Rev. Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr., August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007

I was first introduced to Jerry Falwell by his protégé, Evangelical leader Mel White, who ghost wrote Falwell’s books until the struggle with his own homosexuality drove him to attempt suicide. White is now the leader of Soul Force, an organization working to end religious discrimination against gays and lesbians.

Conservative Christian leaders are not always comfortable speaking with me, since I produce the radio show Interfaith Voices. But I had several incredible phone conversations with Falwell in his office in Lynchburg, Virginia. As Interfaith Voices was on the air in Lynchburg, I like to imagine he might have listened in his home before trekking to Thomas Road Baptist Church on Sunday mornings. I wonder how he felt when I reported on Mel White‘s weekly Sunday protest against Falwell’s continued ostracizing of gays and lesbians.

I will remember Jerry Falwell as an eloquent speaker who tapped the power of modern media as few other religious figures have. Liberal Christians have never been able to match the power of his voice or his actions. But I will also remember Falwell as a characteristic Sodomite—polluting Democracy with a veiled and dangerous Christian nationalism. Falwell and a small cabal of Christian leaders—including James Dobson of Focus on the Family and Don Wildmon of the American Family Association—popularized their fantasy of a so-called culture war in which Christians are being persecuted by a liberal elite.

For all of Jerry Falwell’s power, much of it needed to be bought. He paid to air his sermons on cable television, and used the power of his fellow TV preachers to extend his message and help turn fallow radio stations to teaching tools for gospel. And in doing so, Falwell developed the tithe-driven gospel of prosperity now threatening to tear apart the creedal Christian community he worked to build. Prosperity theology is a doctrine used by televangelists to separate viewers from their money under the pretext of establishing God’s covenant on Earth. Its rise has brought millions of dollars and much controversy.

Falwell had extraordinary influence on the relationship between Jews and Evangelical Christians. He founded The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, which successfully used late-night infomercials to goad Americans of all denominations to support the migration of Russian and Eastern European Jews to Israel. But Falwell was vague about his motivation for supporting the cause. He often said it was to “Help us complete God’s covenant with the Jewish people.”

Whether this was a nod to the American-Israeli relationship or to apocalyptic scripture, no one could be sure. While only 28 percent of Evangelicals support Israel for reasons related to the second coming of Christ, 59 percent do so for the reasoning of Genesis 12:3 “I will bless those who bless Israel and the Jewish people and curse those who curse Israel and the Jewish people.”

Before the Roe v. Wade decision of 1973, Falwell had stayed out of politics and the Southern Baptist Convention was a moderate, apolitical, and reluctantly pro-choice Christian denomination. But the legalization of abortion deeply affected Falwell. By 1976, he was claiming “The idea that religion and politics don't mix was invented by the devil to keep Christians from running their own country.” Falwell embarked on a successful ten year battle to put the Southern Baptist Convention permanently in conservative hands. By 1981, the SBC had completely changed its positions and become a dynamic force on issues of sexuality and life issues. Moderates were forced out, and biblical literalism, a 20^th century invention, became a virtual commandment for evangelists.

Jews took a back seat at this time, as they dealt with the rising force of Jews for Jesus, a group Falwell supported until just a few years before his death. Falwell also cavorted with many of the so-called Messianic Jews who name Jesus as their messiah and yet worship in a way that is essentially but questionably Talmudic.

Continue reading...