Archive: Rev. Jerry Falwell
Veteran CBS News White House Correspondent Bill Plante brings a top political expert into the Smoke-Filled Room each week to answer your questions. This week's guest is White House Rev. Jerry Falwell. Founder of the conservative Moral Majority, Falwell has become a lightning rod on a wide array of moral and social issues.
Plante: Our first viewer JBD asks "What are your feelings on the United States offering PNTR to China?"
Falwell: While many of my good conservative friends may disagree, I feel that China is nowhere near ready, in terms of human rights, and especially religious freedom, for recognition of Permanent Normal Trade Relations. As head of a worldwide ministry and Chancellor of Liberty University, we are affiliated with many missionaries and evangelistic organizations that are telling us of widespread instances of beatings, torture, imprisonment, confiscation of property and harassment of Christians in China. Earlier this year on my weekly television program, Listen America, I had as my guest one of the leading House Church pastors in China who had escaped from prison in 1997 and is now living in exile in Europe. Because of his fear that Chinese agents are looking for him, we had to keep him silhouetted in black. It took a great deal of pressure to even get the State Department to grant him a temporary visa to allow him to come to the United States and tell his story. He described for us the tremendous persecution that Christians are enduring at the hands of the communist government.
And just last week on our program, Lt. Col. Robert McGinnis of the Family Research Council told our viewers that in addition to persecution of Christians, the Chinese government is also guilty of forcing women who violate their population control policy to undergo forced abortions. In addition, there are reports that prisoners are being killed and their body parts sold for cash, all with the blessing of the Chinese government.
I realize that the discussion on extending PNTR to China has created some strange political bedfellows, between evangelical and conservative groups on one side and radical environmentalists and labor unions on the other. But I have to say that whether Democrat or Republican, any congressman that votes in favor of PNTR for China simply because it's "good for business" is selling our national soul for a mess of pottage.
Plante: "What do you think of a constitutional amendment banning pornography?" AW123 would like to know.
Falwell: My first reaction is to think that such an amendment should not be necessary because it should be obvious to our Supreme Court that the First Amendment was never meant to cover pornography any more than it was meant to protect someone who falsely cries “fire” in a crowed theater. That being said, it is time to realize that the Congress should perhaps begin o set into motion the process whereby the American people will do what the Supreme Court has refused to do; that is put a stop to the rampant spread of pornography. Passing a constitutional amendment resolution in both houses of Congress that would then be ratified by three-fourths of the states would be a pretty good means of testing the resolve of the American people towards the prevention of pornography. The harmful effects of pornography are well documented over many years. Now with the explosion of the Internet, pornographers can reach directly into our homes. As a pastor I can tell you of stories where fathers have become addicted to pornography through the Internet and have abandoned their wife and children.
Plante: D. L. VanHook asks "What are your feelings on gun control? Don't you think that rather than concentrating on gun control regulation, we should be concerned about what makes people shoot other folks?"
Falwell: I wholeheartedly agree. Gun control is not the issue. The decay of our society in regards to basic morality and respect for human life is the issue. I think the Clinton Administration has the focus all wrong. Trigger locks and waiting periods will do nothing for the criminal who is able to purchase a gun on the black market at any time. Even if the Congress were to pass very restrictive gun control legislation, (which I believe would be in violation of the Second Amendment), and declare a "war on guns,' I have no reason to believe it would be any more successful than our 30 year war on drugs has been. What we need is stricter enforcement of the gun laws already on the books, not more laws. It is a travesty that criminals in this nation, who have committed violent crimes with a gun or otherwise, are out walking the streets after minimal jail time.
Plante: "Do you believe that there has been an orchestrated attempt on the part of the Bush campaign to marginalize the Christian Coalition?" Ryan is curious.
Falwell: First of all, let me state for the record, that while I admire the work of the Christian Coalition and Pat Robertson, I am in no way a part of this organization nor have any influence over their activities. At the same time, I don't agree that the Bush campaign has tried to marginalize the Christian Coalition. I do believe there are certain elements of both major political parties whose main interest is driving religiously-motivated citizens from the public square, to their own detriment. I think of Sen. John McCain, who took his campaign straight down after his disparaging remarks toward people of faith in his Virginia Beach speech. Former Republican Warren Rudman, Clinton advisor James Carville and Vice President Al Gore all have attacked conservative Christians for being involved in the political process.
Plante: "If you feel strongly that Christians and the church have a moral obligation to participate in politics n one form or another, does it not therefore have a moral obligation to pay taxes?" questions Straczynski.
Falwell: There is no logical connection between churches exerting a moral influence on the culture and their taxability. Churches, like the Red Cross, Salvation Army and other charitable organizations are involved in many ways that benefit society as a whole, thereby reducing the burden on government. Like these organizations, churches should be afforded tax exemption, but should not be muzzled in exerting moral influence.
Plante: Who do you think would make a good running mate for George W. Bush and why?
Plante: What are your thoughts on John McCain and his apparent disdain for the Christian right?
Falwell: Senator McCain is an American hero whom I admire greatly. He was given bad advice by his political advisors which resulted in the collapse of his campaign.
Plante: "How hopeful are you that George Bush will name pro-life judges to the Supreme Court?" asks Dorothy. "He says that he won't use a person's position on abortion as a litmus test."
Falwell: I am willing to trust Gov. Bush to make a wise choice in all of his appointees.
Plante: Do you regret being a part of the "Clinton Chronicles" which associated the Clintons with various murders in Arkansas?
Falwell: I offered the video along with other information that the national media was refusing to investigate. I never claimed to believe all the allegations. However, many of the charges in the "Clinton Chronicles" were later confirmed by others, which led to the President's impeachment in the house. If my distribution of this tape, which we did not produce, resulted in the President's impeachment, I am glad we participated.
Plante: Peg C. notes "There has not been much reaction to the news of Rudy Guiliani's forthcoming separation and his involvement with another woman. Do you think this a result of the Clinton/Lewinsky affair? It appears that the American public really doesn't care what officials do in their private lives, as long as they perform their public duties responsibly."
Falwell: I personally feel that both President Clinton and Mayor Guiliani should withdraw from political office just as Bob Livingston and Newt Gingrich did. But there's no question that Bill Clinton has lowered the moral bar for political officeholders in America.
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