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Jerry Falwell | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Jerry Laymon Falwell (1933-08-11)August 11, 1933 Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | May 15, 2007(2007-05-15) (aged 73) Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Known for | Founding theMoral Majority |
| Television | The Old-Time Gospel Hour[1] |
| Title | Chancellor ofLiberty University (1971–2007) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3, includingJerry Jr. andJonathan |
| Ecclesiastical career | |
| Religion | Christianity (Baptist) |
| Church | |
| Ordained | 1956 |
Congregations served | Thomas Road Baptist Church |
Jerry Laymon Falwell Sr.[a] (August 11, 1933 – May 15, 2007)[3] was an AmericanBaptist pastor,televangelist, andconservative activist.[4] He was the founding pastor of theThomas Road Baptist Church, amegachurch inLynchburg, Virginia. He founded Lynchburg Christian Academy, later renamedLiberty Christian Academy, in 1967, foundedLiberty University in 1971, and co-founded theMoral Majority in 1979.
Falwell and his twin brother Gene were born in the Fairview Heights area ofLynchburg, Virginia, on August 11, 1933, the sons of Helen Virginia (née Beasley) and Carey Hezekiah Falwell.[5][6][7] His father was an entrepreneur and one-timebootlegger who was agnostic.[5] His father shot and killed his brother Garland and died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1948 at the age of 55.[8] His paternal grandfather was a staunchatheist.[5] Jerry Falwell was a member of a group in Fairview Heights known to the police as "the Wall Gang" because they sat on a low concrete wall at the Pickeral Café.[9] Falwell met Macel Pate on his first visit to Park Avenue Baptist Church in 1949; Macel was a pianist there.[8] They married on April 12, 1958.[10] The couple had two sons,Jerry Jr. (a lawyer who succeeded Jerry Sr. as president of Liberty University until 2020) andJonathan (who succeeded Jerry Sr. as senior pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church, and became chancellor of Liberty University in 2023), and a daughter, Jeannie (a surgeon).
Falwell and his wife had a close relationship, and she supported him throughout his career. The Falwells often appeared together in public, and did not shy away from showing physical affection. Of his marriage, Falwell jokingly said: "Macel and I have never considered divorce. Murder maybe, but never divorce." Macel appreciated her husband's non-combative, affable nature, writing in her book that he "hated confrontation and didn't want strife in our home ... he did everything in his power to make me happy." The Falwells had been married for nearly 50 years when Jerry died.[11]
Falwell graduated fromBrookville High School in Lynchburg, and from then-unaccredited[12][13]Baptist Bible College inSpringfield, Missouri, in 1956. He enrolled there to subvert Pate's relationship with her fiancé, who was a student there.[8] Falwell was later awarded three honorary doctorates:Doctor of Divinity (1968) fromTennessee Temple Theological Seminary,Doctor of Letters fromCalifornia Graduate School of Theology, andDoctor of Laws from Central University inSeoul, South Korea.[14]
In 1956, aged 22, Falwell founded theThomas Road Baptist Church. Originally at 701 Thomas Road in Lynchburg, with 35 members, it became amegachurch. Also in 1956, Falwell beganThe Old-Time Gospel Hour, a nationally syndicated radio and television ministry. When Falwell died, his son Jonathan inherited his father's ministry, and took over as the church's senior pastor.[15] The weekly program's name was then changed toThomas Road Live.[16][17]
During the 1950s and 1960s, Falwell spoke and campaigned against thecivil rights activistMartin Luther King Jr. and theracial desegregation of public school systems by the federal government. Liberty Christian Academy (LCA, founded as Lynchburg Christian Academy) is a Christian school in Lynchburg that theLynchburg News in 1966 called "a private school for white students".
Falwell opened The Lynchburg Christian Academy in 1967 as asegregation academy and a ministry of Thomas Road Baptist Church.[18]
The Liberty Christian Academy is recognized as an educational facility by theCommonwealth of Virginia through the Virginia State Board of Education,[19]Southern Association of Colleges and Schools,[20] and theAssociation of Christian Schools International.[21]
In 1971, Falwell co-founded Liberty University withElmer L. Towns.[22] Liberty University offers over 350 accredited programs of study, with approximately 16,000 students on-campus and 100,000 online.[23]
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During the 1980s, the Moral Majority became one of the largest political lobbies for evangelical Christians in the U.S.[24] According to Falwell's autobiography, the Moral Majority was promoted as "pro-life, pro-traditional family, pro-moral, and pro-American"[25] and was credited with delivering two-thirds of the white evangelical vote toRonald Reagan in the1980 presidential election.[26] According toJimmy Carter, "that autumn [1980] a group headed by Jerry Falwell purchased $10 million in commercials on southern radio and TV to brand me as a traitor to the South and no longer a Christian."[27] As head of the Moral Majority, Falwell consistently supported Republican candidates and conservative politics. This ledBilly Graham to criticize him for "sermonizing" about political issues that lacked a moral element. At the time of Falwell's death, Graham said: "We did not always agree on everything, but I knew him to be a man of God. His accomplishments went beyond most clergy of his generation."[24]
In March 1987,Pentecostal televangelistJim Bakker came under media scrutiny when it was revealed that he had a sexual encounter with, and allegedly raped,Jessica Hahn, and had paid for her silence.[28] Bakker believed that fellow Pentecostal pastorJimmy Swaggart was attempting to take over his ministry because he had initiated a church investigation into allegations of his sexual misconduct.[29] To avoid the takeover, Bakker resigned on March 19 and appointed Falwell to succeed him as head of his PTL ministry, which included thePTL Satellite Network, television programThe PTL Club and the Christian-themedamusement parkHeritage USA.[30]
Bakker believed Falwell would lead the ministry temporarily, until the scandal died down,[31] but Falwell barred Bakker from returning to PTL on April 28,[32] calling him "probably the greatest scab and cancer on the face of Christianity in 2,000 years of church history".[30] Later that summer, as donations to the ministry declined in the wake of Bakker's scandal and resignation, Falwell raised $20 million to keep PTL solvent and delivered on a promise to ride the water slide at Heritage USA.[33] Despite this, Falwell was unable to save the ministry from bankruptcy, and he resigned in October 1987.[34]
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Falwell advocated beliefs and practices influenced by his version of biblical teachings.[vague][35]
In 1989, he told Liberty University employees that membership in his church andtithing were mandatory.[36]
Falwell felt theVietnam War was being fought with "limited political objectives" when it should have been an all-out war against theNorth.[37] In general, Falwell held that the president "as a minister of God" has the right to use arms to "bring wrath upon those who would do evil."[38]
On his evangelist programThe Old-Time Gospel Hour in the mid-1960s, Falwell regularly featuredsegregationist politicians like governorsLester Maddox andGeorge Wallace.[39] OfMartin Luther King Jr., he said: "I do question the sincerity and nonviolent 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."[40]
OfBrown v. Board of Education, he said in 1958:
If Chief Justice Warren and his associates had known God's word and had desired to do the Lord's will, I am quite confident that the 1954 decision would never have been made. The facilities should be separate. When God has drawn a line of distinction, we should not attempt to cross that line.[41]
In 1977, Falwell supportedAnita Bryant's "Save Our Children" campaign to overturn an ordinance inDade County, Florida, prohibiting discrimination on the basis ofsexual orientation. He supported a similar movement in California.[5]
Twenty-eight years later, during a 2005MSNBC television appearance, Falwell said he was not troubled by reports that the nominee for Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court,John G. Roberts, had done volunteer legal work forgay rights activists in the caseRomer v. Evans. Falwell told then-MSNBC hostTucker Carlson that if he were a lawyer, he too would argue for civil rights forLGBT people. "I may not agree with the lifestyle, but that has nothing to do with the civil rights of that part of our constituency", said Falwell. When Carlson countered that conservatives "are always arguing against 'special rights' for gays", Falwell said 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."[4]
Falwell's relationship with Israeli Prime MinisterMenachem Begin was reported in the media in 1981.[42] Falwell's staunch pro-Israel stance, sometimes called "Christian Zionism", drew the support of theAnti-Defamation League and its leaderAbraham Foxman,[43] but they condemned what they perceived as intolerance toward Muslims in Falwell's public statements.[44] They also criticized him for saying that "Jews can make more money accidentally than you can on purpose".[45][46] In his bookListen, America!, Falwell called the Jewish people "spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior."[47]
In the 1984 bookJerry Falwell and the Jews, Falwell is quoted saying:
I feel that the destiny of the state of Israel is without question the most crucial international matter facing the world today. I believe that the people of Israel have not only a theological but also a historical and legal right to the land. I am personally a Zionist, having gained that perspective from my belief in Old Testament Scriptures. I have also visited Israel many times. I have arrived at the conclusion that unless the United States maintains its unswerving devotion to the State of Israel, the very survival of that nation is at stake ... Every American who agrees Israel has the right to the land must be willing to exert all possible pressure on the powers that be to guarantee America's support of the State of Israel at this time.[48]
Falwell repeatedly denounced certain teachings inpublic schools andsecular education in general, calling them breeding grounds foratheism,secularism, andhumanism, which he claimed to be in contradiction with Christianmorality. He advocated that the U.S. change its public education system by implementing aschool voucher system that would allow parents to send their children to either public or private schools. In his bookAmerica Can Be Saved, he wrote: "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."[49]
Falwell supported PresidentGeorge W. Bush'sFaith Based Initiative, but had strong reservations about 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 thepork 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.[50]
In the 1980s Falwell said sanctions against South Africa'sapartheid regime would result in what, he felt, would be a worse situation, such as a Soviet-backed revolution. He also urged his followers to buy up goldKrugerrands and push U.S. "reinvestment" in South Africa.[51] In 1985 he drew the ire of many when he calledNobel Peace Prize winner andAnglican ArchbishopDesmond Tutu a phony "as far as representing the black people of South Africa".[52][53][54][55]
In 1994, Falwell promoted and distributed the video documentaryThe Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton. The video purported to connectBill Clinton to a murder conspiracy involvingVince Foster,James McDougall,Ron Brown, and acocaine-smuggling operation. The theory was discredited, but the video sold more than 150,000 copies.[56]
The film's production costs were partly met by "Citizens for Honest Government", to which Falwell paid $200,000 in 1994 and 1995.[56] In 1995 Citizens for Honest Government interviewedArkansas state troopers Roger Perry andLarry Patterson about the Foster murder conspiracy theory. Perry and Patterson also gave information about the allegations in thePaula Jonesaffair.[56]
Theinfomercial for the 80-minute videotape included footage of Falwell interviewing a silhouetted 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 supposed illegal activities. The silhouetted journalist was subsequently revealed to be Patrick Matrisciana, the producer of the video and president of Citizens for Honest Government.[56] "Obviously, I'm not an investigative reporter", Matrisciana admitted to investigative journalistMurray Waas.[56] Later, Falwell seemed to back away from personally trusting the video. In an interview for the 2005 documentaryThe Hunting of the President, Falwell said, "to this day I do not know the accuracy of the claims made inThe Clinton Chronicles."[57]
Falwell condemned homosexuality as forbidden by the Bible. Homosexual rights groups called Falwell an "agent of intolerance" and "the founder of the anti-gay industry" for statements he had made and for campaigning againstLGBT social movements.[5][41] Falwell supportedAnita Bryant's 1977 "Save Our Children" campaign to overturn a Florida ordinance prohibiting discrimination on the basis ofsexual orientation and a similar movement in California.[5] In urging the ordinance's repeal, Falwell told one crowd, "Gay folks would just as soon kill you as look at you."[58] When the LGBT-friendlyMetropolitan Community Church was almost accepted into theWorld Council of Churches, Falwell called them "brute beasts" and said they were "part of a vile and satanic system" that "will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven".[59] He later denied saying this.[60] Falwell also regularly linked theAIDS epidemic to LGBT issues and said, "AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals, it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals."[61]
After comedian and actressEllen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian, Falwell referred to her in a sermon as "Ellen DeGenerate". DeGeneres responded, "Really, he called me that? Ellen DeGenerate? I've been getting that since the fourth grade. I guess I'm happy I could give him work."[62]
Falwell's legacy regarding homosexuality is complicated by his support for LGBT civil rights and his attempts to reconcile with the LGBT community in later years. In October 1999, he hosted a meeting of 200 evangelicals with 200 gay people and lesbians at Thomas Road Baptist Church for an "Anti-Violence Forum", during which he acknowledged that some evangelicals' comments about homosexuality qualified as hate speech that could incite violence.[63] At the forum, Falwell told homosexuals in attendance, "I don't agree with your lifestyle, I will never agree with your lifestyle, but I love you" and added, "Anything that leaves the impression that we hate the sinner, we want to change that."[64] He later toldNew York Times columnistFrank Rich that "admittedly, evangelicals have not exhibited an ability to build a bond of friendship to the gay and lesbian community. We've saidgo somewhere else, we don't need you here [at] our churches."[65]
In February 1999, aNational Liberty Journal article (the media attributed it to Falwell)[66] claimed that Tinky Winky, aTeletubby, was intended as a homosexual role model. TheNLJ is a Liberty University publication. A 1998Salon article had referred to Tinky Winky's status as a gay icon.[67][68] In response, Steve Rice, spokesperson for Itsy Bitsy Entertainment, which licensesTeletubbies, a U.K. show for preschool children, in the U.S., said, "I really find it absurd and kind of offensive."[69][70] TheNLJ wrote, "he is purple—thegay pride color; and his antenna is shaped like atriangle—the gay-pride symbol". Tinky Winky also carries a magic bag, which theNLJ andSalon called a purse. Falwell added, "role-modeling the gay lifestyle is damaging to the moral lives of children".
After theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001, Falwell said onPat Robertson'sThe 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, theACLU,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.'"[71][72] In his opinion, LGBT organizations had angered God, thereby in part causing God to let the attacks happen.[73] Falwell said the attacks were "probably deserved", a statementChristopher Hitchens called treasonous.[74] After heavy criticism, Falwell said that no one but the terrorists were to blame and "If I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize."[71][75] Falwell was later the object of some of his followers' outrage for retracting his statements about divine judgment on the U.S. and its causes, because they had heard in his preaching for many years that the U.S. must repent of its lack of devotion to God, immoral living, and timid support of Israel if it wanted divine protection and blessing.[76]
Falwell 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."[77]
In her extensive ethnographic study of Falwell, cultural anthropologist Susan Friend Harding noted that he adapted his preaching to win a broader, less extremist audience as he grew famous. This manifested itself in several ways. For example, though he was ateetotaler,[78] Falwell no longer condemned "worldly" lifestyle choices such as dancing, drinking wine, and attending movie theaters; he softened his rhetoric predicting an apocalypse and God's vengeful wrath; and he shifted from a belief in outrightbiblical patriarchy to acomplementarian view of appropriate gender roles. He also began to aim his strongest criticism at"secular humanists",pagans, and liberals rather than engaging in the racist, antisemitic, andanti-Catholic rhetoric common among Southern fundamentalist preachers but increasingly condemned ashate speech by the consensus of American society.[79]
Falwell opposedIslam. According toAsharq Al-Awsat, apan-Arab newspaper, he called Islam "satanic".[80] In a televised interview with60 Minutes, Falwell calledMuhammad a "terrorist", adding, "I concluded from reading Muslim and non-Muslim writers that Muhammad was a violent man, a man of war." Falwell later apologized to Muslims for what he had said about Muhammad and affirmed that he did not intend to offend "honest and peace-loving" Muslims, but he refused to remove his comments about Islam from his website.[81][82] In response,Egyptian Christian intellectuals signed a statement condemning what Falwell had said about Muhammad being a terrorist.[83]
Beginning in the 1970s, Falwell was involved in legal matters that occupied much of his time and increased his name recognition.
In 1972, theUS Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation ofbonds 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.[84] The church won a 1973 federal court case prosecuted at the SEC's behest. The court exonerated the church and ruled that while technical violations of law did occur, there was no proof the church intended any wrongdoing.
Falwell filed a $10 million lawsuit againstPenthouse for publishing an article based on interviews he gave to freelance reporters, after failing to convince a federal court to enjoin the article's publication. The suit was dismissed in federal district court in 1981 on the grounds that the article was notdefamatory or an invasion of Falwell's privacy (the Virginia courts had not recognized this privacy tort, which is recognized in other states).[85][86][87]
In 1983,Larry Flynt'spornographic magazineHustler ran aparody of aCampari ad featuring a mock "interview" with Falwell in which he admits that his "first time" was incest with his mother in anouthouse while drunk. Falwell sued for $45 million, alleging invasion of privacy, libel, andintentional infliction of emotional distress.[88] 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 Falwell's favor on the emotional distress claim and awarded damages of $200,000. This was upheld on appeal. Flynt then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, which unanimously held that theFirst Amendment prevents public figures from recovering damages for emotional distress caused by parodies.
After Falwell's death, Flynt said of 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.[89]
In 1984, Falwell was ordered to paygay rights activist and former Baptist Bible College classmate Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle. In July 1984 during a televised debate inSacramento, California, Falwell denied calling the gay-friendlyMetropolitan 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".[59]
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.[90] The money was donated to build Sacramento's first LGBT community center, the Lambda Community Center, serving "lesbian, gay,bisexual,transgender, andintersex" communities.[60] Falwell appealed the decision, with his attorney charging that the Jewish judge in the case was prejudiced. He lost again and was made to pay an additional $2,875 in sanctions and court fees.[91]
InLamparello v. Falwell, a dispute over the ownership of the Internet domainfallwell.com, theUnited States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed an earlier District Court decision, arguing that Christopher Lamparello, who owned the domain, "clearly created his website intending only to provide a forum to criticize ideas, not to steal customers."[92] Lamparello's website described itself as not being connected to Jerry Falwell and is critical of Falwell's views on homosexuality.[92] On April 17, 2006, the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal of the Appeals Court's ruling that Lamparello's usage of the domain was legal.
Before that, a different man had turned overjerryfalwell.com andjerryfallwell.com after Falwell threatened to sue fortrademark infringement.[92] Lawyers forPublic Citizen Litigation Group's Internet Free Speech project represented the domain name owners in both cases.
On July 31, 2006,CNN'sPaula Zahn Now program featured a segment on "whether the crisis in the Middle East is actually a prelude to the end of the world". In an interview, Falwell said, "I believe in the pre-millennial, 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 withBilly Graham and most evangelicals."[93] Based on that and other statements, Falwell has been identified as adispensationalist.[94]
In 1999, Falwell said theAntichrist would probably arrive within a decade and "of course he'll be Jewish".[95] After accusations of antisemitism, Falwell apologized and explained he was simply expressing the theological tenet that the Antichrist and Christ share many attributes.[96]
In early 2005, Falwell was hospitalized for two weeks with aviral infection, discharged, and re-hospitalized on May 30, 2005, inrespiratory arrest.[97][98] He was released from the hospital and returned to work. Later that year, astent was implanted to correct a 70 percent blockage in hiscoronary arteries.[99]
At about 10:45 a.m. on May 15, 2007, Falwell was found unconscious and without a pulse in his office after he missed a morning appointment, and was taken to Lynchburg General Hospital.[100] "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 Ron Godwin, the executive vice president of Liberty University. His condition was initially reported as "gravely serious";CPR was administered unsuccessfully. At 2:10 p.m., during a live press conference, a doctor from the hospital confirmed that Falwell had died of "cardiac arrhythmia, orsudden cardiac death".[101] The hospital released a statement saying that he was pronounced dead at Lynchburg General Hospital at 12:40 p.m. He was 73. Falwell's wife[102] and sons were at the hospital at the time of the pronouncement.
Falwell's funeral took place on May 22, 2007, at Thomas Road Baptist Church after he had lain in repose both at the church and at Liberty University. Falwell's burial service was private. He is interred at a spot on the Liberty University campus near theCarter Glass Mansion and Falwell's office.B. R. Lakin, his mentor, is buried nearby. After Falwell's death, his sons succeeded him at the two positions he held, Jerry Falwell Jr. as president of Liberty University and Jonathan Falwell as the senior pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church. Jerry Falwell Sr.'s daughter, Jeannie F. Savas, is a surgeon.
The last televised interview with Jerry Falwell Sr. was conducted byChristiane Amanpour for theCNN original seriesCNN Presents: God's Warriors[103] on May 8, 2007, a week before his death; in the interview he said that he had asked God for at least 20 more years in order to accomplish his vision for the university he founded.[101][104] Falwell's last televised sermon was his May 13, 2007, message onMother's Day.
Views on Falwell's legacy are mixed. Supporters praise his advancement of hissocially conservative message. They tout his evangelist ministries and his stress on church planting and growth. Conversely, many of his detractors have accused him ofhate speech and identified him as an "agent of intolerance".[41]
Theantitheistic social commentatorChristopher Hitchens called Falwell's work "Chaucerian fraud" and "faith-based fraud". Hitchens took special umbrage at Falwell's alignment with "the most thuggish and demented Israeli settlers"[105] and his declaration that9/11 represented God's judgment of America's sinful behavior, deeming it "extraordinary that not even such a scandalous career is enough to shake our dumb addiction to the 'faith-based.'"[105] Hitchens also said that, despite his support for Israel, Falwell "kept saying to his own crowd, yes, you have got to like the Jews, because they can make more money in 10 minutes than you can make in a lifetime".[105] Appearing on CNN the day after Falwell's death, Hitchens said, "The empty life of this ugly little charlatan proves only one thing: that you can get away with the most extraordinary offenses to morality and to truth in this country if you will just get yourself called 'reverend'."[106]
At one point, prank callers, especially home activists, were an estimated 25 percent of Falwell's total calls until the ministry disconnected the toll-free number in 1986.[107] In the mid-1980s, Edward Johnson programmed hisAtari home computer to make thousands of repeat phone calls to Falwell's toll-free number as a response to Falwell's having, Johnson felt, swindled large amounts of money from his followers, including Johnson's mother.Southern Bell forced Johnson to stop after he had run up Falwell's telephone bill by an estimated $500,000.[108]
Jerry Falwell Jr. is a lawyer; he became president of Liberty University after his father's death and was put on indefinite leave from that position on August 7, 2020, after posting an inappropriate photo with a young woman on social media. He resigned on August 24 amid further questions about his and his wife's sexual and financial involvement with an associate.[109][110][111][112][113][114] Falwell Jr. later said that the real reason his father began attending church as a teenager was that he had fallen in love with Macel, who played piano there and was engaged at the time, and that Falwell Sr. had used deception to convince her to break off the engagement.[115]
DirectorTerrence Malick has an unproduced screenplay about the lives of Falwell and pianist-singerJerry Lee Lewis.[116]
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Data from Wikidata| Religious titles | ||
|---|---|---|
| New office | Senior Pastor ofThomas Road Baptist Church c. 1956 – 2007 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| New office | President ofLiberty University 1971–1997 | Succeeded by John Borek |
| Preceded by John Borek | President ofLiberty University 2003–2007 | Succeeded by |
| Non-profit organization positions | ||
| New office | President of theMoral Majority ?–1987 | Succeeded by |
