Falwell, Jerry

Falwell, Jerry

(1933– ) Protestant evangelist; born in Lynchburg, Va. He studied engineering, then turned to religious studies after a conversion. In 1956 he founded a Baptist church in Lynchburg. He later launched an extremely popular television program, "The Old-Time Gospel Hour," and established Liberty Baptist College. From 1979 onward his Moral Majority became a political force for advancing the social agenda of the religious right, although after 1990 he withdrew from the more public and political sphere to concentrate on his preaching. He wrote Listen, America! (1980) and Wisdom for Living (1984).