The legacy of Jerry Falwell

I've learned over the years not to speak ill of the dead, so I'm in a bit of a quandary about what to say about Jerry Falwell now that he has died. I certainly am sorry that he died in the manner that he did. Nonetheless, I stand opposed to the type of Christianity he practiced. Falwell was a complicated man--no person who achieves the kind of status that he achieved could be anything other than complicated. So, in an attempt not to speak ill of the dead, I'll share a bit of analysis that comes from a source I trust.

Dr. Bill Leonard is the dean of Wake Forest Divinity School and a church historian who specializes in Baptist life. I've heard him speak on a number of occasions and have several of his books. His analysis of the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention is worth reading not only for understanding Southern Baptists but for understanding the resurgence of fundamentalist and evangelical Christians in American life at the end of the 1970's. I believe his analysis is perhaps the deepest available on who Falwell was and what he will be remembered for. This comes from an article published by Associated Baptist Press.


Baptist historian Bill Leonard said Falwell's penchant for rhetoric coupled with personal warmness was a legacy of his independent Baptist background.

The three hallmarks of that tradition, Leonard said, were that Falwell was "an absolute … opponent of liberalism politically and theologically," that he embraced "an unashamed commitment to church growth, meaning that numbers proved theological orthodoxy" and that he was "a pulpit controversialist who uses rhetoric to encourage an often-fearful constituency that sees the world encroaching and to beat up on -- indeed, create -- enemies."

Leonard, dean of the divinity school at Wake Forest University, continued: "I think his modus operandi was … not inconsistent with certain fundamentalist megachurch pastors in that independent Baptist tradition. When you met them, they were good-old-boy pastors. So, they were fun to be with; they were jokesters; they had larger-than-life personalities. But when the issues came down, they took no prisoners."

And, he added, "once they're gone, you have this body of absolutely outlandish sound-bites."

Leonard said Falwell struggled throughout his public career to walk a tightrope between his hard-core fundamentalist base and the larger public he was trying to woo to his side.

"His power base is with a group of people who agree with all of those statements -- about gays, about Catholics, about abortion, about the Democratic Party and the Clintons," Leonard said. "So, he's got to talk that talk to keep them with him. But then that talk that they applaud and think is Christian conviction sounds like bigotry when it its broadcast in the public square -- and that is when he had to apologize."

A new generation of evangelical leaders, Leonard said, has learned how to tread that line more carefully than did Falwell. Many younger evangelicals are increasingly interested in a broader view of the church's role in encouraging public morality than the sex-related matters that consumed much of the late preacher's rhetoric.

The mainstream media has focused upon Falwell's impact upon politics through his work with the Moral Majority, however, I believe that the true impact he has had upon American culture will be felt within the religious realm, especially in the way he modelled for a generation of fundamentalist Christians that the heart of Christianity was not the humble sacrifice of Jesus but the accumulation of wealth and power so prevalent in American culture.

Grace and Peace,

Chase