Rev. Jerry Falwell Dies

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Rev. Jerry Falwell Dies

May 15, 2007

Reports on Falwell's funeral are here.

Rev. Jerry Falwell, an important leader in the Christian right's advance onto political terrain, was found dead in his office this morning.

Rev. Mel White remembers Jerry Falwell

Falwell's former ghost writer in conversation with JewsOnFirst.org

by Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, May 16, 2007

We have posted a conversation with Rev. Mel White, who ghost-wrote Falwell's autobiography before coming out as gay and founding Soulforce, an LGBT civil rights organization.

White never stopped trying to change Falwell's attitude toward homosexuality. He moved to Lynchburg "to try to help him understand the tragic consequences of his anti-gay rhetoric." He attended Falwell's Thomas Road Baptist Church, and, as he tells JewsOnFirst.org Co-Director Rabbi Haim Dov Beliak, he found some admirable qualities in Falwell, who died Tuesday.

To listen to White's ten-minute conversation with Beliak, please click here.

Soulforce Observes the Passing of Rev. Jerry Falwell

News Release, Soulforce, May 15, 2007

Today, the staff and board of directors of Soulforce observe the passing of Rev. Jerry Falwell and offer our sincere condolences to his family, the members of Thomas Road Baptist Church, and the students at Liberty University.

"While Soulforce has a long history of nonviolent direct action at Jerry Falwell Ministries, our adversary was never Jerry Falwell, but rather the misinformation about lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people espoused by Falwell and so many others," said Soulforce Executive Director Jeff Lutes.

Soulforce was founded in October, 1999, when Rev. Dr. Mel White and his partner, Gary Nixon, took 200 delegates to meet with Rev. Falwell and his representatives. The purpose of the meeting was to help end hate speech and violence against sexual minorities. Prior to coming out as a gay man, White ghost wrote two books for Falwell (If I Should Die Before I Wake and Strength for the Journey). Continue

Death of a Titan:

Where Were You the Day Jerry Falwell Died?

by Stan Moody, May 17, 2007. Dr. Stan Moody, an evangelical Baptist minister and founder of the Christian Policy Institute, is the author of McChurched: 300 Million Served and Still Hungry and of these earlier essays for JewsOnFirst.org: George Washington Against "Christian Zionism"; Slouching Toward Armageddon; Dr. Dobson and Free Speech: Does God Need a Lobbyist?

I don’t reckon that a common question will emerge, “Where were you the day Jerry Falwell Died?” Nevertheless, the day Jerry Falwell died, I was reading Jon Meacham’s incredible treatise, American Gospel (Random House, NY, 2007). This is a must-read for every thinking Christian.

Back on message, however, what I was reading the day Jerry Falwell died was the account of his conversion from preaching to individuals the Gospel of Jesus Christ to that of saving the soul of America. “We were mobilizing a potential army numbering in the tens of millions. The fight was on!!” (p. 218).

God was not, apparently, sufficient for Falwell’s purposes. Jetting around the world in his Lear donated by the State of Israel, Falwell achieved rock star status, while America lumbered on, defending its non-sectarian roots that provide the very freedoms that gave rise to Jerry Falwell. Click here to continue reading (a PDF document).

Pro-Israel founder of Moral Majority, Falwell left Jews with mixed feelings

By Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, May 15, 2007

WASHINGTON (JTA) – The Rev. Jerry Falwell, like his beloved phrase "Judeo-Christian nation," evinced mixed feeling among Jews: It's nice you want to get together, but is it a good idea?

Falwell, the televangelist who helped steer America rightward when he founded the Moral Majority nearly 30 years ago, died Tuesday in Lynchburg, Va., on the campus of Liberty University, which he founded. He was 73.

Statements from Jewish leaders about his death were duly respectful of a man who loved Israel, but were qualified also by his embrace of values that alienated most American Jews.

"I admired Reverend Falwell’s understanding that despite our differences, there were areas of agreement between us, above all our deep and profound commitment to the safety and well-being of the State of Israel," said Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism.

That "despite" cropped up again in a statement from Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League.

"Despite our many disagreements through the years, we were saddened to learn of the loss of the Rev. Jerry Falwell," Foxman said. "He was a passionate leader of Christianity in America and a dear friend of Israel."

Falwell was among the first evangelical leaders to make clear that presidential candidates must show deference to the U.S.-Israel alliance if they wanted his constituency's support. Continue.

Televangelist, Christian Leader Jerry Falwell Dies

David Malpus, NPR All Things Considered, May 15, 2007

The Rev. Jerry Falwell, a pioneer among televangelists who later became a leading voice in the national debate over Christian values, has died at the age of 73.

Falwell was discovered without a pulse Tuesday in his office at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va. He was pronounced dead at a hospital an hour later. Dr. Carl Moore, Falwell's physician, said he had a heart condition and presumably died of a heart rhythm abnormality, according to Associated Press reports.

A fundamentalist preacher, Falwell burst onto the national scene in 1979, when he launched an organization he presumptuously called the Moral Majority. Critics liked to say that it was neither. What is undisputed is that the Moral Majority became the vehicle that carried millions of born-again Christians out of their separatist tendencies and into the center of political activism. Continue

The Religious Right After Falwell: Less Visible But More Powerful Than Ever

Fundamentalist Political Movement Today Is Savvy, Well Funded And Influential

By Americans United for Separation of Church and State, May 17, 2007

Summary: Some political commentators say the Religious Right is a spent force. The recent death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell will hasten the demise of this movement, they say. Americans United for Separation of Church and State says a careful analysis of the facts suggests otherwise.

The May 15 death of Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell marks a point of passage for the Religious Right, but it does not mean that politically active fundamentalist Christians are in decline or that their movement is waning. Here’s why.

Falwell was an important figure in the early days of the Religious Right, but his influence had waned considerably in recent years. The Lynchburg, Va., televangelist shut down his Moral Majority in 1989, after a decade of political activity, to spend more time on building his Liberty University. Although Falwell still frequently appeared in the media and worked through various religious and educational organizations, he never recovered his former prominence.

The new breed of Religious Right leaders has learned from Falwell’s mistakes. Falwell’s rhetoric was often intemperate. While it made for lively television, his over-the-top remarks probably alarmed more people than they attracted. Even in his home state of Virginia, polls showed Falwell with high negative ratings. Continue.

ADL Saddened by the Death of the Rev. Jerry Falwell

Anti-Defamation League news release, May 15, 2007

New York, NY, May 15, 2007 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today expressed sadness at the passing of the Rev. Jerry Falwell, a passionate leader of Christianity in America and a dear friend of Israel.

Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:

Despite our many disagreements through the years, we were saddened to learn of the loss of the Rev. Jerry Falwell. He was a passionate leader of Christianity in America and a dear friend of Israel. Rev. Falwell will always be remembered as one of the most influential leaders on the American religious scene. Continue.

Growing Up as One of ‘Jerry’s Kids’

What was it like to come of age in Falwell’s church, among card-carrying members of the Moral Majority? A son of Lynchburg, Va., remembers.

Jon Groat, Newsweek, May 15, 2007

May 15, 2007 - My mom used to say Jerry could move mountains. Always "Jerry," never "Falwell." In Lynchburg, Va., the Hill City, there are several Falwell families, and depending on which part of the city you're from, there are either good Falwells or bad Falwells. By using "Jerry," there is no ambiguity -- everybody knows exactly which Falwell you're talking about. For my family, card-carrying Moral Majority members, he was a good Falwell. And that made me a "Jerry's kid."

My mom and dad fell in love with Jerry and his ministry early on. They were youth-group leaders in their Brown City, Mich., church and they took their high-school kids on cross-country tours of Bible colleges with the hopes the teens would attend Christian universities -- "Christian" meaning "born-again" evangelical. (In their strictly interpreted book, Catholicism and backsliding Protestantism wouldn’t get you where you needed to go -- mainly the Promised Land.) So after one such trip they decided to move all five of us kids to the Blue Ridge Mountains so we could be part of Jerry's growing majority. He was "doing the Lord's work" and they wanted in.

My parents worked at his new school, Liberty Baptist College, now Liberty University. It was a natural move for my dad, who had been a teacher and a Christian counselor to troubled teens. Jerry had just started the Moral Majority two years earlier and was trying to right everything that was wrong with our country -- the lack of prayer in our schools, the acceptance of abortion, the advancement of a homosexual agenda, the abandonment of God by our government. He was packing the pews in his massive Thomas Road Baptist Church (not quite ‘mega’ by today's standards, but huge at the time). Ushers at the 11 a.m. service would rush in with folding chairs to accommodate the masses, dressed in their Sunday best. The overflow crowd would wait in the lobby, listening to the sermon over the speakers. If you were really late, your car would be banished to the far, far, far overflow parking lots, and you would stand the entire time. Continue

Dr. Jerry Falwell A Pioneer of Christian Zionism

Email from Pastor John Hagee, Christian United for Israel, May 15, 2007

On Tuesday, May 15, Dr. Jerry Falwell went to his reward in heaven. With his passing, the nation has lost a wonderful man of God and an important Christian leader. In addition, we in the Christian Zionist world lost one of our pioneers and leading lights.

When I was deciding whether to create Christians United for Israel, I called Dr. Falwell for his guidance. Dr. Falwell not only encouraged me to create CUFI in the strongest terms, but he pledged his full support. And Dr. Falwell kept this pledge. He served on CUFI’s Executive Board from day one and, despite his health challenges, he traveled to Washington, DC last July to participate in our first Washington, DC summit.

Supporting Israel was hardly new for Dr. Falwell. When he created the Moral Majority in 1979, he declared that one of its founding principles was to provide "support for Israel and Jewish people everywhere." In the early 1980’s, Dr. Falwell reached out to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin when much of the American political establishment was shunning Begin. This odd couple, a Southern Baptist preacher and a Polish Holocaust survivor, became fast friends and remained close until Begin’s death.

When asked why he supported Israel so strongly, Dr. Falwell often mentioned Israel’s democracy and the fact that Israel was a strong American ally in both the Cold War and the War against Terror. Dr. Falwell was also fond of quoting Genesis 12:3. As he once correctly noted:

I firmly believe God has blessed America because America has blessed the Jew. If this nation wants her fields to remain white with grain, her scientific achievements to remain notable, and her freedom to remain intact, America must continue to stand with Israel.

In 2002, Dr. Falwell was interviewed for a segment that 60 Minutes was doing on Christian Zionism. With all of the challenges facing Christians in those days, Dr. Falwell made his top priority crystal clear. He looked in the camera and declared:

There’s nothing that would bring the wrath of the Christian public in this country down on this government like abandoning or opposing Israel in a critical matter.

As we mourn Dr. Jerry Falwell’s passing, let us remember his example. Let us remember what he taught us about the need for Christians to speak out on the urgent issues of our time. And let us remember that he always placed Israel at the forefront of these issues.

Rabbi mourns death of great Christian leader and friend of Israel -- Reverend Jerry Falwell

Yechiel Eckstein, International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, May 15, 2007

It is with great sorrow that I come to you to tell you of the death of a true friend of Israel and the Jewish people and a man that I was honored to call a personal friend as well.

The Rev. Jerry Falwell passed away today suddenly at the age of 73. When I started The Fellowship 25 years ago, he was among the first Christians to step forward and express interest in being involved in our bridge-building work. And, over the years, he proved his solidarity repeatedly. His involvement helped break down the barriers of mistrust that characterized the relationship between Jews and evangelical Christians at the time. Continue