Falwell, Jerry Lamon

Falwell, Jerry Lamon

(fôl`wĕl, –wəl), 1933–2007, American fundamentalist Baptist pastor, b. Lynchburg, Va. A popular preacher and founder of the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Falwell began (1968) airing his services on television on a program that was later named "The Old-Time Gospel Hour." Falwell also founded (1979) and led (1979–87) the Moral MajorityMoral Majority,
U.S. political action group composed of conservative, fundamentalist Christians. Founded (1979) and led (1979–87) by evangelist Rev. Jerry Falwell, the group played a significant role in the 1980 elections through its strong support of conservative
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, an organization devoted to reestablishing traditional religious values in the national consciousness through support of conservative political candidates (see also fundamentalismfundamentalism.
1 In Protestantism, religious movement that arose among conservative members of various Protestant denominations early in the 20th cent., with the object of maintaining traditional interpretations of the Bible and of the doctrines of the Christian faith in
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). In 1980 he founded the Liberty Baptist Fellowship, a fundamentalist Baptist denomination, and he was chancellor of Liberty Univ., which he founded as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971.

Bibliography

See W. H. Capps, The New Religious Right (1990).