returned his duties.

The National Liberty Journal

In 1995, Jerry Falwell began publishing a politically conservative, monthly newspaper. Its articles include religious freedom cases, the homosexual-rights movement, as well as examinations of the United States government. It also features articles on biblical prophecy, religious freedom, and Christian family issues.

The NLJ's stated objective is to:

Inform Christians on the pertinent political, social and religious news of the day so that they are an educated voting bloc during election times;
Identify the key religious freedom cases of the day;
Encourage Christians by presenting modern interpretation articles on biblical prophecy, the Last Days, and the imminent return of Christ and 21st Century ministry strategies.^*

Thomas Road Baptist Church

More at Thomas Road Baptist Church

Jerry Falwell attended high school at Brookville High School in Lynchburg, VA, where he was a student athlete (a "multi-letterman" as described in the terms of the time), playing on both the football and the basketball teams as a starter.recollections of Dennis M. Smith who attended with Mr. Falwell at the time, as related to the author. Jerry Falwell converted to Christianity as a young man in college and quickly felt a great desire to convert his home city, Lynchburg, to Christianity. After attending Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, he founded Thomas Road Baptist Church.

In 1956, Jerry Falwell became the first pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Virginia. Only 35 adults were recorded as being in attendance at the church's first meeting in the elementary school that he attended. The church subsequently found its first permanent home in a structure which had been a Donald Duck Bottling Company building, a short distance from the location of what was at that time Brookville High School, subsequently Brookville Elementary School, and then the first campus of Liberty Baptist College, an insititution of higher learning associated closely with the church and with Falwell. From these beginnings Thomas Road Baptist Church has grown to a membership in excess of 24,000, based in a 6,000 seat sanctuary and an additional 1 million square feet of educational space. The church holds 4 services per week.^* In July of 2006, TRBC and celebrated its 50th anniversary and inaugurated its new sanctuary near Liberty University.

Liberty University

Founded in 1971, Liberty University is a fully accredited Christian Liberal Arts university, offering bachelors, masters and doctorate degrees in over 70 programs including Accounting, Pre-Med, Computer Science, Education, Law, Nursing, Psychology and Religion, to name a few. Liberty is home to the number 1 ranked debate team in the nation, higher then Harvard, Yale or Princeton. Newsweek magazine //www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11078887/site/newsweek/ said this about the Liberty debate program: "While the powerhouses like Harvard and Northwestern concentrate on nabbing the prestigious varsity titles, Liberty is competitive at all three levels—varsity, JV and novice. "They're tough. ^* we're not afraid to debate Liberty," says Harvard coach Dallas Perkins Jr., whose varsity team was beaten by Falwell's last month."

Located in Lynchburg, VA, Liberty University is a Christian academic community in the tradition of evangelical institutions of higher education. As such, Liberty continues the philosophy of education which first gave rise to the university, summarized in the following propositions from the university website.

http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=6899

God, the infinite source of all things, has shown us truth through Scripture, nature, history, and, above all, in Christ.

Persons are spiritual, rational, moral, social and physical, created in the image of God. They are, therefore, able to know and to value themselves and other persons, the universe and God.

Education as the process of teaching and learning involves the whole person, developing the knowledge, values, and skills that enable the individual to change freely. Thus it occurs most effectively when both instructor and student are properly related to God and each other through Christ.

Mission

To develop Christ-centered men and women with the values, knowledge, and skills essential to impact tomorrow’s world.

The mission is carried out for resident students through a rigorous academic program and structured social environment. It is carried out for external students in a comparable academic program but without the structure of the resident community.

The PTL Club and Heritage USA

More at The PTL Club

The September 21, 1987 issue of Time (magazine) noted that Jerry Falwell "plunged" down a 163 foot "hellish" water slide in fulfillment to "a promise made during a fund-raising drive that netted $20 million for the debt-ridden PTL."This drive eventually took The PTL Club, PTL TV network and Heritage USA from Jim Bakker.Jessica Hahn."[http://www.skepticfiles.org/cultinfo/taxscams.htm" target="_blank" >^*

Photos cirulated of the event of Typhoon waterslide at Heritage Island (located at Heritage USA) in which Falwell remained fully clothed. It was selected as "The Best of Photojournalism" in 1987 Pictures of the Year book presented by the National Press Photographers Association.In September 1999, The Associated Press selected it as one of the top 100 national photos of the century.[http://aburriss.tripod.com/jfalwell.html

In the midst of Heritage USA high point, which earned $126 million a year the IRS revoked the tax exemption. Soon after Bakker's federal indictment and public condemnation sexual affair attendance dropped. Falwell argued "PTL's Heritage USA complex in Fort Mill, S.C., was competing unfairly against tax-paying tourist attractions, and that the tax-exempt ministry should be separated from the running of hotels and amusement parks."Under Falwell's leadership, Heritage USA sought "Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with debts estimated at $72 million."[http://www.skepticfiles.org/cultinfo/taxscams.htm

Social and political views

Falwell grew up in a strongly segregationist setting and strongly supported racial segregation for the first few years of his career. His views eventually shifted and he is now against segregation. ^*

The Anti-Defamation League and its leader, Abraham Foxman have expressed strong support for Jerry Falwell's staunch pro-Israel stand, sometimes referred to as "Christian Zionism," despite repeatedly condemning what they perceive as intolerance in Falwell's public statements^*. Falwell has repeatedly denounced certain teachings in public schools and secular education in general, calling them breeding grounds for atheism, secularism, and humanism, which he claims are in contradiction with Christian morality. He advocates that the United States change its public education system by replacing it with a school voucher system that allows parents to send their children to either public or private schools. Jerry Falwell wrote in America Can Be Saved that "I hope I live to see the day when, as in the early days of our country, we won't have any public schools. The churches will have taken them over again and Christians will be running them." ^*

Falwell supported President Bush's Faith Based Initiative, but had strong reservations concerning where the funding would go and the restrictions placed on churches. "My problem is where it might go under his successors... I would not want to put any of the Jerry Falwell Ministries in a position where we might be subservient to a future Bill Clinton, God forbid... It also concerns me that once the pork barrel is filled, suddenly the Church of Scientology, the Jehovah Witnesses, the various and many denominations and religious groups--and I don’t say those words in a pejorative way--begin applying for money--and I don’t see how any can be turned down because of their radical and unpopular views. I don’t know where that would take us." ^*

The Clinton Chronicles

More at Clinton Chronicles

In 1994, Falwell released the straight-to-video documentary "The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton." The video connected Bill Clinton to a conspiracy theories about Vincent Foster, James McDougall, Ron Brown, and an alleged cocaine-smuggling operation. Despite being widely discredited the video's sophisticated production techniques served as effective propaganda, and sold over 150,000 copies.The Falwell connection by Murray Waas Salon.com

Funding for the film was paid for by the Citizens for Honest Government, which Jerry Falwell paid $200,000 to in 1994 and 1995. In 1995 Citizens for Honest Government paid two Arkansa state troopers to make allegations supporting the conspiracy about Vincent Foster. These two troopers were Roger Perry and Larry Patteson who also were paid for their allegations in the Paula Jones (See: Troopergate) claims. In March 2005, trooper Patterson was convicted of lying to the FBI about an unrelated incident. ^*

Falwell's infomercial for the 80-minute tape included footage of Falwell interviewing a silhouetted journalist who was afraid for his life. The journalist accused Clinton of orchestrating the deaths of several reporters and personal confidants who had gotten too close to his illegalities. However, it was subsequently revealed that the silhouetted journalist was, in fact, Patrick Matrisciana, the producer of the video and president of Citizens for Honest Government. "Obviously, I'm not an investigative reporter," Matrisciana admitted (to investigative journalist Murray Waas), "and I doubt our lives were actually ever in any real danger. That was Jerry's idea to do that ... He thought that would be dramatic."

In an interview for the 2005 documentary The Hunting of the President Falwell admitted, "To this day I do not know the accuracy of the claims made in The Clinton Chronicles," but failed to condemn the poor research.

Legal Issues

SEC and bonds

In 1972, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation of bonds issued by Falwell's organizations. The SEC charged Falwell's church with "fraud and deceit" in the issuance of $6.5 million in unsecured church bonds.^* The church won a 1973 federal court case prosecuted at the behest of the SEC.

According to Falwell, the survival of the University could be attributed to the work of Daniel Reber and Jimmy Thomas, as leaders of the non-profit Christian Heritage Foundation in Forest, Virginia.

Penthouse vs. Falwell

Falwell filed a States dollar|US$" target="_blank" >^*10 million lawsuit against Penthouse Magazine for publishing an interview he gave to freelance reporters. “Falwell Says He Will Press $10 Million Penthouse Suit.” The New York Times, 5th of February 1981.

Hustler v. Falwell

In November 1983, Larry Flynt's pornographic magazine Hustler carried a parody of a Campari ad, featuring a fake interview with Falwell in which he admits that his "first time" was incest with his mother in an outhouse while drunk. Falwell sued for $45 million dollars in compensation alleging invasion of privacy, libel, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.^* A jury rejected the invasion of privacy and libel claims, holding that the parody could not have reasonably been taken to describe true events, but ruled in favor of Falwell on the emotional distress claim. This was upheld on appeal. Flynt then appealed to the Supreme Court and won a unanimous decision on February 24, 1988 (Hustler Magazine, Inc. et al. v. Jerry Falwell, 485 U.S. 46); the ruling held that public figures cannot evade First Amendment protections by attempting to recover damages based on emotional distress suffered from parodies.

Homosexuals and libel

Falwell has been on both sides of libel cases. In 1984, he was forced to pay gay activist Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle. During a TV debate in Sacramento, California, Falwell denied calling the homosexual-oriented Metropolitan Community Churches "brute beasts" and "a vile and Satanic system" that will "one day be utterly annihilated and there will be a celebration in heaven."

When Sloan insisted he had a tape, Falwell promised $5,000 if he could produce it. Sloan did, Falwell refused to pay, and Sloan successfully sued. Falwell appealed, with his attorney charging that the Jewish judge in the case was prejudiced. He lost again and was forced to pay an additional $2,875 in sanctions and court fees.

Falwell vs Christopher Lamparello

On April 17, 2006 the US Supreme Court decided that Christopher Lamparello's usage of the internet domain Fallwell.com (note: the extra "L") was legal citing a lower courts opinion that Lamparello "clearly created his Web site intending only to provide a forum to criticize ideas, not to steal customers".Supreme Court declines Falwell Web appeal Associated Press. April 17, 2006 Lamparello's website describes itself as not being connected to Jerry Falwell and is critical of Falwell's views on homosexuals. Previous to this "Falwell's attorneys have fought over domain names in the past" with a man turning over jerryfalwell.com and jerryfallwell.com "after Falwell threatened to sue for trademark infringement."

Controversial remarks

Assessing blame after 9/11

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack, he (along with fellow televangelist Pat Robertson) made comments blaming various groups for the attack. The two were widely condemned for having made these comments. When asked why God would allow such an event to happen to America, 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, People for the American Way—all of them who have tried to secularize America—I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."

Robertson then responded:

Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we're responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.

Robertson later claimed he was having problems with his earpiece at the time and had not heard Falwell's full remark before responding. Falwell later told CNN:

I would never blame any human being except the terrorists, and if I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize.

The full audio transcript of the above event can be found at this mirror, which hosts a mirror of a file provided by the Christian Broadcasting Network.

On AIDS and homosexuality

Falwell has also stated:

AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharaoh's charioteers . . . AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals." (circa 1991)

On the Anti-Christ and Jews

On the anti-Christ being male and Jewish:

Since Jesus came to the earth the first time 2,000 years ago as a Jewish male, many evangelicals believe the Antichrist will, by necessity, be a Jewish male. This belief is 2,000 years old and has no anti-Semitic roots. This is simply historic and prophetic orthodox Christian doctrine that many theologians, Christian and non-Christian, have understood for two millennia." ^*^*

On business and labor unions

Of labor unions, Falwell stated:

Labor unions should study and read the Bible instead of asking for more money. When people get right with God, they are better workers.^*

On homosexuality and media attention

Falwell's ghostwriter Mel White said Jerry Falwell remarked about about gay protesters:

Thank God for these gay demonstrators. If I didn't have them, I'd have to invent them. They give me all the publicity I need.Steve Inskeep. Religion, Politics a Potent Mix for Jerry Falwell NPR June 30, 2006

On Israel, Jews and heaven

On March 1, 2006 Falwell was wrongly quoted by the Jerusalem Post as endorsing the "dual covenant" theology in which Jews are saved with a "special relationship with God and so need not become Christians to get to heaven." ^*

However, on March 2nd of 2006, Falwell wrote in reference to the Jerusalem Post column:

"regardless of the response from the Jewish person, we remain friends in support of the State of Israel as required by scripture."

and continued with "all people - Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostals, Jews, Muslims, etc. must accept Jesus in order to enter heaven."^*

On Muslims and violence

In a radio interview on March 4, 2002, Falwell said of former President Jimmy Carter:

"His message of peace and reconciliation under almost all circumstances is simply incompatible with Christian teachings as I interpret them. This 'turn the other cheek' business is all well and good but it's not what Jesus fought and died for. What we need to do is take the battle to the Muslim heathens and do unto them before they do unto us."

In an interview given on September 30, 2002, for the October 6 edition of 60 Minutes, Falwell said: "I think Muhammad was a terrorist. I read enough by both Muslims and non-Muslims, decide that he was a violent man, a man of war."

The following Friday, Mohsen Mojtahed Shabestari, the spokesman of Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khameini, issued a fatwa for Falwell's death, saying that Falwell was a "mercenary and must be killed," and, "The death of that man is a religious duty, but his case should not be tied to the Christian community."

Books

Church Aflame. Impact, 1971.
Capturing a Town for Christ. Revell, 1973.
Liberty Bible Commentary on the New Testament. Thomas Nelson, 1978.
Listen, America! Doubleday, 1980.
The Fundamentalist Phenomenon. Doubleday, 1981.
Finding Inner Peace and Strength. Doubleday, 1982.
Liberty Bible Commentary. Thomas Nelson, 1982.
When it Hurts Too Much to Cry. Tyndale House, 1984.
Wisdom for Living. Victor Books, 1984.
Stepping Out on Faith. Tyndale House, 1984.
Champions for God. Victor Books, 1985.
If I Should Die Before I Wake. Thomas Nelson, 1986.
The Fundamentalist Phenomenon/the Resurgence of Conservative Christianity. Baker Book House, 1986.
Strength for the Journey. Simon & Schuster, 1987.
The New American Family. Word, 1992.
Falwell: An Autobiography. Liberty House, 1997. (Ghost written by Mel White ^*)
Fasting Can Change Your Life. Regal, 1998.
Achieving Your Dreams. World Publishers, 2006.
Building Churches of Dynamic Faith: A Five-Session Study Guide. World Publishers, 2006.
Dynamic Faith Journal. World Publishers, 2006.

Notes

External links

Jerry Falwell Ministries
Liberty University - Jerry Falwell, Chancellor
The National Liberty Journal - Jerry Falwell, Publisher
Jerry-Falwell.com – An official Falwell page
Jerry Falwell News from I Hate Pat Robertson
Falwell and Above
Jerry Falwell at the Notable Names Database
Jerry Falwell's connection to Reverend Sun Myung Moon
Rotten Library: Jerry Falwell
Fallwell.com – Christopher Lamparello's webpage critical of Falwell
ESPN - A night of hoops with Jerry Falwell
An NPR: Jerry Falwell timeline.

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