Jerry Falwell and the Rise of the Religious Right
A Brief History with DocumentsFirst Edition ©2013
As one of the most media-savvy ministers in U.S. history, Jerry Falwell figured prominently in the political mobilization of religious conservatives in the 1970s and early 1980s. Falwell’s life and work touched on almost all of the major issues of the time period: the cold war, changing gender ro...
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As one of the most media-savvy ministers in U.S. history, Jerry Falwell figured prominently in the political mobilization of religious conservatives in the 1970s and early 1980s. Falwell’s life and work touched on almost all of the major issues of the time period: the cold war, changing gender roles, civil rights, the revitalization of American conservatism, and the Reagan revolution. In his introductory essay, Matthew Avery Sutton traces Falwell’s politicization and rise to celebrity status, using Falwell as a lens through which to view the larger movement. More than two dozen primary documents focus on the Religious Right’s emergence in the 1970s as a powerful political force and present students with first-hand accounts of the era’s culture wars. The thematically arranged documents – including sermons, letters, speeches, interviews, court documents, and children’s books – provide an up-close look at the motivations and aspirations of the Religious Right. Photographs, document headnotes, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography provide additional pedagogical support.
"Sutton has done an excellent job of selecting documents from a range of genres and viewpoints that give readers a balanced and comprehensive understanding of conservative evangelical political culture. It is the best anthology of Religious Right primary source materials available." — Daniel Williams, University of West Georgia "Suttons introduction is one of the best discussions of the Religious Right out there. It is a very fair-handed account of a group that generates lots of heat from both sides." — Malcolm D. Magee, Michigan State University"Along with his insightful short history of the American religious right, Matthew Suttons well-chosen collection of documents illuminates not just the public life of Jerry Falwell, but the larger theological and cultural world in which he rose to such prominence. Historians, political scientists, and other teachers will find this an excellent pedagogical resource."
— Nelson Lichtenstein, University of California, Santa Barbara
"Suttons account of Falwell and the origins of the Religious Right is brisk, lucid, and persuasive."
— David Harrington Watt, Temple University
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
List of Illustrations PART ONE. Introduction: Evangelicals and the Reconstruction of American Politics and Culture Making Jerry Falwell The Origins of American Fundamentalism Remaking American Evangelicalism Race and the Politicalization of American Evangelicals Focusing on the Family Building the Religious Right The Moral Majority and the Reagan Revolution Beyond the Moral Majority PART TWO. The Documents 1. Modern Evangelicalism Comes of Age 1. Harold John Ockenga, The "New" Evangelicalism, 1957 2. Billy Graham, A Christian America, March 1955 3. Hal Lindsay, The Late Great Planet Earth, 1970 4. Chicago Declaration of Evangelical Social Concern, November 25, 1973 5. Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto, 1981 2. Race and Religious Activism 6. Nelson Bell, A Southern Evangelical on Integration, August 17, 1955 7. Carl McIntire, A Minister Denounces the Civil Rights Act, March 26, 1964 8. Jerry Falwell, Ministers and Marches, 1965 9. Bob Jones University v. United States, 1981, 1983 10. Clarence Hilliard, Down with the Honky Christ, January 30, 1976 3. The Battle for the Schools 11. Engel v. Vitale and the End of Official School Prayer, 1962 12. Tim LaHaye, A Christian View of Radical Sex Education, 1969 13. The Benefits of Lynchburg Christian Academy, Advertisement, 1975 14. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, God in American History, 1977 15. Duane Gish, Dinosaurs and Young-Earth Creationism, 1977 4. Focusing on the Family 16. Carl F. H. Henry, Abortion: An Evangelical View, February 1971 17. The House Debates Pro-Life Civil Disobedience, 1985, 1986 18. Interview with Anita Bryant on Homosexuality, May 1978 19. Jerry Falwell, Homosexuality: Is It an Acceptable Lifestyle?, 1978 20. Marabel Morgan, The Total Woman, 1973 21. Interview with Phyllis Schlafly on the Equal Rights Amendment, November 1978 5. God and the G.O.P. 22. Pat Robertson, Action Plan for the 1980s, 1979 23. Jerry Falwell, Organizing the Moral Majority, 1980 24. Evangelicals Share Their Concerns with President Jimmy Carter, January 21, 1980 25. Ronald Reagan, Remarks at the Annual Convention of the National Association of Evangelicals, March 8, 1983 26. Ronald Regan, Remarks at an Ecumenical Prayer Breakfast in Dallas, Texas, August 23, 1984 27. Larry Flynt, A Pornographers Eulogy for Jerry Falwell, May 20, 2007 Appendixes A Chronology of the Religious Right (1925-2007) Questions for Consideration Selected BibliographyIndex
Authors
Matthew Avery Sutton
Matthew Avery Sutton (Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara) is associate professor of history at Washington State University. He is the author of Aimee Semple McPherson and the Resurrection of Christian America, which later served as the basis for the PBS American Experience documentary on this subject. His articles have appeared in several historical journals including the Journal of American History as well as the New York Times and he has received research fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Woodrow Wilson Fellowship Foundation.
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