Missing book mystery solved

Church & State, Sep 2003 by Boston, Rob

Pennsylvania Sleuth Helps Americans United Throw The Book At Jerry Falwell

In 1979, the Rev. Jerry Falwell wrote a book he would rather you not know about today.

The tome, America Can Be Saved!, is a 162-page paperback published by Sword of the Lord Publishers in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Its cover price at the time was a modest $2.95.

Falwell had high hopes for the book. In the introduction, the Lynchburg, Va.-based televangelist noted that 11 "revival messages" are included in the volume. Pointing out that the sermons had originally appeared in Sword of the Lord magazine, Falwell wrote, "I wanted them to be published in book form by the Sword because this paper, under the dynamic leadership of Dr. John R. Rice, has done more to promote revival and holy living in America during the last 40 years than any other single organization."

Falwell went on to write about his close relationship with Rice and Sword of the Lord.

"Dr. Rice and I have been friends for years," he wrote. "He preaches in my pulpit, and I preach in his conferences. I count it a privilege for him to publish my sermons. Of all the messages I have preached, Dr. Rice picked these, and if anyone knows a revival sermon, it is Dr. Rice."

But something went wrong. The book flopped; Falwell and Sword of the Lord had a falling out. America Can Be Saved! sank into obscurity.

It didn't disappear entirely. Over the years, Falwell critics frequently resurrected one particularly inflammatory quote. On page 52, in a chapter titled "Seven Things Corrupting America," Falwell wrote, "One day, I hope in the next ten years, I trust that we will have more Christian day schools than there are public schools. 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. What a happy day that will be!"

Falwell has never hesitated to criticize public education, but as he became a national figure he seemed to realize that calling for a Christian takeover of all education was extreme. He began laboring to distance himself from that quote. In fact, he has tried to deny that he ever said it.

On April 7, 1998, I appeared with Falwell on Fox News Channel to debate the role of religion in public schools. I had come prepared and confronted Falwell with the passage from America Can Be Saved!. Falwell employed a rather surprising defense: He denied he was responsible for the book!

"That book was discredited years ago," Falwell said. "It was printed by someone without our permission. We did not print that book. Someone like you did that.... I had nothing to do with it. I had no voice in it."

These claims clashed sharply with what Falwell wrote in the book's introduction. To get to the truth of the matter, I called Sword of the Lord Publishers in Tennessee. The business manager pulled the file on the book and confirmed that it was produced with Falwell's full cooperation. Sword of the Lord's records showed that 15,213 copies of America Can Be Saved! were printed in April of 1979. The manager also expressed surprise that Falwell was now trying to deny his involvement.

Two months later, Falwell changed his story. Confronted with the quote by AU Director of Communications Joe Conn on CBS Radio's "Gil Gross Show," Falwell said, "That book was written 25 years ago by Sword of the Lord Publishers.... And they, allegedly, from hearing one of my sermons, published my sermons. We had no editing, no proofing whatsoever."

Americans United pointed out that the new explanation didn't wash either. It conflicts sharply with what Falwell wrote in 1979 in the book's introduction. In 1979 Falwell specifically stated that he wanted the sermons produced by Sword of the Lord and that the book's chapters were merely sermons he had earlier published in the organization's newspaper. Years later, he expected people to believe that Sword of the Lord issued them without his permission in some type of guerrilla publishing operation.

Unfortunately, Americans United did not have an intact copy of the book in its library, just photocopies of a few pages. In my 2000 book Close Encounters with the Religious Right, I mentioned that I was on the lookout for a copy and promised to give a lifetime membership in Americans United to the first person to send me one.

It took a few years, but someone finally has. Nicholas A. Yutko, a comic book retailer and rare book collector from Bethlehem, Pa., contacted me recently and said he had found a copy of America Can be Saved!.

Yutko, an Americans United member for more than 10 years, found the book on eBay, the popular online auction site. He paid $2.99 for it and was the only bidder.

In an e-mail message, Yutko explained that he has found many rarer books over the years and considered tracking down the Falwell tome a personal challenge.

"For the past several years, I've been doing searches of eBay at least once a week," Yutko said. "Further, I was regularly searching other online book sources. Plus, every time I went to a used book sale or a used book shop I always searched the religious books for this elusive - ahem - gem."