Jerry Laymon Falwell, Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007) was an American fundamentalist Christian pastor and televangelist. He was the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. He founded Liberty University in 1971 and co-founded the Moral Majority in 1979.
Falwell led 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, and ended his self-identification with fundamentalism in favor of evangelicalism.
Personal life
Falwell was born in Lynchburg to Helen and Carey Hezekiah Falwell.[1] His father was an entrepreneur and one-time bootlegger who was not very religious.[2] His grandfather was a staunch atheist.[3] Falwell was born with a fraternal twin brother, Gene.
Falwell married the former Macel Pate on April 12, 1958, and had two sons (one, Jerry Jr., is a lawyer and the other, Jonathan, a pastor) and one daughter (Jeannie, who is a surgeon).
Prior to the founding of his church, Falwell attended Lynchburg College in Lynchburg, Virginia, but left during his sophomore year. He then transferred to and graduated from Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri in 1956.[4]
Although he sometimes used the title "Doctor," Falwell held no earned doctorate. He held three honorary degrees: an honorary Doctor of Divinity from Tennessee Temple Theological Seminary,[verification needed] an honorary Doctor of Letters from California Graduate School of Theology (an unaccredited institution[5]), and an honorary Doctor of Laws from Central University in Seoul, South Korea (an unaccredited institution[6]).[4]
Thomas Road Baptist Church
Falwell attended high school at Brookville High School in Lynchburg, Virginia, 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.[citation needed]
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 returned to Lynchburg to begin a new church.
In 1956, at age 22, Falwell became the founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg (TRBC). Thirty-five adults were recorded as being in attendance at the church’s first meeting in the elementary school that he had attended, and the offering was $135.[4] 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 institution 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 auditorium and an additional 1 million square feet of educational space. The church holds four services per week.[7] In July of 2006, TRBC celebrated its 50th anniversary and inaugurated its new building near Liberty University.
Liberty University
Jerry Falwell founded Lynchburg Bible College—now Liberty University—in 1971. It opened with 154 students and four full-time faculty members. Today Liberty University is a fully accredited evangelical Christian liberal arts university, offering an assortment of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in over seventy programs, including Accounting, Pre-Med, Computer Science, Education, Law, Nursing, Psychology, and Religion. The annual college cost nears $16,000. This includes in-state, out-of-state, on-campus, or out-of-campus.
The PTL Club and Heritage USA
The September 21, 1987 issue of Time noted that Falwell "plunged" down a 163 foot "hellish" water slide in fulfillment of "a promise made during a fund-raising drive that netted $20 million for the debt-ridden PTL."[8] This drive eventually took The PTL Club, PTL TV network and Heritage USA from Jim Bakker.[9] "Bakker arranged for Falwell to take over PTL in March in an effort to avoid what he called a "hostile takeover" of the television ministry by people threatening to expose a sexual encounter he admitted to having seven years earlier with church secretary Jessica Hahn."[10]
Photos circulated of the event at the Typhoon waterslide at Heritage Island (located at Heritage USA). 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.[11]
At its peak, Heritage USA was earning $126 million a year, but then the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status. Soon after Bakker’s federal indictment and public condemnation over his sexual affair, attendance dropped. Falwell argued that "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."[10] Under Falwell’s leadership, Heritage USA sought "Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with debts estimated at $72 million."[10]
The National Liberty Journal
In 1995, Jerry Falwell began publishing a politically conservative, monthly newspaper called The National Liberty Journal (NLJ). Its articles include religious freedom cases, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered (LGBT) rights movement, as well as examinations of the United States government. It also features articles on Biblical prophecy, religious freedom, and Christian family issues.[12]
Social and political views
Falwell grew up in a strongly segregationist setting and supported racial segregation for the first few years of his career.[13] In 1965, he gave a sermon at his Thomas Road Baptist Church criticizing Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement, which he sometimes referred to as the "Civil Wrongs Movement". On his Evangelist program The Old-Time Gospel Hour in the mid 1960s, he regularly featured segregationist politicians like Lester Maddox and George Wallace.[14] He often spoke out in favor of the racist position in those days. For example, in 1958, he said:
“
If
Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known
God’s word and had desired to do the
Lord’s will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision [
Brown v. Board of Education] would never have been made…. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.”
Falwell’s views eventually shifted and he opposed segregation in his later years.[15]
The Anti-Defamation League, and its leader Abraham Foxman, have expressed strong support for 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.[16]
Falwell repeatedly denounced certain teachings in public schools and secular education in general, calling them breeding grounds for atheism, secularism, and humanism, which he claimed to be in contradiction with Christian morality. He advocated that the United States change its public education system by implementing a school voucher system which would allow 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."[17]
Falwell supported President George W. 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 [sic], 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."[18]
Falwell was strongly opposed to homosexual rights, supporting Anita Bryant’s 1977 movement to overturn a human-rights ordinance in Dade County, Florida that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and a similar movement in California.[2]
Falwell and apartheid
In the 1980s Jerry Falwell was critical of sanctions against the Apartheid regime of South Africa. He stated that while he was opposed to Apartheid, he feared that sanctions would result in a worse situation, with either a more oppressive white minority government or a Soviet-backed revolution. He drew the ire of many when he called Nobel Peace Prize winner and Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu a phony "as far as representing the black people of South Africa."[19] He later apologized for that remark and claimed that he had misspoken.[20] He also urged his followers to buy up gold Krugerrands and push U.S. "reinvestment" in South Africa.[21]
The 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 Clinton to a theoretical conspiracy involving Vincent Foster, James McDougall, Ron Brown, and an alleged cocaine-smuggling operation. Despite the theory’s having been discredited by all major investigations, the video’s sophisticated production techniques served as effective exposure, and sold over 150,000 copies.[22]
Funding for the film was provided by the Citizens for Honest Government, to which Jerry Falwell paid $200,000 in 1994 and 1995.[22] In 1995 Citizens for Honest Government paid two Arkansas state troopers to make allegations supporting the conspiracy about Vincent Foster. These two troopers were Roger Perry and Larry Patterson, who also were paid for their allegations in the Paula Jones (See: Troopergate) claims.[22] In March 2005, trooper Patterson was convicted of lying to the FBI about an unrelated incident.[23]
Falwell’s infomercial for the 80-minute tape included footage of Falwell interviewing a silhouetted journalist who claimed to be 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.[22] "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."[22]
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."[citation needed]
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.[24] The church won a 1973 federal court case prosecuted at the behest of the SEC, in which the Court exonerated the Church and ruled that there had been no intentional wrong-doing.
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.
Falwell versus Penthouse
Falwell filed a $10 million lawsuit against Penthouse Magazine for publishing an article based upon interviews he gave to freelance reporters, after failing to convince a federal court to place an injunction upon the publication of that article. The suit was dismissed in Federal district court on the grounds that the article was not defamatory or an invasion of Falwell’s privacy; Falwell ultimately dropped the suit.[25][26][27]
Hustler’s parody ad of Falwell
Falwell versus Hustler
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 in compensation alleging invasion of privacy, libel, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.[28] 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, winning a unanimous decision on February 24, 1988. The ruling held that public figures cannot circumvent First Amendment protections by attempting to recover damages based on emotional distress suffered from parodies. The decision in favor of Flynt strengthened free speech rights in the United States in relation to parodies of public figures.
Homosexuality and libel
Falwell was on both sides of libel cases. In 1984, he was ordered to pay gay activist Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle. During a TV debate in Sacramento, California, Falwell denied calling the gay-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 judge in the case was prejudiced. He lost again and was made to pay an additional $2,875 in sanctions and court fees.
Falwell vs. Christopher Lamparello
On April 17, 2006, the US Supreme Court refused to grant review of a lower court ruling that Christopher Lamparello’s usage of the Internet domain Fallwell.com (note: the extra "L") was legal. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, had held that Lamparello "clearly created his Web site intending only to provide a forum to criticize ideas, not to steal customers".[29] Lamparello’s website describes itself as not being connected to Jerry Falwell and is critical of Falwell’s views on homosexuals.[29] 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."[29] Lawyers for Public Citizen Litigation Group’s Internet Free Speech project represented the domain name owners in both cases.
Apocalyptic beliefs
On July 31, 2006, Cable News Network’s (CNN) Paula Zahn Now program featured a segment on "whether the crisis in the Middle East is actually a prelude to the end of the world," "marking the third time in eight days that CNN ha[d] devoted airtime to those claiming that the ongoing Mideast violence signal[ed] the coming of the Apocalypse."[30] Falwell was interviewed claiming, "I believe in the premillennial, pre-tribulational coming of Christ for all of his church, and to summarize that, your first poll, do you believe Jesus coming the second time will be in the future, I would vote yes with the 59 percent and with Billy Graham and most evangelicals."
Falwell asserted that when the Antichrist comes, he "must be, of necessity, a Jewish male".[31]
Reverend Kevin Bean of St. Bartholomew’s Church in New York City disagreed. Bean explained, "I think that any correlation that is made with present war making or other political schemes with the events that could lead to a final day and the second coming of Jesus and the separation of the faithful from the rest is an arrogant identification with these present-day events."
Controversial remarks
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Falwell was a controversial figure for his theological, political and social beliefs. After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Falwell said on the 700 Club, "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.’" Fellow evangelist Pat Robertson concurred with his sentiment.[32] After heavy criticism, Falwell apologized.[33] As for homosexuality, Falwell remarked, "AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals." Falwell’s ghostwriter, Mel White, said Falwell remarked 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."[34]
During the Civil Rights Movement, Falwell was a supporter of racial segregation.[2] He said this about Martin Luther King: "I do question the sincerity and non-violent intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left wing associations."[35]
Falwell has also said, "Labor unions should study and read the Bible instead of asking for more money. When people get right with God, they are better workers."[36]
In February 1999, an article in Falwell’s National Liberty Journal suggested that a Teletubbies character, Tinky Winky, could be a hidden homosexual symbol, because the character was purple (which the article claimed was a color symbolic of homosexuality), had an inverted triangle on his head, and carried a handbag. (The pink triangle was used as a badge to denote homosexuals in Nazi concentration camps, and has since been adopted as an emblem by gay-rights movements.) Falwell denied any personal involvement with the original article, and made clear he never had any prior knowledge of, or concern with, the Teletubbies. Falwell’s organization said the author of the article was simply repeating what others in the media were already saying about the nature of the character.[37] In the months following this incident, Falwell received a number of Tinky Winky plush dolls in the mail, most of which he has given to his grandchildren.[38]
Failing health and death
In early 2005, Falwell was hospitalized for two weeks with a viral infection, discharged, and then rehospitalized on May 30, 2005, in respiratory arrest.[39][40] President George W. Bush contacted Falwell to "wish him well."[40] He was subsequently released from the hospital and returned to his duties. Later in 2005, a stent was implanted to treat a 70% blockage in his coronary arteries.[41]
On May 15, 2007, CNN and USA Today[42] reported Falwell had been found without pulse and unconscious in his office about 10:45 am after missing a morning appointment and was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital.
"I had breakfast with him, and he was fine at breakfast," … "He went to his office, I went to mine and they found him unresponsive." said Godwin, the executive vice president of Falwell’s Liberty University. [43]
His condition was initially reported as "gravely serious"; CPR was administered unsuccessfully.[44][45] As of 2:10 pm, during a live press conference, a doctor for the hospital confirmed that Falwell had died[46] of "cardiac arrhythmia, or sudden cardiac death." A statement issued by the hospital reported he was pronounced dead at Lynchburg General Hospital at 12:40 pm, EST.[47] Falwell’s family, including his wife Macel and sons Jerry Falwell, Jr. and Jonathan Falwell, were with him at the hospital at the time of his death.[48]
According to the Liberty University web site, Falwell’s funeral will take place at 1:00 PM EDT on May 22, 2007 at Thomas Road Baptist Church. [49] Falwell’s interment will be private, according to the web site.
Publications
- Church Aflame. (co-author Elmer Towns Falwell) Impact, 1971.
- Capturing a Town for Christ. Fleming Revell, 1969.
- Liberty Bible Commentary on the New Testament. Thomas Nelson/Liberty University, 1978.
- Listen, America! Bantam Books (July 1981) ISBN 0553149989
- 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. ISBN 0842379932
- 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. (ghost-written by Mel White)
- The Fundamentalist Phenomenon/the Resurgence of Conservative Christianity. Baker Book House, 1986.
- Strength for the Journey. Simon & Schuster, 1987. (ghost-written by Mel White)
- The New American Family. Word, 1992.
- Falwell: An Autobiography. Liberty House, 1996. (Ghost written by Mel White [50]) ISBN 1888684046
- Fasting Can Change Your Life. Regal, 1998.
- Achieving Your Dreams. Thomas Nelson (January 30, 2006) ISBN 0529122464
- Building Churches of Dynamic Faith: A Five-Session Study Guide. Thomas Nelson (October 17, 2005) ISBN 0529121336
- Dynamic Faith Journal. Thomas Nelson (64 pages) (January 30, 2006) ISBN 0529122456
Falwell in popular culture
- Actor Richard Paul is noted for his resemblance to Jerry Falwell. Twice he was cast as Falwell in movies:
No es tan guapa y conocida como Cecilia Bolocco, pero las fotos super hot y super escandalosas publicadas por un sitio chileno ha vuelto a remecer el ambiente farandulero. La venganza es dulce y para nadie es un secreto que los amigos chilenos fueron muy conmovidos por las escandalosas fotos de Cecilia Bolocco publicadas por la revista chilena SQP. Pues bien, los fans de Ceci seguramente van a respirar tranquilos pues ahora le tocó nada menos que a la editora de dicha revista, Alejandra Valle, con estas fotos super-escandalosas, completamente desnuda, exponiéndose tal cual vino al mundo y en poses sumamente eróticas y hot. El sitio en cuestión permite la publicación de dichas fotos, “tienen nuestro permiso y bendición”, alegan.
En un principio, la prensa chilena habría desconfiado de la originalidad de las fotos, pero la propia periodista confirmó que la retratada es efectivamente ella, y que las fotos no pudieron haberse obtenido por vías muy limpias. “Esas fotos me las saqué para la exposición ‘Pechos’ de Daniel Olave, en el Centro Arte Alameda”, cuenta. Las imágenes, supone, fueron hurtadas de algún modo desde el computador de Olave, por lo que el fotógrafo (y también periodista) ya se contactó con la Brigada del Cibercrimen, de la Policía de Investigaciones. Bueno, como dicen los amigos chilenos “así como pecas, pagas”. AQUI LAS FOTOS, CLIC EN LAS IMÁGENES CON CENSURA PARA AMPLIAR Y ABRIR SIN CENSURA, PLEASE, SOLO PARA ADULTOS:
When finally when I see the preaching where the 5 finalists and memory have left the puntaje that gave her and that it appeared in screen, I said aloud, Ganó the Chilean, gained the Chilean!Obvious my family ignored my declarations, since he were a boy and she did not have right to voice, nor vote, clear that soon they opened to the averages pepas to them when they saw that indeed she (Cecilia) had gained the contest.The direction of the contest determines that it must live in Los Angeles, CA. in order to fulfill its reign of a year. And it returns to visit Chile in the month of August.Soon year 1988, Channel 7 contracts Co-to animate it the program “So that today it is Saturday” next to Caesar Antonio Santis.Others are not saying that this program was mess and lasted less than I sneeze of cat.On the other hand Canal 13, contracts Co-to animate it “Tuesday 13” next to one of the most important entertainers of the time, I talk about to Javier Miranda.Nor to speak of its wedding to the purest style of “royalty” with national cover of TV and was made in the Cousiño Palace, with big drums and subjects of gossip, with the TV producer Michael Young, were March of 1990.Later dumb to Miami, with the purpose of working like woman anchor of Cnn in Spanish. Like forgetting that soon we saw it carrying out Central American comedies, personifying to the mythical Morelia in the Mexican teleserie, of he himself name.In east aim event, is one of the most remembered of the Chilean televising culture of `80s, hoping that it has made them back down in the time, takes leave the SHOCKI have leido commentary by commentary in this page and have reached the conclusion that is a great one I number of people who defend CECILIA and I number under readers and viewers of cheap programs that our declining TV offers! ….for that reason I see the cable.Tb gives to laughter the panelistas of these same programs and the parasitic publication journalists me in the form that make fun of and label with the finger., I ask that pasaria if pusieramos paparazzi in the life of each one of them? , I ask myself are continued laughing of the others.Cecilia Bolocco him has not made dano to anybody, here this profiting with his deprived life, the private life that we have each one of us and who we kept like bone santo, there are laws nor no rules to live the privacy but deberia to be punished to all that that she tries to inmiscuir itself.I make fun of of the hypocrites who have written in this page about Cecilia, I make fun of and I twist of the laughter by the baseness to enter and to give classes of moral in an inferior vocabulary, God frees of the scandal and verguenza own since nobody but NOBODY this safe to fall someday
