Jerry Falwell: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Jerry Falwell (born August 11, 1933 in Lynchburg, Virginia) is an American fundamentalist Baptist pastor, televangelist and founder of the Moral Majority. His parents were Carey and Helen Falwell. He has a fraternal twin brother, Gene.

Life and career

Falwell studied journalism for a time after high school (1950) at Lynchburg College and then became a Christian in his second year. He then transferred to Baptist Bible College in Missouri. Soon afterwards, he met his future wife, Macel Pate. They were married on April 12, 1958. Jerry Falwell was a vocal supporter of racial segregation during the 1950s and 1960s.

He was ordained in 1956, and in 1968 Falwell began televising his services. The program was eventually titled "The Old-Time Gospel Hour." By the mid-70s, he was reaching millions. In 1979, he created the Moral Majority, a group dedicated to promoting its conservative and religious Christian-centric beliefs via support of political candidates.

In the 1980s, fundamentalism began to get a negative image. Another televangelist, Jim Bakker was convicted of fraud and received jail time. Falwell then took over management of Bakker's ministry, Praise The Lord (PTL), in 1987. PTL was soon bankrupt. Some argue (source A&E's "Biography") that Falwell deliberately scuttled the competition.

The Anti-Defamation League and its leader Abraham Foxman have expressed strong support for Jerry Falwell and his staunch pro-Israel stand, referred to sometimes as "Christian Zionism."

Falwell has repeatedly denounced public schools and secular education in general, calling them breeding grounds for atheism, secularism, humanism, which he claims are in contradiction with Christian morality. He advocates that the United States abolish its public education system, replacing it with church-run schools, similar to the school voucher proposals by the Bush administration. His advocacy is widely considered to be theocratic in nature, and Falwell's views are noted by his critics as similar or equivalent to those of conservative Mullahs in Islamic countries.

Hustler vs. Falwell

In November 1983, Larry Flynt's sex 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 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 on February 24, 1988 (Hustler Magazine, Inc. et al. v. Jerry Falwell, 485 U.S. 46); the ruling confirmed that public figures cannot recover damages based on emotional distress suffered from parodies.

Falwell now is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. He leads services at Thomas Road Baptist Church

In February of 1999, an article in Falwell's National Liberty Journal claimed that a Teletubbies character, Tinky Winky, could be a hidden homosexual symbol, because the character was purple (which he claimed was a color symbolic of homosexuality), had a triangle on his head and carried a handbag. This claim made Falwell the object of derision by the general public and an easy target for comedians who viewed the contention as ridiculous.

After the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attack, he (along with fellow televangelist Pat Robertson) made comments interpreted as blaming various groups for the attack. The two were widely condemned for having made these comments. Falwell said:

And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. 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.

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.

In an interview given on September 30, 2002 for the October 6 edition of 60 Minutes, Falwell said: "I think Mohammed was a terrorist. I read enough by both Muslims and non-Muslims, [to decide] that he was a violent man, a man of war." These comments led to rioting particularly in the town of Solapur, India, leaving 8 people dead.

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 "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."

Other quotes

• "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. What a happy day that will be!" America Can Be Saved