Jerry Falwell Jr. facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jerry Falwell Jr.
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Falwell in 2019
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| 4th President of Liberty University | |
| In office May 15, 2007 – August 25, 2020 |
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| Preceded by | Jerry Falwell Sr. |
| Succeeded by | Jerry Prevo |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Jerry Lamon Falwell Jr.
June 17, 1962 Lynchburg, Virginia, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse |
Becki Tilley
(m. 1987) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents | Jerry Falwell Sr. Macel Pate Falwell |
| Relatives | Jonathan Falwell (brother) |
| Education | Liberty University (BA) University of Virginia (JD) |
Jerry Lamon Falwell Jr. (/ˈfɔːlwɛl/; born June 17, 1962) is an American attorney, former academic administrator, and evangelical. Starting with his 2007 appointment upon the death of his father, televangelist and conservative activist Jerry Falwell Sr., Falwell served as the president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, until resigning in August 2020.
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Early life and education
Jerry Falwell Jr. was born on June 17, 1962, the eldest son of Jerry Sr. and Macel Falwell (née Pate). He attended private schools in the Lynchburg area, including Lynchburg Christian Academy (later renamed as Liberty Christian Academy), from where he graduated in 1980. He then attended Liberty University, where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts in history and religious studies in 1984, and the University of Virginia School of Law, where he obtained a Juris Doctor in 1987.
Career
From 1987 until 2007, Falwell served in private practice in Virginia and as the lawyer for Liberty University and its related organizations. He joined the Board of Trustees of the university in 2000.
2007–2020: Liberty University
As part of a succession plan the elder Falwell laid out before his death, Jerry Jr. was to be entrusted with Liberty University while Jerry Sr.'s other son, Jonathan Falwell, inherited the ministry at Thomas Road Baptist Church. The decisions were rooted in each's personality: Jerry Jr. had aggressive business instincts, and Jonathan was more charismatic and interested in ministry. This succession plan took effect when Jerry Sr. died in 2007.
Under Falwell Jr., Liberty University came under scrutiny for its alleged authoritarian control over employees and students, nepotism toward Falwell family-owned businesses in the school's investments, and increasing influence of Falwell's wife Becki in school affairs. Beginning in 2001, Falwell had established two companies for the purpose of making property deals with Liberty-affiliated nonprofits, and his two sons and their wives were on Liberty's payroll. A 2019 Politico article described the university as a "dictatorship" in which Falwell ruled through fear; it also reported that the university had sold merchandise promoting Donald Trump's presidential campaign. Falwell's leadership also came under fire in a letter signed by members of Congress, Andy Levin and Jamie Raskin, to Betsy DeVos, which claimed that Falwell personally blocked students from writing student columns critical of Trump. A Reuters investigation, published in August 2019, alleged that Falwell signed a real estate deal in 2016 that transferred the university's sports facilities to his personal trainer, who did not put down any money for the deal. The publication reported that instead, Liberty immediately paid almost $650,000 to the trainer, who now owned the property, to lease the property for nine years.
On August 24, 2020, it was reported that Falwell had agreed to resign from Liberty University. Falwell immediately denied this, while the university claimed that negotiations were ongoing. On August 25, both Falwell and Liberty University confirmed that he had resigned. Because he is leaving his position without a formal accusation or admission of wrongdoing, Falwell will receive a $10.5 million severance package.
After his departure, Liberty opened an investigation into his past personal entanglement in the school's finances and real estate. Transactions that personally benefit an individual could jeopardize Liberty's tax-exempt status. In October 2020, Falwell sued Liberty University for damaging his reputation, but in December 2020 dropped the lawsuit.
On April 15, 2021, Liberty University sued Falwell for $40 million in damages for breach of contract and violation of fiduciary duty. In November 2021, Falwell revived his defamation lawsuit against Liberty University.
Possible governmental positions
In November 2016, Falwell said that President-elect Donald Trump had offered him the position of United States secretary of education, but that he had turned down the offer citing personal reasons and because he did not want to leave Liberty University for more than two years. In January 2017, Falwell said that he had been asked by President Trump to head a task force on reforms for the United States Department of Education. In June 2017, Falwell confirmed to the Chronicle of Higher Education that he would be one of 15 college presidents participating in the task force. The task force was never formed.
Political views
Homosexuality and LGBT rights
In 1981, in a letter asking for support in keeping his "Old-Time Gospel Hour" television program on the air, Falwell spoke out against the "Homosexual Revolution", saying "With God as my witness, I pledge that I’ll continue to expose the sin of homosexuality to the people of this nation. I believe that the massive homosexual revolution is always a symptom of a nation coming under the judgement of God."
In October 1999, at the invitation of his longstanding friend, Soulforce founder Mel White, Falwell hosted a meeting of 200 gays and lesbians and 200 members of his own congregation in Lynchburg, in a debate over gay rights. Falwell said during the meeting that his views about homosexuality were unchanged, but that he would moderate his rhetoric. In the follow-up Frontline interview, Falwell echoed views declared by his father that homosexuality was a sin "forbidden by the Bible", and said that "ex-gays" had said, "They believe that they chose in and they chose out."
In April 2009, following the Miss USA same-sex marriage controversy, Falwell offered a full scholarship to Carrie Prejean, a beauty pageant contestant who stated during the Miss USA pageant:
Well I think it's great that Americans are able to choose one way or the other. We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite marriage. You know what, in my country, in my family, I think I believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman, no offense to anybody out there. But that's how I was raised and I believe that it should be between a man and a woman.
In August 2013, Falwell announced that if the federal government forced recipients of its aid to comply with LGBTQ discrimination protections, he would forgo the money. In March 2019, Falwell again caused controversy among LGBT advocates at Liberty University when he said his granddaughter would be "raised according to her God-given gender".
Muslims
Speaking of the 2015 San Bernardino attack, Falwell stated during the university's 2015 convocation that if "some of those people had got what I have in my back pocket right now," the attack would not have happened. He said that he was astounded that Barack Obama believed more gun control was the best response to the attack.
Donald Trump
On January 26, 2016, Falwell endorsed Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election, causing some Liberty University alumni and other evangelicals to express concern that Falwell had "sold his soul." It was later revealed, in a secretly recorded conversation with comedian Tom Arnold that Trump's personal lawyer and "fixer" Michael Cohen, had helped Falwell recover compromising photos prior to securing his endorsement. On July 21, 2016, at the RNC convention in Cleveland, Ohio, Falwell Jr. called Trump "America's blue collar billionaire" and "one of the greatest visionaries of our time".
In an August 19, 2016 editorial in The Washington Post, Falwell compared Trump to Winston Churchill. A group called the Red Letter Christians criticized Falwell for the pivotal role he played in "forging the alliance between white evangelicals and Donald J. Trump, who won 81 percent of their vote." Trump, who is a personal friend of Falwell's, gave the commencement address in 2017 at Liberty University in Lynchburg, a city which has been described by The New York Times as "the heart of pro-Trump evangelical Christianity".
Israel
In June 2016, Falwell expressed support for Israel when Liberty University moved to invest $5 million of its endowment in Israel. Falwell stated, "Liberty is glad to be part of supporting the only democracy that's a close ally of the United States [in an area] that is in such turmoil right now."
In April 2017, Falwell referred to Trump as the "dream president" for evangelicals and cited "reuniting Israel with America" and Trump's appointment of "people of faith" in his administration as the reasons why evangelicals support Trump.
Personal life
Jerry Falwell Jr. is married to Becki Tilley and lives on a farm in Bedford County, Virginia. The couple have three children, including businessman Jerry "Trey" Falwell III. Before being let go by the university in 2021, Jerry Falwell Jr. was the president of university operations at Liberty University. Falwell Jr. also owns the Alton Hostel (also called the Miami Hostel) in Miami's South Beach.
