Falwell, Jerry Lamon [key], 1933–2007, American fundamentalist Baptist pastor, b. Lynchburg, Va. A popular preacher and founder of the Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Falwell began (1968) airing his services on television on a program that was later named “The Old-Time Gospel Hour.” Falwell also founded (1979) and led (1979–87) the Moral Majority, an organization devoted to reestablishing traditional religious values in the national consciousness through support of conservative political candidates (see also fundamentalism). In 1980 he founded the Liberty Baptist Fellowship, a fundamentalist Baptist denomination, and he was chancellor of Liberty Univ., which he founded as Lynchburg Baptist College in 1971.
See W. H. Capps, The New Religious Right (1990).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Protestant Christianity: Biographies
