Preacher Who Built the Religious Right -- LA Times Obituary

There is so much out there today on Jerry Falwell. Not surprising considering his influence. He was coming on the scene even as I was beginning to pay attention to faith issues -- back in the early/mid 1970s. I was a Conservative back then and was in tune with his ideals -- but that didn't last.

This morning's LA Times carries an excellent in depth article about Falwell and his influence written by Stephanie Simon. It's well worth reading, so click here and see what you think.

A genial man in person, with a heart for the quiet, humbling work of a small-town pastor, Falwell made his public name with blistering attacks against what he saw as the moral decay gnawing at American society: legalized abortion, homosexuality, pornography, godless liberalism.

He poured that outrage into creating a new model for Christian engagement with the world. The result was the Moral Majority, which Falwell founded in 1979 after consultations with theologians and political strategists.

The group was credited with helping to elect Ronald Reagan president and a slate of Republicans to Congress in 1980. In the next two years, Falwell claimed to build a mailing list of about 7 million religious conservatives determined to express their faith at the ballot box.

Today, in an era when the religious right is an acknowledged force in American politics, the Moral Majority seems unremarkable.

In 1979, it was a startling vision.

Indeed, and it has proven to be a polarizing one as well.