Jerry Falwell was an intelligent, well-known leader of the conservative, fundamentalist American evangelical movement. During his lifetime he founded Thomas Road Baptist Church in 1956 when he was only 22 years old, Liberty University in 1971, and organized the Moral Majority in 1979.
He was extremely politically active. He rigorously opposed abortion and any movement that worked for a secular America. His goal was to have the Church in America become a strong political force in the USA. He believed that there was no need for the separation of Church and state.
He considered himself a distinct fundamentalist until his affiliations changed from the Baptist Bible Fellowship International to the Southern Baptist Convention. He began to consider himself more of an evangelical.
He spent most of his life working towards four basic goals:
Pro-Family
Pro-Life
Pro-Defense
Pro-Israel
Accomplishments:
Founded Thomas Road Baptist Church in 1956
Founded Liberty University in 1971
Started the Moral Majority movement in 1979
Controversy:
The Moral Majority or the Religious Right was an organization that had thousands of members with a strong Right-wing agenda. They were noted for organizing voting drives and supporting Ronald Reagan.
Dr. Falwell was also noted for criticizing the Civil Rights movement. He later changed his ways becoming one of the first pastors to advocate interracial congregations.
Dr. Falwell was also a strong opponent of atheism, homosexuality, and paganism.
After September 11th he called the events God's judgment for America's declining moral standards.
Sources:
Conservapedia
http://www.conservapedia.com/Jerry_Falwell
Jerry Falwell Ministries http://www.falwell.com/
Wikimedia http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Jerry_Falwell_portrait.jpg/457px-Jerry_Falwell_portrait.jpg
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Falwell
