Falwell: A Preacher's Path
A look back at the life of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the television evangelist who founded the Moral Majority and used it to mold the religious right into a political force.
|
|
|
 |
Jerry Lamon Falwell and his fraternal twin brother, Gene, are born in Lynchburg, Va., to to Helen and Carey Hezekiah Falwell.
|
|
|
|
Shortly after graduating from Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo., Falwell becomes pastor of the new Thomas Road Baptist Church of Lynchburg, Va., the fundamentalist church that Falwell started in an abandoned bottling plant.
|
|
|
|
Falwell marries Macel Pate.
|
|
|
|
Falwell creates the Lynchburg Christian Academy (later renamed Liberty Christian Academy), a fully accredited Christian day school offering K-12 education.
|
|
|
|
Falwell founds Liberty University, a fully accredited evangelical Christian Liberal Arts university.
|
|
|
|
The SEC files charges of "fraud and deceit" against Falwell's church for the issuance of $6.5 million in uninsured bonds. The church won a 1973 federal court case prosecuted at the behest of the SEC, but Liberty University files for bankruptcy and reorganizes, losing millions in church investors' money.
|
|
|
|
Falwell organizes the Moral Majority, an organization made up of conservative Christian political action committees, which campaigned on issues it believed central to upholding its Christian conception of moral law, a conception it believed represented the majority of people's opinions (thus the name). With a membership of millions, the Moral Majority was one of the largest conservative lobby groups in the U.S. The group considered itself the force that elected Ronald Reagan to the presidency.
|
|
|
|
Penthouse magazine publishes a Falwell interview given to freelance reporters and Falwell files a $10 million lawsuit against the magazine, stating that the interview was sold without his consent. The case is later dismissed.
|
|
|
|
Falwell sues Hustler magazine for featuring a parody of him in an advertisement. Although the jury denied compensation for his claims of libel and invasion of privacy, they awarded him damages for "emotional distress." Hustler founder Larry Flynt appealed the decision, and in 1988 the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of the magazine, holding that public figures cannot evade First Amendment protections by attempting to recover damages based on emotional distress suffered from parodies.
|
|
|
|
In 1984, Falwell finds himself on the other side of a libel case and is ordered to pay gay activist Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle. During a TV debate 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.
|
|
|
|
Televangelist Jim Bakker passes control of his PTL Ministry to Falwell after a series of financial and adultery scandals, most notably Bakker's conviction for fraud that sends him to prison for five years. Within months, PTL files for bankruptcy. Falwell and the PTL board of directors resign.
|
|
|
|
The Moral Majority is dissolved after having helped the Republican Party win three presidential elections. Falwell proclaims "Our mission is accomplished."
|
|
|
|
Falwell begins publishing the National Liberty Journal, a politically conservative, monthly newspaper. Its articles include religious freedom cases, as well as examinations of the United States government. It also features articles on biblical prophecy, religious freedom, and Christian family issues.
|
|
|
|
Falwell comes under fire after making the following statement on the Christian television program "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.'"
He later apologized for the remarks.
|
|
|
|
Falwell defends Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who lost his seat on the bench for refusing to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments from the courthouse grounds, comparing Moore to Martin Luther King Jr.
|
|
|
|
Falwell founds the Moral Majority Coalition, a "21st century resurrection of the Moral Majority" with the stated mission of the organization being to continue the "evangelical revolution" to help conservative politicians get elected. He pledges to lead the organization for a minimum of four years. Also announces he will leave day-to-day operations of Liberty University and Thomas Road Baptist Church to sons Jerry and Jonathan to focus on the new coalition.
|
|
|
|
Falwell was hospitalized for two weeks with a viral infection, discharged.
|
|
|
|
Falwell is hospitalized in critical condition after suffering from "respiratory arrest," and he had to be resuscitated upon first entering the hospital because he had stopped breathing. Doctors initially thought he suffered from congestive heart failure but tests indicated that was not the case.
|
|
|
|
Falwell marks his 50th anniversary at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., in a new 6,000-seat sanctuary.
|
|
|
|
Falwell dies shortly after being found unconscious in his office at Liberty University. He was 73.
|
|
|
|
Credits:
CBS/AP/NPR.org
|
|
|