Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. biography at QuotationFun

A Short Biography of Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr.

Author Name:

Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr.

Born As:

Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr.

Other Names:

Born:

11 Aug 1933

Died:

15 May 2007




author picture
Evangelical fundamentalist Southern Baptist pastor                          
                          
Parents Helen and Carey Hezekiah Falwell. Jerry's father was a  onetime bootlegger and agnostic, and grandfather was an Atheist. 
Three children.                          
Founding pastor of the Thomas Road Baptist Church - 1956
Founded Lynchburg Christian Academy, now Liberty Christian Academy - 1967
Liberty University - 1971
Co-founded the Moral Majority - 1979.                          
In November 1983, Larry Flynt's pornographic magazine Hustler carried a parody advertisement of a Campari ad, featuring a fake interview with Falwell in which he admits that his "first time" was incest with his mother in an outhouse while drunk. Falwell sued for $45 million in compensation alleging invasion of privacy, libel, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. After a civil trial, known as Falwell vs. Flynt, which lasted from December 3–8, 1984, a jury rejected the invasion of privacy and libel claims, holding that the parody could not have reasonably been taken to describe true events, but ruled in favor of Falwell on the emotional distress claim and ordered Larry Flynt to pay Falwell damages in the amount of $200,000. This was upheld on appeal. Flynt then appealed to the Supreme Court, winning a unanimous decision on February 24, 1988. The ruling held that public figures cannot circumvent First Amendment protections by attempting to recover damages based on emotional distress suffered from parodies. The decision in favor of Flynt strengthened free speech rights in the United States in relation to parodies of public figures.