5/15/07 Jerry Falwell Has Died
Jerry Falwell on 9/11, "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 an American Way, all of them who have tried to secularize America, I point the finger in their face and say `you helped this happen."
Famus Falwell Quotes:
"AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."
"Billy Graham is the chief servant of Satan in America."
"Christians, like slaves and soldiers, ask no questions."
"God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve." - In response to September 11th
"Homosexuality is Satan's diabolical attack upon the family that will not only have a corrupting influence upon our next generation, but it will also bring down the wrath of God upon America."
"I am such a strong admirer and supporter of George W. Bush that if he suggested eliminating the income tax or doubling it, I would vote yes on first blush."
"I believe that global warming is a myth. And so, therefore, I have no conscience problems at all and I'm going to buy a Suburban next time."
"I think the Muslim faith teaches hate."
"If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being."
"In other words, my First Amendment rights and yours end where the welfare of the little people begins, and there are laws about that."
"Scientology has a terrible track record of bigotry."
"The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the Devil to keep Christians from running their own country."
Jerry Laymon Falwell, Sr. (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007)[1] 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 Baptist Bible
Fellowship International to the mainly conservative Southern Baptist
Convention, and ended his self-identification with fundamentalism in
favor of evangelicalism.
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Falwell was born in Lynchburg, Virginia to Helen and Carey Hezekiah
Falwell[1]. His father was an entrepreneur and one-time bootlegger who
was not very religious.[1] His grandfather was a staunch atheist.[1][2]
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.[3][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 [5], an honorary
Doctor of Letters from California Graduate School of Theology (an
unaccredited institution[6]), and an honorary Doctor of Laws from
Central University in Seoul, South Korea (an unaccredited
institution[7]).[3]
Associated organizations
Thomas Road Baptist Church
Main article: 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.[3]
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.[8] In July of 2006, TRBC celebrated its 50th
anniversary and inaugurated its new building near Liberty University.
Liberty University
Main article: 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.
Liberty Godparent Foundation
In 1982 Falwell founded the Liberty Godparent Foundation which
maintains a crisis pregnancy center and maternity house in Lynchburg.[9]
The PTL Club and Heritage USA
Main article: The PTL Club
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.”[10] This drive eventually took The PTL Club, PTL TV network and
Heritage USA from Jim Bakker.[11] “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.”[12]
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.[13]
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.”[12] Under Falwell’s leadership,
Heritage USA sought “Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with debts
estimated at $72 million.”[12]
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.[14]
Social and political views
Civil rights
Falwell grew up in a strongly segregationist setting and supported
racial segregation for the first few years of his career.[15] 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.[16]
Falwell’s views eventually shifted and he opposed segregation in his
later years.[17]
Falwell was opposed to gay 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.[1]
However, the Human Rights Campaign, a LGBT organization, formally
thanked Falwell for speaking out in favor of gay rights in 2005. During
an August 2005 appearance on MSNBC, Falwell said he was not troubled by
reports that Supreme Court nominee John Roberts had done volunteer
legal work for gay rights activists on the case of Romer v. Evans.
Falwell told MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson that if he were a lawyer, he too
would argue for civil rights for gays. “I may not agree with the
lifestyle, but that has nothing to do with the civil rights of that …
part of our constituency,” Falwell said. When Carlson countered that
conservatives “are always arguing against ’special rights’ for gays,”
Falwell said that equal access to housing and employment are basic
rights, not special rights. “Civil rights for all Americans, black,
white, red, yellow, the rich, poor, young, old, gay, straight, et
cetera, is not a liberal or conservative value. It’s an American value
that I would think that we pretty much all agree on.” [18]
Israel
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.[19]
Education
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.”[20]
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.”[21]
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.”[22] He later
apologized for that remark and claimed that he had misspoken.[23] He
also urged his followers to buy up gold Krugerrands and push U.S.
“reinvestment” in South Africa.[24]
The Clinton Chronicles
Main article: Clinton Chronicles
In 1994, Falwell promoted and distributed the straight-to-video
pseudo-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 having been discredited by all major investigations,
the video’s sophisticated production techniques served as effective
exposure, and sold over 150,000 copies.[25]
Funding for the film was provided by the Citizens for Honest
Government, to which Jerry Falwell paid $200,000 in 1994 and 1995.[25]
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.[25] In March 2005, trooper Patterson was convicted of lying to
the FBI about an unrelated incident.[26]
Falwell’s infomercial for the 80-minute tape included footage of
Falwell interviewing a silhouetted fake 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.[25] “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.”[25]
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.[27] 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.[28][29][30]
Hustler’s parody ad of Falwell
Falwell versus Hustler
Main article: Hustler Magazine 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 in compensation
alleging invasion of privacy, libel, and intentional infliction of
emotional distress.[31] 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.
After the death of Falwell, Larry Flynt released a comment regarding his friendship over the years with Falwell.
“My mother always told me that no matter how much you dislike a
person, when you meet them face to face you will find characteristics
about them that you like. Jerry Falwell was a perfect example of that.
I hated everything he stood for, but after meeting him in person, years
after the trial, Jerry Falwell and I became good friends. He would
visit me in California and we would debate together on college
campuses. I always appreciated his sincerity even though I knew what he
was selling and he knew what I was selling.” - Larry Flynt [32]
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 because he was Jewish[33]. 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”.[34] Lamparello’s website
describes itself as not being connected to Jerry Falwell and is
critical of Falwell’s views on homosexuals.[34] 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.”[34] 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.”[35]
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.”
In 1999, Falwell declared the Antichrist would probably arrive
within a decade and “Of course he’ll be Jewish.”[36] After
anti-Semitism charges Falwell apologized and explained that he was
simply expressing the theological tenet that the Antichrist and Christ
share many attributes.[37][38]
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:
Jerry FalwellIn 1977 he supported Anita Bryant’s “Save Our Children”
campaign based on “Christian beliefs regarding the sinfulness of
homosexuality and the perceived threat of homosexual recruitment of
children and child molestation” in Dade County, Florida to repeal an
ordinance that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation. In urging the repeal of the ordinance Falwell told one
crowd “gay folks would just as soon kill you as look at you.”[39]
He’s been called an agent of intolerance[40] and the founder of the
anti-gay industry[41] who regularly demonized and dehumanized gays and
fought against gay rights. In the early 1980s when the AIDS pandemic
was still in its early years and could have been addressed more
proactively as a national health crisis he swayed public opinion
against people with AIDS (PWAs) saying “AIDS is not just God’s
punishment for homosexuals, it is God’s punishment for the society that
tolerates homosexuals.”[42]
On Falwell’s “Old Time Gospel Hour” broadcast (March 11, 1984), when
the mostly gay Metropolitan Community Church was almost accepted into
the World Council of Churches, Falwell called them “brute beasts” and
stated, “this vile and satanic system will one day be utterly
annihilated and there’ll be a celebration in heaven.”[43]
That same year he claimed that Tinky Winky, a Teletubbie, was gay.
The immensely popular UK show was aimed at pre-school children but
Falwell stated “he is purple - the gay pride color; and his antenna is
shaped like a triangle - the gay-pride symbol.” Apart from those
characteristics Tinky Winky also carries a magic bag which Falwell said
was a purse and added “role modelling the gay lifestyle is damaging to
the moral lives of children.” In response, Steve Rice, spokesperson for
Itsy Bitsy Entertainment, which licenses the Teletubbies in the US,
said “I really find it absurd and kind of offensive.”[44][45]
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.[46] After heavy
criticism, Falwell apologized,[47] though he later said that he stood
by his statement, stating “If we decide to change all the rules on
which this Judeo-Christian nation was built, we cannot expect the Lord
to put his shield of protection around us as he has in the
past.”[48][49]
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.”[50]
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.”[51]
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.”[52] •
Failing health and death
Wikinews has news related to:
Televangelist Jerry Falwell dies at age 73In early 2005, Falwell was
hospitalized for two weeks with a viral infection, discharged, and then
rehospitalized on May 30, 2005, in respiratory arrest.[53][54]
President George W. Bush contacted Falwell to “wish him well.”[54] 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.[55]
On May 15, 2007, CNN and USA Today[56] 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.[57]
His condition was initially reported as “gravely serious”; CPR was
administered unsuccessfully.[57][58] As of 2:10 pm, during a live press
conference, a doctor for the hospital confirmed that Falwell had
died[59] 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.[60] 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.[61]
Falwell’s funeral will take place at 1:00 PM EDT on May 22, 2007 at
Thomas Road Baptist Church after lying in repose at both the church and
Liberty University.[62] Falwell’s burial will be private.
Publications
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
Capturing a Town for Christ. Fleming Revell, 1969.
Champions for God. Victor Books, 1985.
Church Aflame. (co-author Elmer Towns) Impact, 1971.
Dynamic Faith Journal. Thomas Nelson (64 pages) (January 30, 2006) ISBN 0529122456
Falwell: An Autobiography. Liberty House, 1996. (Ghost written by Mel White [63]) ISBN 1888684046
Fasting Can Change Your Life. Regal, 1998.
Finding Inner Peace and Strength. Doubleday, 1982.
If I Should Die Before I Wake. Thomas Nelson, 1986. (ghost-written by Mel White)
Liberty Bible Commentary on the New Testament. Thomas Nelson/Liberty University, 1978.
Liberty Bible Commentary. Thomas Nelson, 1982.
Listen, America! Bantam Books (July 1981) ISBN 0553149989
Stepping Out on Faith. Tyndale House, 1984.
Strength for the Journey. Simon & Schuster, 1987. (ghost-written by Mel White)
The Fundamentalist Phenomenon. Doubleday, 1981.
The Fundamentalist Phenomenon/the Resurgence of Conservative Christianity. Baker Book House, 1986.
The New American Family. Word, 1992.
When it Hurts Too Much to Cry. Tyndale House, 1984. ISBN 0842379932
Wisdom for Living. Victor Books, 1984.
