God's Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the American Right

by Michael Sean Winters

Overview

An acclaimed reporter presents the first major biography of the legendary, and divisive, conservative pastor who reshaped the landscape of American politics—Jerry Falwell. At a time when the Tea Party movement is dominating much of America's social and political discourse, the story of Falwell's Moral Majority will resonate strongly. Indeed, Falwell’s language may sound familiar to anyone who has heard recent speeches by figures like Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, or Michelle Bachmann.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062098726
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/15/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	461
File size:	53 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Michael Sean Winters has written for publications including The New Republic, the New York Times, The Washington Post, Washingtonian, Slate.com, and America. He is a journalist for National Catholic Reporter and lives in Washington, D.C.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

1 The Prodigal: Falwell's Early Years 13

2 The Road to Damascus: Falwell's Conversion 29

3 The Preacher: Founding Thomas Road Baptist Church 47

4 Family of Faith 67

5 Building a Religious Empire 79

6 Wading into the Religious-Political Estuary 95

7 Starting the Moral Majority 113

8 Proximity to Power 157

9 The Moral Majority Matures 195

10 The First Amendment: Falwell v. Flynt 251

11 The Perils ou Power: Political Missteps 275

12 Scandal and Retrenchment 305

13 Liberty University: The Next Generation of Culture Warriors 331

14 Back in Opposition: The Clinton Years 355

15 Falwell's Last Years: Controversy and Consolation 373

Epilogue 389

Acknowledgments 397

Notes 401

Index 427

What People are Saying About This

George Stephanopoulos

“Left at the Altar describes the Democratic party’s fickle relationship with faith and values voters with passion and insight. Michael Sean Winters has lived, worked in, and studied this world. No one knows it-or tells the story-better.”

Editorial Reviews

A blogger for National Catholic Reporter, Winters has written a balanced and highly readable account of the controversial pastor who roused evangelicals and mobilized them to engage in public life. Winters doesn’t fawn over Falwell nor ridicule him, but instead provides a critical assessment of his strengths and weaknesses. Readers will find the personable and friendly Falwell, capable of befriending Ted Kennedy and Larry Flynt, as well as the shrill and divisive Falwell, who accused producers of The Teletubbies of modeling gay sexuality to children, or warning that the United States does not deserve to survive if Roe v. Wade is not overturned. Love him or hate him, Falwell had an extraordinary ability to capture the public spotlight and shape the culture wars in ways that resonate today. This biography is especially useful as a snapshot of America’s religious and political fortunes during the second half of the 20th century. Winters offers provocative theories along the way. He suggests, for example, that conservative Southerners like Falwell transferred the racial superiority they had lost in the wake of integration into a national superiority that conflated patriotism with religious faith. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Winters credits Falwell with leading a movement that registered and motivated millions of voters. His legacy will be bringing a vast group of religious citizens into the voting booth. It is already hard to imagine our political landscape without them.

Commentary

Left at the Altar describes the Democratic party’s fickle relationship with faith and values voters with passion and insight. Michael Sean Winters has lived, worked in, and studied this world. No one knows it-or tells the story-better.

George Stephanopoulos

A sympathetic biography of the man who, for good or ill, became "the face of Christianity to millions of Americans" in the 1980s. A successful pastor and pioneering televangelist who built his Thomas Road Baptist Church from 36 members to a megachurch of thousands, Jerry Falwell (1933–2007) was distressed that as America descended into what he considered moral anarchy, Christianity was represented in the political arena primarily by complicit liberal clergy. He saw government oppression in Supreme Court rulings and IRS policies, and he rallied conservatives to a defense of their values with "a fighting faith, a muscular Christianity ready to do battle, not reach an accommodation, with the forces of secularization at work in the mainstream culture." Winters (Left at the Altar: How the Democrats Lost the Catholics and How the Catholics Can Save the Democrats, 2008, etc.) effectively describes the worldview of a fundamentalist Baptist pastor that informed all of Falwell's actions. He did not fully comprehend the pluralistic values of the society he wanted to reform, or the difficulties of promoting a morality grounded in religion within the politics of a secular culture. He was capable of forming lasting personal friendships with such opposing figures as Ted Kennedy and Larry Flynt, and yet his goals and intolerant rhetoric were often deeply hurtful and offensive to millions; as Flynt put it to him, "You don't need to poison the whole lake with your venom." Winters focuses primarily on Falwell's political activities as a leader of the Moral Majority; an account of his parallel career as a pastor must await a more comprehensive biography. The author presents a thorough if indulgent account of Falwell's rise to national prominence, including the temptations, conundrums and missteps that befell him as his deepening involvement in politics drew him far afield from the biblical roots of his thinking. Falwell achieved few of the Moral Majority's goals, but he reshaped the Republican Party and national politics. An illuminating biography, though Winters is often too forgiving of Falwell's trespasses.

Kirkus Reviews