Profile of Jerry Falwell on Famous Like Me

Jerry Lamon Falwell (born on August 11, 1933) is an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, founder of the Moral Majority & Liberty University, and a prominent Conservative activist. His parents were Carey and Helen Falwell, and he has a fraternal twin brother, Gene Falwell.

He has been married to the former Macel Pate since April 12, 1958, and has two sons (one, Jerry Jr., is a lawyer and the other, Jonathan, a pastor) and one daughter (Jeannie, who is a surgeon).

One of the most controversial figures in modern American Christianity, Falwell has long associated himself with 'Bible-believing, independent, local-church oriented, Baptist fundamentalism' and leads services at Thomas Road Baptist Church. However, he changed affiliations from the fundamentalist-leaning Baptist Bible Fellowship International to the Southern Baptist Convention, which, although mainly conservative, is not considered a fundamentalist-leaning denomination.

Social and political views

The Anti-Defamation League and its leader, Abraham Foxman have expressed strong support for Jerry Falwell's staunch pro-Israel stand, sometimes referred to as "Christian Zionism." It should be noted, however, that they have also repeatedly condemned what they perceive as intolerance in Falwell's public statements. Falwell has repeatedly denounced public schools and secular education in general, calling them breeding grounds for atheism, secularism, and humanism, which he claims are in contradiction with Christian morality. He advocates that the United States abolish its public education system, replacing it with a school voucher system that allows parents to send their children to either public or private schools. Jerry Falwell wrote in America Can Be Saved that "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."

Falwell supported President Bush's Faith Based Initiative, but had strong reservations concerning 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 the pork barrel is filled, suddenly the Church of Scientology, the Jehovah Witnesses, 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."

SEC and bonds

In 1972, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation of bonds 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. Falwell claimed that the SEC was "technically" incorrect as God himself was supposedly underwriting the bonds. Standard and Poor's declined to confirm Falwell's 'AAA' credit rating of the Almighty - the court case continues. However, while his church won a 1973 federal court case prosecuted at the behest of the SEC, thousands of small religious investors who had bought church construction bonds lost their money through the bankruptcy and reorganization of Liberty University.

According to Falwell, the survival of the University could be attributed to the work of Daniel Reber and Jimmy Thomas, as leaders of the non-profit Christian Heritage Foundation in Forest, Virginia. A secret benefactor was the South Korean Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial self-proclaimed "messiah." Covertly, Moon helped bail out Liberty University through one of his front groups which funneled US$3.5 million to the Reber-Thomas Christian Heritage Foundation, the non-profit organization that had purchased the school's debt.

Penthouse vs. Falwell

Falwell filled a $10 million USD lawsuit with Penthouse Magazine for publishing an interview he gave to free-lance reporters. “Falwell Says He Will Press $10 Million Penthouse Suit.” The New York Times, 5th of February 1981.

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 a unanimous decision on February 24, 1988 (Hustler Magazine, Inc. et al. v. Jerry Falwell, 485 U.S. 46); the ruling held that public figures cannot evade First Amendment protections by attempting to recover damages based on emotional distress suffered from parodies.

Homosexuals and libel

Falwell has been on both sides of libel cases. In 1984, he was forced to pay gay activist Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle. During a TV debate in Sacramento, California, 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. Falwell appealed, with his attorney charging that the Jewish judge in the case was prejudiced. He lost again and was forced to pay an additional $2,875 in sanctions and court fees.

Since Canada has strict laws forbidding comments against homosexuality, broadcast tapes sent to Canada are edited to remove any such comments.

In unrelated incidents, Falwell has taken legal action against owners of websites that he feels infringe on his own website, www.falwell.com. In 2003, an Illinois man surrendered the domain names jerryfalwell.com and jerryfallwell.com after Falwell threatened to sue him for trademark infringement. On August 24, 2005, a federal appeals court ruled that Christopher Lamparello, the owner of a website called www.fallwell.com that is critical of Falwell's views on homosexuality, did not violate trademark laws. The court ruled that Lamparello can continue to operate his anti-Falwell "gripe site."

Election fund improprieties

In 1987, the Federal Election Commission fined Falwell US$6,000 for illegally transferring US$6.7 million in funds intended for his religious ministry to his political action committees.

The Clinton Chronicles

In 1994, Falwell released the straight-to-video documentary "The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton." The description on the box read:

"For the first time on video, a documentary that puts together the whole story! -- The names and faces of the key players who Clinton used to build his Circle of Power... as well as those who got in his way and lost their jobs, reputations, virtue, and lives! From Whitewater to ADFA... From millions in drug smuggling in Mena, Arkansas, to money laundering with the BCCI... From Gennifer Flowers to Paula Jones... From Vince Foster's "suicide" to the gangland slaying of private investigator Jerry Parks.

THE CLINTON CHRONICLES uncovers the shocking truth the controlled media and Clintons don't want you to know!"

Falwell's infomercial for the 80-minute tape included footage of Falwell interviewing a silhouetted journalist who was 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 illegalities. However, it was subsequently revealed that the silhouetted journalist was, in fact, Patrick Matrisciana, the producer of the video. "Obviously, I'm not an investigative reporter," Matrisciana admitted (to investigative journalist Murray Waas), "and I doubt our lives were actually ever in any real danger. That was Jerry's idea to do that ... He thought that would be dramatic." .

Controversial remarks

In February of 1999, an article in Falwell's National Liberty Journal suggested 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, although purple has long been associated with royalty and the pope), had a triangle on his head and carried a handbag. Falwell denied any personal involvement with the original article, and made clear he never had any prior knowledge or concern with the Teletubbies. Falwell's organization said the author of the article was simply repeating what others in the media were already saying about the nature of the character.

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. When asked why God would allow such an event to happen to America, 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.

Falwell has also stated:

AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharaoh's charioteers . . . AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals." (Reverend Jerry Falwell, circa 1991)

In an interview given on September 30, 2002, for the October 6 edition of 60 Minutes, Falwell said: "I think Muhammad was a terrorist. I read enough by both Muslims and non-Muslims, [to decide] that he was a violent man, a man of war."

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 a "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."

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