Jerry Falwell's Legacy

Jerry Falwell was a long-time arch nemesis for many people - even Christians. His rigid form of "old-time gospel" religion, and his many offensive, bigoted comments frequently turned people off, Christians and non-Christians alike. Others strongly supported his views and ministry, believing his way to be the only way to turn the country around and make the U.S. a moral country.

It's easy to bash Falwell, even after his recent death. But really, what's his legacy? Is it all negative, or did he also have a positive influence on the world? Will his death change the influence or views of the Religious Right in the U.S.? Certainly, this won't become clear for many years. But Falwell did have a great influence on many people in this country, and on their worldviews.

Falwell is known for his political activity and statements, but church is where he began his influence. He founded the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia in 1956, shortly after graduating from Bible College. The church began with thirty-five adults in attendance, and has grown to a membership of over 24,000 people. He spent many years pastoring and growing this church. Certainly, his efforts here touched many lives, and helped to spread the Good News of Christ. Unfortunately, Falwell's brand of Christianity isn't necessarily one that everyone would like to see spread.

Falwell was widely considered a fundamentalist Christian, although he identified himself as an evangelical rather than a fundamentalist in later years. His theology includes the beliefs that:
• The Bible is literal truth, and is inerrant, including the six-day creation and a young earth.
• Only people who believe in Jesus Christ are saved and get into heaven.
• Jesus Christ will return to earth, rapturing his believers, and his return will be followed by seven years of tribulation and then a thousand-year reign of Christ on earth (all the stuff that happens in the Left Behind books).
These beliefs are not shared by all Christians, and are considered divisive and bigoted by many people.

Falwell also founded Liberty University in Lynchburg, which is a fully accredited liberal arts university. On the positive side, he's helped provide an education for thousands of students. On the negative side, is it really a good education? Liberty gets some good quality marks from students, but it also teaches creationism in science classes, and employs professors without tenure so that the University can fire a professor at will if they don't like what a professor is teaching.

Falwell's most prominent work has been his political activism. He began early with this; during the Civil Rights movement, he was a supporter of segregation, although he later reversed his views. He was an organizer of the Moral Majority in 1979, and the organization was active in mobilizing conservative Christians to vote for Republican Ronald Reagan as U.S. President. In the 1980's he spoke out in favor of the apartheid government in South Africa. In the 90's, he was stridently anti-Clinton, and even released the video documentary "The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation Into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton," which was widely discredited as being inaccurate, poorly researched, and inadequately sourced.

In addition, Falwell made a wide variety of public statements about non-Christians, feminists, and gay and lesbian people that were considered offensive by most people. For instance, after the September 11, 2001 attacks, Falwell appeared on the 700 Club television show, and said "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.'" After being criticized for this, Falwell did make a phone call to CNN and apologize for his statements, saying "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."

Despite his apology for blaming specific groups of people, Falwell still maintained to CNN that so-called secularization has "created an environment which possibly has caused God to lift the veil of protection which has allowed no one to attack America on our soil since 1812."

Falwell's real legacy, unfortunately, is a large group of people who hold a "culture war" worldview. Falwell insisted that evangelical Christians were engaged in a cultural war against secularism, homosexuality, feminism, and abortion. His dream solution was to have Christian leaders in government, and to impose fundamentalist Christian moral laws as the laws of the land. He wanted to "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."

This is a legacy that, if enacted, would be disastrous for the U.S. The U.S. Constitution specifically states that the government should not establish a state religion. The founders of the country knew, from personal experience, that this leads to hate, violence, fanaticism, and loss of rights.

Hopefully, Falwell's legacy will fade with time, and the U.S. will not inherit the fruits of his culture war.

SOURCES: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Falwell, http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/09/14/Falwell.apology, http://www.liberty.edu/index.cfm?PID=6921