Falwell follies, The

The Rev. Jerry Falwell has announced a new gambit to increase his political profile as campaign 2000 heats up. Since Falwell may be more prominent in the news in the coming months, Church & State has pulled together this survey of the TV preacher's checkered history.

May 1979: Falwell, a televangelist and Baptist pastor in Lynchburg, Va., is recruited by far-right activists Howard Phillips, Ed McAteer and Paul Weyrich to form the Moral Majority, a vehicle for bringing fundamentalist Protestants into the Republican Party with the aim of unseating President Jimmy Carter. The move was an about-face for Falwell, who advised his congregation in 1965, "Preachers are not called to be politicians but soul winners."

March 1980: Falwell tells an Anchorage rally about a conversation with President Carter at the White House. Commenting on a January breakfast meeting, Falwell claimed to have asked Carter why he had "practicing homosexuals" on the senior staff at the White House. According to Falwell, Carter replied, "Well, I am president of all the American people, and I believe I should represent everyone." When others who attended the White House event insisted that the exchange never happened, Falwell responded that his account "was not intended to be a verbatim report," but rather an "honest portrayal" of Carter's position.

August 1980: After Southern Baptist Convention President Bailey Smith tells a Dallas Religious Right gathering that "God Almighty does not hear the prayer of a Jew," Falwell gives a similar view. I do not believe:' he told reporters, "that God answers the prayer of any unredeemed Gentile or Jew:' After a meeting with an American Jewish Committee rabbi, he changed course, telling an interviewer on NBC's "Meet the Press" that "God hears the prayers of all persons... God hears everything."

1980-81: After the election of Ronald Reagan, the Moral Majority begins advocating for constitutional amendments banning abortion and restoring school-sponsored prayer. The group also demands tax aid to religious education. September 1982: Falwell announces a drive to register 1 million new voters before the November elections.

July 1984: Falwell is forced to pay gay activist Jerry Sloan $5,000 after losing a court battle. During a TV debate in Sacramento, Falwell denied calling the gay-oriented Metropolitan Community Churches "brute beasts" and "a vile and Satanic system" that will "one day be utterly annihilated and there will be a celebration in heaven." When Sloan insisted he had a tape, Falwell promised $5,000 if he could produce it. Sloan did so, Falwell refused to pay and Sloan successfully sued. Falwell appealed, with his attorney charging that the Jewish judge in the case was prejudiced. He lost again and was forced to pay an additional $2,875 in sanctions and court fees.

November 1984: Reports from the Federal Election Commission indicate that Falwell's I Love America Committee," a political action committee formed in 1983, was a flop. The PAC raised $485,000 in its first year-but spent $413,000 to do so.

May 1985: Falwell apologizes to a Jewish group for seeking a "Christian" America. From now on, he says, he will use the term "JudeoChristian."

January 1987: Falwell holds a Washington news conference to announce that he is changing the name of the Moral Majority to the Liberty Foundation. The new name never catches on and is soon abandoned.

October 1987: The Federal Election Commission fines Falwell $6,000 for transferring $6.7 million in funds intended for his ministry to political committees.

November 1987: Falwell tells reporters he is stepping down as head of the Moral Majority and, retiring from politics. "From now on, my real platform is the pulpit, not politics:' he says at a news conference.

February 1988: The U.S. Supreme Court strikes down a $200,000 jury award to Falwell for "emotional distress" he suffered because of a Hustler magazine parody. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, usually a Falwell favorite, wrote the unanimous opinion in Hustler v Falwell, ruling that the First Amendment protects free speech.

June 1989: Falwell announces that the Moral Majority will shut down its offices and disband.

January 1991: Siding with Americans United, the Virginia Supreme Court unanimously rejects Falwell's quest for $60 million in state bonds for his Liberty University. During the litigation, Falwell tried to camouflage the school's rigidly fundamentalist character, telling the court that the school would no longer discriminate in hiring or force students to attend mandatory chapel (renamed convocation). All the while, Falwell assured his congregation that Liberty had not changed, insisting chapel will be mandatory "until Jesus comes."

January 1993: In the wake of Bill Clinton's election to the presidency, Falwell mails fund-raising letters nationwide asking people to vote on whether he should reactivate the Moral Majority. He later refuses to say how much money the effort raised and tells reporters he has no intention of reactivating the organization.