Families Falwell advocated beliefs and practices influenced by his version of biblical teachings.
Tithing In 1989, he told Liberty University employees that membership in his church and
tithing were mandatory.
Vietnam War Falwell felt the
Vietnam War was being fought with "limited political objectives" when it should have been an all-out war against the
North. In general, Falwell held that the president "as a minister of God" has the right to use arms to "bring wrath upon those who would do evil."
Civil rights On his evangelist program
The Old-Time Gospel Hour in the mid-1960s, Falwell regularly featured
segregationist politicians like governors
Lester Maddox and
George Wallace. Of
Martin Luther King Jr., he said: "I do question the sincerity and nonviolent intentions of some civil rights leaders such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mr. James Farmer, and others, who are known to have left-wing associations." Of
Brown v. Board of Education, he said in 1958: In 1977, Falwell supported
Anita Bryant's "
Save Our Children" campaign to overturn an ordinance in
Dade County, Florida, prohibiting discrimination on the basis of
sexual orientation. He supported a similar movement in California.
Israel and Jews Falwell's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin was reported in the media in 1981. Falwell's staunch pro-
Israel stance, sometimes called "
Christian Zionism", drew the support of the
Anti-Defamation League and its leader
Abraham Foxman, but they condemned what they perceived as intolerance toward Muslims in Falwell's public statements. They also criticized him for saying that "Jews can make more money accidentally than you can on purpose". In his book
Listen, America!, Falwell called the Jewish people "spiritually blind and desperately in need of their Messiah and Savior." In the 1984 book
Jerry Falwell and the Jews, Falwell is quoted saying:
Education Falwell repeatedly denounced certain teachings in
public schools and
secular education in general, calling them breeding grounds for
atheism,
secularism, and
humanism, which he claimed to be in contradiction with Christian
morality. He advocated that the U.S. change its public education system by implementing a
school voucher system that would allow parents to send their children to either public or private schools. In his book
America Can Be Saved, he wrote: "I hope I 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." Falwell supported President
George W. Bush's
Faith Based Initiative, but had strong reservations about where the funding would go and the restrictions placed on churches:
Apartheid In the 1980s Falwell said sanctions against South Africa's
apartheid regime would result in what, he felt, would be a worse situation, such as a Soviet-backed revolution. He also urged his followers to buy up gold
Krugerrands and push U.S. "reinvestment" in South Africa. In 1985 he drew the ire of many when he called
Nobel Peace Prize winner and
Anglican Archbishop
Desmond Tutu a phony "as far as representing the black people of South Africa".
The Clinton Chronicles In 1994, Falwell promoted and distributed the video documentary
The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton. The video purported to connect
Bill Clinton to a murder conspiracy involving
Vince Foster,
James McDougall,
Ron Brown, and a
cocaine-
smuggling operation. The theory was discredited, but the video sold more than 150,000 copies. The film's production costs were partly met by "Citizens for Honest Government", to which Falwell paid $200,000 in 1994 and 1995.
Views on homosexuality Falwell condemned homosexuality as forbidden by the Bible. Homosexual rights groups called Falwell an "agent of intolerance" and "the founder of the anti-gay industry" for statements he had made and for campaigning against
LGBT social movements. In urging the ordinance's repeal, Falwell told one crowd, "Gay folks would just as soon kill you as look at you." When the LGBT-friendly
Metropolitan Community Church was almost accepted into the
World Council of Churches, Falwell called them "brute beasts" and said they were "part of a vile and satanic system" that "will be utterly annihilated, and there will be a celebration in heaven". After comedian and actress
Ellen DeGeneres came out as a lesbian, Falwell referred to her in a sermon as "Ellen DeGenerate". DeGeneres responded, "Really, he called me that? Ellen DeGenerate? I've been getting that since the fourth grade. I guess I'm happy I could give him work." Falwell's legacy regarding homosexuality is complicated by his support for LGBT civil rights and his attempts to reconcile with the LGBT community in later years. In October 1999, he hosted a meeting of 200 evangelicals with 200 gay people and lesbians at Thomas Road Baptist Church for an "Anti-Violence Forum", during which he acknowledged that some evangelicals' comments about homosexuality qualified as hate speech that could incite violence. At the forum, Falwell told homosexuals in attendance, "I don't agree with your lifestyle, I will never agree with your lifestyle, but I love you" and added, "Anything that leaves the impression that we hate the sinner, we want to change that." He later told
New York Times columnist
Frank Rich that "admittedly, evangelicals have not exhibited an ability to build a bond of friendship to the gay and lesbian community. We've said ''go somewhere else, we don't need you here [at] our churches.''"
Teletubbies In February 1999, a
National Liberty Journal article (the media attributed it to Falwell) claimed that Tinky Winky, a Teletubby, was intended as a homosexual role model. The
NLJ is a Liberty University publication. A 1998
Salon article had referred to Tinky Winky's status as a gay icon. In response, Steve Rice, spokesperson for Itsy Bitsy Entertainment, which licenses
Teletubbies, a U.K. show for preschool children, in the U.S., said, "I really find it absurd and kind of offensive." The
NLJ wrote, "he is purple—the
gay pride color; and his antenna is shaped like a
triangle—the gay-pride symbol". Tinky Winky also carries a magic bag, which the
NLJ and
Salon called a purse. Falwell added, "role-modeling the gay lifestyle is damaging to the moral lives of children".
September 11 attacks Following the
September 11 attacks in 2001, Falwell said on
Pat Robertson's
The 700 Club, "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.'" In his opinion, LGBT organizations had angered God, thereby in part causing God to let the attacks happen. Falwell said the attacks were "probably deserved", a statement
Christopher Hitchens called treasonous. After heavy criticism, Falwell said that no one but the terrorists were to blame and "If I left that impression with gays or lesbians or anyone else, I apologize." Falwell was later the object of some of his followers' outrage for retracting his statements about divine judgment on the U.S. and its causes, because they had heard in his preaching for many years that the U.S. must repent of its lack of devotion to God, immoral living, and timid support of Israel if it wanted divine protection and blessing.
Labor unions Falwell said, "Labor unions should study and read the Bible instead of asking for more money. When people get right with God, they are better workers."
Relationship with American fundamentalism In her extensive ethnographic study of Falwell, cultural anthropologist Susan Friend Harding noted that he adapted his preaching to win a broader, less extremist audience as he grew famous. This manifested itself in several ways. For example, though he was a
teetotaler, Falwell no longer condemned "worldly" lifestyle choices such as dancing, drinking wine, and attending movie theaters; he softened his rhetoric predicting an apocalypse and God's vengeful wrath; and he shifted from a belief in outright
biblical patriarchy to a
complementarian view of appropriate gender roles. He also began to aim his strongest criticism at
"secular humanists",
pagans, and liberals rather than engaging in the racist, antisemitic, and
anti-Catholic rhetoric common among Southern fundamentalist preachers but increasingly condemned as
hate speech by the consensus of American society.
Islam Falwell opposed
Islam. According to
Asharq Al-Awsat, a
pan-Arab newspaper, he called Islam "satanic". In a televised interview with
60 Minutes, Falwell called
Muhammad a "terrorist", adding, "I concluded from reading Muslim and non-Muslim writers that Muhammad was a violent man, a man of war." Falwell later apologized to Muslims for what he had said about Muhammad and affirmed that he did not intend to offend "honest and peace-loving" Muslims, but he refused to remove his comments about Islam from his website. In response,
Egyptian Christian intellectuals signed a statement condemning what Falwell had said about Muhammad being a terrorist. ==Legal issues==