FALWELL, JERRY 1933-

FUNDAMENTALIST

Leader

The integration of fundamentalist religion with electoral politics in the 1980s was largely designed by the Reverend Jerry Falwell. Falwell was the spokesman for the conservative religious organization known as the Moral Majority, and he was also the premier symbol for the New Right movement. His realization of the Impact that conservative religious leaders blended with impassioned followers and modern media could have on politics hoisted him to the forefront of a political movement.

Foundations

Jerry Falwell built his conservative base of operations in the small town where he was born in 1933, Lynchburg, Virginia. He began studying fundamentalism about the age of eighteen and attended Bible Baptist College in Springfield, Missouri, Falwell eventually became a popular fundamentalist preacher and host of his own syndicated television program, The Old Time Gospel Hour. His Thomas Road Baptist Church grew to feature several social services as well as an academic Bible college. Financially, Falwell's empire generated more than $100 million a year in revenues and employed two thousand workers. By the end of the decade, his church grew to have more than twenty thousand members and his weekly television sermon was aired on more than 350 stations to 438,000 households.

The Moral Majority

The birth of the Moral Majority in 1979 heralded a new dimension in fundamentalist thinking. Before Falwell's leadership fundamentalists spent little time with things they perceived as secular or earthly. Falwell's skill was the ability to create an atmosphere in politics where the once apolitical could now have a strong voice. The Moral Majority utilized grass-roots as well as the most sophisticated tactics of the times to get their message across. Chapters formed in all fifty states and pushed for a moral agenda in what they saw as an immoral society. Falwell stated in his 1987 autobiography, Strength for the Journey, that the Moral Majority had a simple fourfold platform: "We are pro-life, pro-traditional family, pro-moral, and pro-American," and that platform was the exact prescription that many had been looking for. Falwell's group was not alone in the new conservative revolution. Several other Christian conservative organizations had formed in a backlash response to the 1960s and 1970s liberalism, and with the rise of Ronald Reagan as president the movement grew even more powerful. Reagan's election was viewed as a moral victory, but there remained questions as to how much real impact the Moral Majority had in it, The New Right also found later victories few and far between as Americans, for the most part, were not ready to have their public policy formulated by religious zealots. The conservatism that motivated these groups also stifled them as they learned that the rigidity of their beliefs was not compatible with the pluralistic nature of issue politics. Realizing this, Falwell created a new organization in 1986 entitled the Liberty Federation that portrayed a broader message than the Moral Majority had done. The success of this new group was limited, and by 1989 Falwell retreated from the world of politics to spend more time at his church In Lynchburg, Virginia.

Methodology,

Falwell's increasing rigidity cast him In a harsh light to the American public. His controversial dealings with the South African government, President Marcos of the Philippines, and Israel all appeared to be ill-timed and generated controversy. Often apparently acting impulsively, Falwell spent as much time defending his reputation as he did elevating It. A skilled statesman, his ability to build ecumenical coalitions with, other fundamentalists and conservatives in the Catholic and Mormon churches served him well. He was a natural leader, but he appeared to abandon situations if they did not immediately go his way, as he did PTL reconstruction. After Jim Bakker's removal from the PTL corporation in April 1987, Falwell was named as new chairman of the board for the organization and chose his board members. Bakker anticipated a friendly successor, but Falwell disappointed him; for the next six months what was called a "Holy War" of separation raged between them. Falwell was unable to save PTL from bankruptcy and resigned from the group in 1987. Subsequently the influence of the New Right declined and Falwell's power diminished. The coalition Falwell helped to foster, how-ever, continues to influence American politics. His contribution to the debate over issues of church and state is still being understood. The powerful merger of conservative politics with Christianity would probably have occurred without Falwell, yet he contributed significantly to the impact of the movement in the 1980s.