Jerry Falwell Sr. was one of the most influential activist during the conservative movement and specifically the religious sector of the movement. But Falwell wasn't always religious. His father and grandfather were atheists and tried to bring him up with atheist values but Falwell mother, (who was a devout Christian) ended up influencing him the most. He attended a the Baptist Bible College and shortly after that he opened his very own church called the Thomas Road Baptist Church. Falwell's sermons were so popular that he broadcast them onto the radio and eventually television with an average of 50 million viewers. He then used his influence to co-found the Moral Majority which was a religious political organization which valued family and tradition. The Moral Majority is credited with many political accomplishments such as the election of conservative Ronald Reagan to the presidency. Falwell was also very opposed to the gay rights movement and preached to his listeners ridiculously homophobic sermons by saying things like AIDS was a punishment for the gays, the 9/11 attacks was a punishment for the gays (and feminists), or that the purple Teletubby "Tinky Winky" was a gay role model. Falwell's greatest contribution to the conservative movement was getting many religious people politically involved with the movement.
Sources:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jerry-Falwell
https://www.biography.com/personality/jerry-falwell
Jerry Falwell and the Moral Majority movement are very interesting to say the least. The Moral Majority in particular piqued my interest; after some additional research, I found that they not only sought to promote family values, but to also oppose ERA, abortion, and gay rights. They also wanted to restore prayer in public schools after the Supreme Court ruling in the School District of Abington Township v. Schempp. Thanks to their well established and experienced leaders, the Moral Majority started out with substantial financial backings. However, after Reagan's successful election, public support as well as funding decreased, and divisions arose between Falwell and other leaders within the organisation. Some evangelical leaders were even caught up in a sex scandal. Ultimately, Falwell resigned and the Moral Majority disbanded in 1989, but the movement had a profound affect on American society and on conservative/christian involvement in politics.
ReplyDeleteSources:
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Moral-Majority
http://www.thearda.com/timeline/events/event_46.asp
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/us/religion-politics-evangelicals.html
I found it very interesting that Jerry Falwell had an atheist father, I had no idea! He, a popular TV evangelist, also worried about the young people ”being introduced to drug culture” and that they have been “taught to believe that the world owes them a living whether they work or not”. He saw both of these problems as a result of the welfare state causing youth to lose their traditional Christian morality. This coupling of fundamentalist Christianity with conservative Republicanism, marked the emergence of the Moral Majority as a major political and social force in the 1980s— a major ally of Ronald Reagan. This was ironic considering that the brief resurgence of progressive evangelicalism in the mid-1970s was what helped propel Carter to the White House, yet almost immediately another group of evangelicals (the Religious Right) began agitating to deny Carter, their fellow evangelical, a second term. The 1980 election would show the alliance of evangelical voters to the familiar precincts of the Republican Party and a notably more conservative political agenda.
ReplyDelete