F - Past Witnesses
- Jerry Falwell -
jerry falwell
March 19, 2023: Foreign Policy: How U.S. Evangelicals Helped Homophobia Flourish in Africa
That same rhetoric drawing connections between homosexuality and pedophilia has remained largely unchanged from how evangelicals created panic around gay people in the early days of the anti-gay movement. In a 1981 letter, U.S. preacher Jerry Falwell described gay people as out to “recruit,” saying “many of them are out after my children and your children” and that they “must not be recruited to a profane lifestyle.” Falwell also added that gay people threatened families because they didn’t reproduce.
That same rhetoric drawing connections between homosexuality and pedophilia has remained largely unchanged from how evangelicals created panic around gay people in the early days of the anti-gay movement. In a 1981 letter, U.S. preacher Jerry Falwell described gay people as out to “recruit,” saying “many of them are out after my children and your children” and that they “must not be recruited to a profane lifestyle.” Falwell also added that gay people threatened families because they didn’t reproduce.
July 13, 2020: Baptist News Global: California and the making of American evangelicalism
Understanding the development of evangelicalism in the American West helps explain the rise of the Moral Majority and its support for yet another California Republican who ran for president in 1980 — Ronald Regan. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were not inventing a new way for evangelical Christians to engage with American politics out of thin air; rather they were building upon a tradition of evangelical engagement with American politics. This engagement continues to the present day.
Understanding the development of evangelicalism in the American West helps explain the rise of the Moral Majority and its support for yet another California Republican who ran for president in 1980 — Ronald Regan. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were not inventing a new way for evangelical Christians to engage with American politics out of thin air; rather they were building upon a tradition of evangelical engagement with American politics. This engagement continues to the present day.
May 27, 2018: New York Times: The Evangelical Fight to Win Back California
Franklin Graham stood in a packed locker room at the Rose Bowl, surrounded by fellow evangelists, pastors, and his top Los Angeles donors. It was two weeks before the California primary, and Mr. Graham was urging them to take a stand against their state’s “blue wall.”
The blue wall of California, Mr. Graham told the gathering, represents secular values that have taken root on the country’s west coast.
Franklin Graham stood in a packed locker room at the Rose Bowl, surrounded by fellow evangelists, pastors, and his top Los Angeles donors. It was two weeks before the California primary, and Mr. Graham was urging them to take a stand against their state’s “blue wall.”
The blue wall of California, Mr. Graham told the gathering, represents secular values that have taken root on the country’s west coast.