In light of the news coming out of SCOTUS today I'm replaying an episode from our Falwell series that explains exactly how we got here in the fight for reproductive health. HINT: it has a lot to do with racism and power and very little to do with unborn babies.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/vile-virginia-a-true-crime-podcast--4092316/support.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/vile-virginia-a-true-crime-podcast--4092316/support.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:04):
Hello, friends, I'm your host, Jenny. Welcome to Vile, Virginia.
(00:34):
By nineteen seventy one, when hefounded Lynchburg Bible College, which would
later become Liberty University, Jerry Fallwellhad become a one man religious juggernaut.
Thomas Road Baptist Church had membership inthe thousands. The sermons were syndicated and
piped into homes all across the country. He was on the radio and on
TV, and he had trained upthousands in the ways of witnessing, His
(00:57):
minions spreading across the country to sharethe good news of g and signed more
people up for Jerry's ever expanding mailingness. He had started his church when he
was just twenty two years old,quickly becoming the face of modern American evangelicalism
and providing a roadmap for the megachurchesthat would eventually pop up in every corner
of America. But Jerry had biggergoals than just conquering the religious landscape.
(01:22):
He was thirty eight years old,and he wanted America. I'm a big
believer that much of human history hingeson the machinations of a handful of charismatic
people who happened to be in theright place at the right time. When
I say right place, right time, I don't mean that in a necessarily
good way. I mean that,through some cosmic weirdness, there are random
(01:45):
people who happen to find themselves ina position to have an outsized impact on
the world around them. And asa student of history, that's a frustrating
thing to see. Random people,people like you and me, who have
opinions and thoughts and feelings somehow getto imprint those random thoughts and feelings on
the entire world with no qualification otherthan they wanted to. Gav Lu princip
(02:10):
is one. He's the guy whoshot Archduke Franz Ferdinand in nineteen fourteen,
lighting the match that would literally burnEurope to the ground. We can see
that in American politics now, withpeople like Mitch McConnell and Joe Mansion to
otherwise unimpressive and uninteresting and wealthy whitemen who get to dictate how the rest
of us live in a very realway, men who don't have the popular
(02:32):
support of everyone who lives in thiscountry, who have small margins of support,
and states that are also small andnot at all representative of America.
As a whole. But regardless,they get to make the rules we all
live by. History is filled withthese hinge people, some more famous than
others, like gav Leu Princip,other's less. So you know, like
(02:54):
Paul Maniford, who, before hebecame a shill for Ukrainian strong men in
this century, almost single handedly inventedpolitical lobby in the nineteen seventies, just
a random nobody who transformed American politics. In modern history, we have Carl
Rove, a ridiculous man who moreor less patented the idea of wedge politics
(03:19):
and who had the ear of apresident for him, it was George W.
Bush. We can trace a directline between today's big lie believers and
COVID deniers. So that potato headedman who decided that gay marriage would be
a wonderful way to divide neighbor againstneighbor and a culture war over an issue
that they probably hadn't thought real hardabout before. So like the fight over
(03:44):
gay marriage might seem like something that'sas old as modern America, but honestly,
it's not something most people thought aboutas a crucial social issue, and
unless they were deeply invested in religiousissues and conservative politics, or of course
gay and wanting to get married.A culture moved forward and gay people became
more visible in our communities. Itcould have been something that just evolved along
(04:05):
with everything else, people on thefence being tracked along by normal social progress.
Mcarl Rove, that cynical asshole,was a master at the concept of
dividing voters and motivating conservatives, andthat's what he did around gay marriage.
He built up a team that pushedthat one issue and left to the wayside
(04:26):
all those that didn't agree. Soremember that that idea divide voters, motivate
conservatives. That's wedge politics. Findone clear issue with two opposing sides and
bludging a wedge into the middle ofit, splitting people apart. It's a
dark art perfected during the OS andit's why America is as busted as it
(04:49):
is right now. Mcarl Rove didn'tinvent the concept, he just perfected.
It was another generic white man nobodyvoted for, who decades before invented in
his name was Paul Werrich. PaulWerrich was a conservative Catholic college dropout from
Wisconsin. He started out as apolitical reporter in the early nineteen sixties,
(05:14):
then latched onto a series of politiciansas their press secretary. It was in
this capacity for a Colorado senator thatWerrich met Joseph Corps. And you see,
when I was researching Paul Werrich,that's the thing I kept looking for,
the rich guy, the Joseph Course, because if these random hinged people
aren't rich themselves, they always haveto glom onto a rich guy for their
(05:36):
plans to actualize and Powerich. Itwas Joseph Course, heir to the corps
beer fortune. At this point,y'all are probably wondering why I'm talking about
a guy you've never heard of beforeand whose last name is not Fallwell,
And I promise I'm going to getthere. But if you don't know Paul
(05:56):
Werrich's name, you'll probably recognize hiscreations and you'll understand why I'm spending so
much time on him. Because innineteen seventy three, Paul Weyrich convinced Joseph
Course to front the money for aconservative public policy institute he wanted to found,
and they named it the Heritage Foundation. Now, political nerds like me
(06:18):
are probably like, holy shit,the Heritage Foundation. But if you're not
a political nerd, you might belike what. The Heritage Foundation is one
of the most influential public policy thinktanks in America, and Paul Weyrich was
hot to form it in response toconservative frustration with what he and his funders
viewed as Nixon's liberal policies. Theybasically wrote the handbook for the entire Reagan
(06:42):
administration. Yeah, he heard that, right, These guys thought Nixon was
too liberal. Weyrich would later foundthe American Legislative Exchange Counsel, better known
as ALEC, and if you don'tknow what that is, google it.
ALEC turns out conservative model bills ata bonker's pace and hands them out to
Republican state House members all around thecountry, who then present the bills for
(07:05):
passage to their respective chambers. It'swhy North Carolina and New Mexico and Ohio
and other random states with little localissues in common sponsor bills with identical language
on cultural issues such as gun rights, voter id laws, and gay marriage.
Those state reps aren't trying to legislatein the best interests of their local
(07:26):
constituents. They're getting their marching ordersfrom a national apparatus of shadowy conservatives.
Who want to exert control over thedirection of the entire country. So that's
Paul Weyrich, just a guy whosename nobody knows. Remember him, because
we're going to get back to himin a little bit. In strength for
(07:48):
the journey, Jerry Folwell speaks passionatelyabout the roversus Way decision, which was
handed down on January twenty second,nineteen seventy three. Here, I'm gonna
let Jerry tell it himself. Ingrowing horror and disbelief, I read and
reread the short article describing the historicalcase titled Roe versus Wade. The Supreme
(08:09):
Court had just made a decision bya seven to two margin that would legalize
the killing of millions of unborn childrenand one terrible act. They struck down
all the state laws against abortion andlegalized in fanticide across the land. I
could not believe that seven justices onthe nation's highest court could have so little
regard for the value of human life. I confessed my own growing need to
(08:33):
do more than preach against the Court'sdecision. I was afraid that our children
might be too young to hear thedetails of such a painful issue. But
I knew that whatever decision I madewould affect their lives as well as mine.
Mason agreed that it seemed irresponsible forme to exclude them from the decision
making process. So after Bible readingin prayers, I told them everything.
(08:56):
Jonathan was only seven, but hiseyes filled with tears as I described the
meaning of abortion and its effects onthe unborn and their mothers. Jeannie was
nine. She grew noticeably angry whenshe heard about the suffering. She asked
questions and listened carefully as I answeredthem. Finally, I made this statement,
quote, kids, it is doubtfulthat you will be living in a
free America when you are the sameage as your parents. Jonathan had grown
(09:22):
more and more restless as I spoke. When I finished, he got up
off the floor, walked over tothe fireplace, knelt before me, and
placed his hands on my knees.For one moment, he looked directly into
my eyes without speaking. Then sevenyear old Jonathan said one simple sentence that
helped change our lives forever, Daddy, he said, his lip quivering and
his own eyes moist with tears.Why don't you do something about it now?
(09:50):
That is a really moving story,and not one word of it could
possibly be true. Jerry would haveyou believed that as soon as row was
an abortion was legal, a massivemobilization of evangelicals happened. That they took
to the streets in protests of themurder of all these innocent little babies,
because it was unconscionable that God lovingpeople would sit by and allow such a
(10:11):
thing. And that's something I thoughttoo for years. It just makes sense
when you look at the timing ofthings, and when you listen to evangelicals
themselves talk about how that's the thingthat gets into the polls every year.
That is when they woke up anddecided to tell America no more that single
issue abortion. But folks, that'sjust not true. At some point,
(10:35):
there was a bait and switch,and that's something that not even a lot
of us reproductive health advocates realize.And I think it's important to know this
because of all these people voting asa block to stop safe and legal abortions
were led there by people who nevereven cared about abortions. It was never
on their radar. Not only wasit not on their radar, but it
(10:56):
was the position of the Baptist Fellowshipin the early nineteen seventies that abortion was
totally fine. So what happened?Why four years later does the future of
our country so often hinge on peopledeciding who will be in power because of
their views on abortion. Well,y'all, like everything else in America,
(11:16):
the ANSWER's racism. No worry,I'm going to explain. The actual position
the majority of Christians held in Americaabout abortion during the sixties and well into
the late seventies was disregard. Theyjust didn't think about it. Most of
them considered it a Catholic issue,as Catholic opposition to abortion was long standing,
but most mainline Protestants considered Catholics theirown bizarre entity anyway, so that
(11:41):
didn't sway them. I remember readingall about this for the first time in
a political article back in twenty fourteen, and it fundamentally changed the way I
view the entire evangelical political movement.That article was written by Randall Baumer.
You just published a book last monthwhich expands on that article. The book
is called Bad Faith, Race andthe Rise of their Religious Right. In
(12:07):
the book, Blomber states that innineteen sixty eight, Christianity today, which
was the flagship Evangelical Christian magazine atthe time, in conjunction with the Christian
Medical Society, decided after twenty sevendays of deliberations that there were too many
valid opinions held among Christians to comeout and make a single statement about abortion.
(12:28):
So their collective official statement read whetherthe performance of an induced abortion is
sinful? We are not agreed,the statement read, but about the necessity
of it and permissibility for it undercertain circumstances, we are in accord.
The statement cited individual health, familywelfare, and social responsibility as possible justifications
(12:50):
for abortion, and allowed for instanceswhen fetal life may have to be abandoned
to maintain full and secure family life. Going even further, we have in
nineteen seventy one the Southern Baptist Conventionitself issuing a resolution that stated, quote,
we call upon Southern Baptists to workfor legislation that will allow the possibility
(13:13):
of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal
deformity, and careful ascertained evidence ofthe likelihood of damage to the emotional,
mental, and physical health of themother. Did you get that? Nineteen
seventy one, the Southern Baptist Conventionsaid that they will work for legislation that
(13:35):
will allow for safe and legal abortionsnot only in the instance of rape,
incest, and evidence of fetal deformity, but also the likelihood of damage to
the emotional, mental, and physicalhealth of the mother. The Southern Baptist
Convention, you want to know whatelse. They affirmed that position in nineteen
(13:56):
seventy four, the year after Rowwas passed, and then again in nineteen
seventy six, the day Roe itselfwas handed down. A former head of
the Southern Baptist Convention, a mannamed Wachriswell, expressed his satisfaction with the
ruined, stating quote, I havealways felt that it was only after a
child was born and had a lifeseparate from its mother that it became an
(14:18):
individual person. And it has alwaystherefore seemed to me that what is best
for the mother and for the futureshould be allowed. That there is one
of the granddaddies of American fundamentalism.On January twenty second, nineteen seventy three,
the very day that Rowe was announced, affirming the typical Baptist opinion at
(14:39):
the time that abortion should be legaland that women are their own separate entity
from the potentials of their reproductive parts. And then there's this quote from James
Dobson. That's right, James focuson the family. Dobson, who would
eventually received very different marching orders,stating in nineteen seventy three that since the
(15:00):
Bible didn't say anything about abortion,there was no reason an evangelical couldn't believe
that quote a developing embry or fetuswas not regarded as a full human being
end quote. But we're supposed toaccept Jerry Fallwell writing in nineteen eighty seven
that a tearful seven year old JonathanFollwell begged his father in nineteen seventy three
(15:22):
to do something to save all themurdered babies, give me a break.
The truth is Jerry Falwell didn't evengive his first sermon to crying the evils
of abortion until a full five yearslater, in February of nineteen seventy eight.
But why the revisionism. What wasthe actual reason that evangelicals finally coalisced
(15:43):
into a powerful voting block in thenineteen seventies. If it wasn't for abortion,
like they always say, I mentionedbefore that, of course, it
was racism and that's true because itwas, of course racism, but it
wasn't just racism. It was racismand also o money and the fact that
if evangelicals didn't find a way tohave power to sway elections, a lot
(16:06):
of rich racists were going to losea lot of rich racist money. We
(16:49):
talked last episode about school disegregation inthe nineteen sixties and how Jerry Falwall opened
his Lynchburg Christian Academy like so manyother white leaders in the South, as
an alternative for white families who didn'twant their kids to go to school with
black kids. Fowell would later saythat his school was opened in response to
prayer be abandoned schools, but hiswords, as well as the timing of
(17:11):
lcia's opening, proved that to befalse. As we discussed the last episode,
mccauseie segregation academies were supposed to becharitable institutions. They were tax exempt,
and that was all well and gooduntil May of nineteen sixty nine,
when a group of black parents inHolmes, Mississippi, sued the Treasury Department
to keep three new whites only privateK through twelfth schools from receiving tax exemption
(17:33):
on the basis that they were discriminatoryagainst black students. They correctly assumed that
the only way to stop what amountedto resegregation in the South was to hit
them in their wallets. Those appealsto their humanity had never worked in the
past. In nineteen seventy those blackparents wanted preliminary injunctions against that Mississippi county,
(17:55):
the results of which revoked segregation Academy'stax exempt status, and the position
of Richard Nixon government at the timewas that yeah, I mean, the
stuff is discriminatory, so of courseyou can't be tax exempt. Conservatives were
not happy with Nixon after that.The policy was upheld nineteen seventy one,
and questionnaires are sent out to segregationacademies all over the South for them to
(18:17):
answer to their own practices regarding racein the admissions process. And this led
to a famous statement by our ownJerry Fallwell that quote, in some places
in the South, it's easier toopen a massage parlor than it opened a
Christians school. But Elsie wasn't theclear on that one, because in the
fall of nineteen sixty nine, justthree months after that lawsuit was filed in
(18:38):
Mississippi, the first black child wasenrolled in Lynchburg Christian Academy, and I
can't help but think that was nocoincidence at all. We all know what
a shrewd business man Jerry was.He had surely seen the writing on the
wall. A primary reason evangelical leadershad initially been so chill about roversus Wade
(19:00):
is because it helped to assure themthat the wall between church and state was
super strong. They wanted a superstrong wall because they didn't want the government
meddling in their affairs. What awild term that It's taken from the church
wanting the government to stay out oftheir affairs to the church now meddling in
so many of the governments. Ona technicality, LCA would escape IRS scrutiny
(19:25):
with that one black kid. Butin nineteen seventy one, the same year
that IRS ruling was affirmed, Jerryhad taken on a new venture, originally
named Lynchburg Bible College and with anenrollment of just under two hundred students.
Jerry and his Powell Elmertowns had plantedthe seeds of would eventually become Liberty University,
and Jerry definitely wanted to make surethat what he envisioned would one day
(19:48):
be the evangelical version of Notre Dame, would not be meddled with by the
government. But of course Jerry wasn'tthe only player in this game, and
there was another institution that threatened tosink them all, the three thousand students
strong Greenville, South Carolina, ultraconservative Bob Jones University. When those questionnaires
(20:11):
got sent out in nineteen seventy askingabout racial considerations and admissions, Bob Jones
University was super clear about things,saying, oh, yeah, we definitely
do not admit black people. Thegovernment pushed back on this for years,
until finally, in nineteen seventy five, Bob Jones did and met one black
student part time. He was anemployee who worked at the radio station,
(20:33):
and, unsurprisingly, considering how hostilethe place was to black people, he
dropped out after a month. Theirs was unamused, so then Bob Jones
said, Okay, we will admitblack people, but only if they're married,
because we cannot accept misagenation. Misogenationis the fancy word for when people
of opposite races procreate again they aresaid, y'all, that's bullshit, and
(20:56):
you know it and in nineteen seventysix, after six years of warnings and
negotiations, the IRS finally said yeahno, and they revoked Bob Jones University's
tax exempt status. Evangelical leaders everywherefreaked the fuck out. Bob Jones was
a big deal, and if theycouldn't forestall government intrusion into the way they
(21:18):
did business with that pesky Civil RightsAct that guaranteed equal access among public institutions,
then what hope did the rest ofthem have? So y'all remember Paul
Weyrich, the ulture conservative Heritage Foundationguy. This is the ship Paul Weyrich
had been waiting for for years.Way Rich was a Catholic and as such
(21:40):
had always been against abortion, aswell as against women's rights, pornography,
civil rights integration, and the removalof prayer from public schools. He had
been waiting for an issue to galvanizereligious leaders in opposition to the government for
a long time, and in nineteenseventy six he realized that with that Bob
Jones University ruling, they were finallystarting to pay attention. But it was
(22:03):
nineteen seventy six. Now. Whileit made good sense for race and money
to galvanize religious leaders. Those twoissues were a hard sell for average Americans
who were starting to get used tointegrated society there was in nineteen seventies.
The middle class was still strong.People weren't yet paying attention to what the
rich were up to. After Romadeabortions, legal abortions did skyrocket before finally
(22:25):
settling down as access to contraceptives alsoimproved. But it was that rise in
legal abortions and motivated the shit outof Roman Catholics who had always hated abortion,
and he became a mini block oftheir own in certain voting districts where
their numbers were large. So innineteen seventy eight in Minnesota, incumbent Democrats,
highly favored to win their races,were unseated solely because Roman Catholics had
(22:51):
organized around abortion, turning out tothe polls in record numbers. That was
what provided Whereas would proof that aorstion could be an organizing force for political
power if it could just be soldand packaged the right people in the right
way. He had a feeling thatstray religious groups who had previously not been
(23:11):
interested in politics could be corralled intocaring about this if they did it right,
if they could paint it as afamily issue, if they could sell
themselves as proponents of classic historical andreligious American family values. Drawing upon the
ultra conservative religious views of Francis Schaeffer, a man who was not a politician
(23:33):
but rather the wise old academic ofevangelical Christianity, they put forth a dystopian
slippery slope whereby abortion would shortly leadto and fantasize and then later euthanasia vulnerable
populations. Shaeffer's noomsday scenarios would havepackaged nicely for consumption by a devout religious
public that had put their faith inthe hands of leaders with dubious motivations,
(23:56):
and as we can see forty yearslater, their plan worked like gangbusters,
and in nineteen seventy nine meeting ofEvangelical leaders, Paul Witch used the term
moral majority to describe a segment ofthe population that, while not unified around
a specific Christian denomination, held similarbasic values. Where it had been crowing
(24:19):
about the so called moral majority foryears, and then the finally the right
person heard him. Jerry Folwell.Ever, the salesman loved the phrase as
it suggested superiority and a potential forpower. In June of that year,
a group of evangelical leaders coalesced,with Jerry Folwell as its leader. The
(24:41):
Moral Majority organization was born and headquarteredin Lynchburg, where it could take advantage
of them. By that point significanttelevision and radio facilities owned by Thomas Road
Baptist Church, as well as trbc'senormous mailing list. The Moral Majority's first
tas ask was making sure that JimmyCarter, an actual evangelical Christian, was
(25:03):
defeated in the nineteen eighty election.Why did they hate Jimmy so much?
Because the Southern strategy that had alliedpoor and working class Southern Whites with wealthy
Northerners to create the modern Republican Partywas working, but still a bit shaky.
The Republican Party needed something more naturallyunified than rich people using Southern racism
(25:26):
to manifest votes, a concept thatwould only realistically work for so long as
people got used to an integrated societyand previous social norms eroded. If they
could tie these same people together withanother cause, something else that could be
branded as a natural bedfellow, thenthey could solidify power for years. And
that cause would be abortion. Soit was easy to convince people with short
(25:52):
memories that Jimmy Carter was to blamefor the Bob Jones ruling, even though
it had been Nixon who had startedthat ball rolling and that decision had been
handed down inteen seventy six before Carterhad even been elected. And they could
blame Carter for the desegregation of schoolseven though it had started long before he
had even been elected governor of Georgia. People were still royal in about that
one, because a lot of placesin the South were still being forcibly integrated
(26:14):
well into the nineteen seventies, includingmy own town of Lynchburg, which was
forcibly integrated in nineteen seventy three.Carter also had a lot of legitimate things
going on with fuel shortages and hostagesin Iran, but it was evangelicals,
the community that he himself was apart of, that would do him in.
Ronald Reagan that smiling Charlotte was morethan happy to cozy up to him
(26:37):
whomever he could get him elected,because there was so much money to be
made for all involved. By theelection of nineteen eighty, when Reagan defeated
Jimmy Carter, the Moral Majority asan organization, proudly and somewhat accurately claimed
that victory as their own. Anaside here for anyone debating my liberal credentials.
I was five years old when Reaganb Carter, and according to my
(26:59):
mother, when I woke up thenext morning and found out that quote the
peanut Man had lost, I cried. For all intents and purposes, Jerry
Folwell was the Moral Majority. Hewas the public head, and it was
his organization, Thomas Road Baptist Church, that had supplied the means and method
of getting the word out to peopleall over the country efficiently enough to make
(27:22):
waves in a national election. TheMoral Majority could hit the ground running because
Jerry himself had money, and hehad connections, as we've talked about before,
to plenty of other people who alsohad money. The idea that it
was a grassroots organization of humble Christiansdespairing about abortion is laughable. Like the
(27:44):
Heritage Foundation and Focus on the Familyand countless other organizations, the Moral Majority
was created by rich people to helpother rich people, all under the guise
of saving quote unquote babies. Ithad been their racist response to integration brought
them together and the money made fromthat racism that kept them together. By
(28:07):
the nineteen eighties, our boy Jerryhad made the big time. Long on
were the days of knocking a hundreddoors every morning. He had the ear
of the President of the United Stateshimself. He was a household name all
across the country, and he hadbeen instrumental in planning the seeds for a
lie that would irreparably harm countless personswith reproductive organs for decades with no end
(28:29):
in sight. The idea that theGod of the Bible thinks women should be
forced to give up their lives fora clump of cells, an idea that
was considered barbaric by the vast majorityof actual Baptists in the nineteen seventies.
There's the only reason some people votedall and no amount of personal stories,
or scientific studies or legittive information aboutactual human development will ever sway these people,
(28:55):
so many of them goodhearted folks whoearnestly want to do the right thing.
All because in nineteen seventy six,the Supreme Court told that shitty racist
Southern college Bob Jones University, thatthey needed to admit black people if they
don't want to pay taxes. Whata world the thing is. Even though
we might not have known the originsof the pro life movement that bait and
(29:18):
switch, the reality is clearly visibletoday. Pro life is not about babies,
or women or children, and neverhas been. If it was,
they would care about actual children afterthey are actually born. The pro life
movement has never advocated for contraception orfor any of the myriad support services for
underprivileged women and their children, andto a fault, they vote for people
(29:41):
who make life for women and childreneven worse, especially poor women and children,
and especially poor Black women and children. But seeing people weep for aboarded
fetuses and not for actual children makeso much more sense when you realize the
rot at the root of the prolife tree. There was never a comprehensive
(30:02):
plan to take care of all thesebabies forced to be born, because the
babies were never the point. Inthat sense, that's clear it's day.
The pro life movement is a shaminvented to protect the ill gotten gains of
rich people who benefit from the secondclass citizenship of black people. And our
boy Jerry, that charismatic king ofrevisionist history, was the leader of it
(30:23):
all the public face of a familyvalues movement that made his own family even
richer while others suffered. There wasn'ta tearful seven year old Jonathan begging his
daddy to do something to save allthose innocent babies. Though at the end
of the day, I bet evenJerry chose to remember that it all went
down that way, the way thatcenters him as the hero of this American
(30:45):
story. No different really than howmillions of pro lifers go to sleep at
night convinced that they've done exactly theright thing. For a list of sources
(31:07):
or additional information, please visit wwwdot le Virginia dot com or visit our
Facebook page. Thanks so much forlistening, and we'll see you next time.
Six Temper Trannis, y'all come to
Hello, friends, I'm your host, Jenny. Welcome to Vile, Virginia.
(00:34):
By nineteen seventy one, when hefounded Lynchburg Bible College, which would
later become Liberty University, Jerry Fallwellhad become a one man religious juggernaut.
Thomas Road Baptist Church had membership inthe thousands. The sermons were syndicated and
piped into homes all across the country. He was on the radio and on
TV, and he had trained upthousands in the ways of witnessing, His
(00:57):
minions spreading across the country to sharethe good news of g and signed more
people up for Jerry's ever expanding mailingness. He had started his church when he
was just twenty two years old,quickly becoming the face of modern American evangelicalism
and providing a roadmap for the megachurchesthat would eventually pop up in every corner
of America. But Jerry had biggergoals than just conquering the religious landscape.
(01:22):
He was thirty eight years old,and he wanted America. I'm a big
believer that much of human history hingeson the machinations of a handful of charismatic
people who happened to be in theright place at the right time. When
I say right place, right time, I don't mean that in a necessarily
good way. I mean that,through some cosmic weirdness, there are random
(01:45):
people who happen to find themselves ina position to have an outsized impact on
the world around them. And asa student of history, that's a frustrating
thing to see. Random people,people like you and me, who have
opinions and thoughts and feelings somehow getto imprint those random thoughts and feelings on
the entire world with no qualification otherthan they wanted to. Gav Lu princip
(02:10):
is one. He's the guy whoshot Archduke Franz Ferdinand in nineteen fourteen,
lighting the match that would literally burnEurope to the ground. We can see
that in American politics now, withpeople like Mitch McConnell and Joe Mansion to
otherwise unimpressive and uninteresting and wealthy whitemen who get to dictate how the rest
of us live in a very realway, men who don't have the popular
(02:32):
support of everyone who lives in thiscountry, who have small margins of support,
and states that are also small andnot at all representative of America.
As a whole. But regardless,they get to make the rules we all
live by. History is filled withthese hinge people, some more famous than
others, like gav Leu Princip,other's less. So you know, like
(02:54):
Paul Maniford, who, before hebecame a shill for Ukrainian strong men in
this century, almost single handedly inventedpolitical lobby in the nineteen seventies, just
a random nobody who transformed American politics. In modern history, we have Carl
Rove, a ridiculous man who moreor less patented the idea of wedge politics
(03:19):
and who had the ear of apresident for him, it was George W.
Bush. We can trace a directline between today's big lie believers and
COVID deniers. So that potato headedman who decided that gay marriage would be
a wonderful way to divide neighbor againstneighbor and a culture war over an issue
that they probably hadn't thought real hardabout before. So like the fight over
(03:44):
gay marriage might seem like something that'sas old as modern America, but honestly,
it's not something most people thought aboutas a crucial social issue, and
unless they were deeply invested in religiousissues and conservative politics, or of course
gay and wanting to get married.A culture moved forward and gay people became
more visible in our communities. Itcould have been something that just evolved along
(04:05):
with everything else, people on thefence being tracked along by normal social progress.
Mcarl Rove, that cynical asshole,was a master at the concept of
dividing voters and motivating conservatives, andthat's what he did around gay marriage.
He built up a team that pushedthat one issue and left to the wayside
(04:26):
all those that didn't agree. Soremember that that idea divide voters, motivate
conservatives. That's wedge politics. Findone clear issue with two opposing sides and
bludging a wedge into the middle ofit, splitting people apart. It's a
dark art perfected during the OS andit's why America is as busted as it
(04:49):
is right now. Mcarl Rove didn'tinvent the concept, he just perfected.
It was another generic white man nobodyvoted for, who decades before invented in
his name was Paul Werrich. PaulWerrich was a conservative Catholic college dropout from
Wisconsin. He started out as apolitical reporter in the early nineteen sixties,
(05:14):
then latched onto a series of politiciansas their press secretary. It was in
this capacity for a Colorado senator thatWerrich met Joseph Corps. And you see,
when I was researching Paul Werrich,that's the thing I kept looking for,
the rich guy, the Joseph Course, because if these random hinged people
aren't rich themselves, they always haveto glom onto a rich guy for their
(05:36):
plans to actualize and Powerich. Itwas Joseph Course, heir to the corps
beer fortune. At this point,y'all are probably wondering why I'm talking about
a guy you've never heard of beforeand whose last name is not Fallwell,
And I promise I'm going to getthere. But if you don't know Paul
(05:56):
Werrich's name, you'll probably recognize hiscreations and you'll understand why I'm spending so
much time on him. Because innineteen seventy three, Paul Weyrich convinced Joseph
Course to front the money for aconservative public policy institute he wanted to found,
and they named it the Heritage Foundation. Now, political nerds like me
(06:18):
are probably like, holy shit,the Heritage Foundation. But if you're not
a political nerd, you might belike what. The Heritage Foundation is one
of the most influential public policy thinktanks in America, and Paul Weyrich was
hot to form it in response toconservative frustration with what he and his funders
viewed as Nixon's liberal policies. Theybasically wrote the handbook for the entire Reagan
(06:42):
administration. Yeah, he heard that, right, These guys thought Nixon was
too liberal. Weyrich would later foundthe American Legislative Exchange Counsel, better known
as ALEC, and if you don'tknow what that is, google it.
ALEC turns out conservative model bills ata bonker's pace and hands them out to
Republican state House members all around thecountry, who then present the bills for
(07:05):
passage to their respective chambers. It'swhy North Carolina and New Mexico and Ohio
and other random states with little localissues in common sponsor bills with identical language
on cultural issues such as gun rights, voter id laws, and gay marriage.
Those state reps aren't trying to legislatein the best interests of their local
(07:26):
constituents. They're getting their marching ordersfrom a national apparatus of shadowy conservatives.
Who want to exert control over thedirection of the entire country. So that's
Paul Weyrich, just a guy whosename nobody knows. Remember him, because
we're going to get back to himin a little bit. In strength for
(07:48):
the journey, Jerry Folwell speaks passionatelyabout the roversus Way decision, which was
handed down on January twenty second,nineteen seventy three. Here, I'm gonna
let Jerry tell it himself. Ingrowing horror and disbelief, I read and
reread the short article describing the historicalcase titled Roe versus Wade. The Supreme
(08:09):
Court had just made a decision bya seven to two margin that would legalize
the killing of millions of unborn childrenand one terrible act. They struck down
all the state laws against abortion andlegalized in fanticide across the land. I
could not believe that seven justices onthe nation's highest court could have so little
regard for the value of human life. I confessed my own growing need to
(08:33):
do more than preach against the Court'sdecision. I was afraid that our children
might be too young to hear thedetails of such a painful issue. But
I knew that whatever decision I madewould affect their lives as well as mine.
Mason agreed that it seemed irresponsible forme to exclude them from the decision
making process. So after Bible readingin prayers, I told them everything.
(08:56):
Jonathan was only seven, but hiseyes filled with tears as I described the
meaning of abortion and its effects onthe unborn and their mothers. Jeannie was
nine. She grew noticeably angry whenshe heard about the suffering. She asked
questions and listened carefully as I answeredthem. Finally, I made this statement,
quote, kids, it is doubtfulthat you will be living in a
free America when you are the sameage as your parents. Jonathan had grown
(09:22):
more and more restless as I spoke. When I finished, he got up
off the floor, walked over tothe fireplace, knelt before me, and
placed his hands on my knees.For one moment, he looked directly into
my eyes without speaking. Then sevenyear old Jonathan said one simple sentence that
helped change our lives forever, Daddy, he said, his lip quivering and
his own eyes moist with tears.Why don't you do something about it now?
(09:50):
That is a really moving story,and not one word of it could
possibly be true. Jerry would haveyou believed that as soon as row was
an abortion was legal, a massivemobilization of evangelicals happened. That they took
to the streets in protests of themurder of all these innocent little babies,
because it was unconscionable that God lovingpeople would sit by and allow such a
(10:11):
thing. And that's something I thoughttoo for years. It just makes sense
when you look at the timing ofthings, and when you listen to evangelicals
themselves talk about how that's the thingthat gets into the polls every year.
That is when they woke up anddecided to tell America no more that single
issue abortion. But folks, that'sjust not true. At some point,
(10:35):
there was a bait and switch,and that's something that not even a lot
of us reproductive health advocates realize.And I think it's important to know this
because of all these people voting asa block to stop safe and legal abortions
were led there by people who nevereven cared about abortions. It was never
on their radar. Not only wasit not on their radar, but it
(10:56):
was the position of the Baptist Fellowshipin the early nineteen seventies that abortion was
totally fine. So what happened?Why four years later does the future of
our country so often hinge on peopledeciding who will be in power because of
their views on abortion. Well,y'all, like everything else in America,
(11:16):
the ANSWER's racism. No worry,I'm going to explain. The actual position
the majority of Christians held in Americaabout abortion during the sixties and well into
the late seventies was disregard. Theyjust didn't think about it. Most of
them considered it a Catholic issue,as Catholic opposition to abortion was long standing,
but most mainline Protestants considered Catholics theirown bizarre entity anyway, so that
(11:41):
didn't sway them. I remember readingall about this for the first time in
a political article back in twenty fourteen, and it fundamentally changed the way I
view the entire evangelical political movement.That article was written by Randall Baumer.
You just published a book last monthwhich expands on that article. The book
is called Bad Faith, Race andthe Rise of their Religious Right. In
(12:07):
the book, Blomber states that innineteen sixty eight, Christianity today, which
was the flagship Evangelical Christian magazine atthe time, in conjunction with the Christian
Medical Society, decided after twenty sevendays of deliberations that there were too many
valid opinions held among Christians to comeout and make a single statement about abortion.
(12:28):
So their collective official statement read whetherthe performance of an induced abortion is
sinful? We are not agreed,the statement read, but about the necessity
of it and permissibility for it undercertain circumstances, we are in accord.
The statement cited individual health, familywelfare, and social responsibility as possible justifications
(12:50):
for abortion, and allowed for instanceswhen fetal life may have to be abandoned
to maintain full and secure family life. Going even further, we have in
nineteen seventy one the Southern Baptist Conventionitself issuing a resolution that stated, quote,
we call upon Southern Baptists to workfor legislation that will allow the possibility
(13:13):
of abortion under such conditions as rape, incest, clear evidence of severe fetal
deformity, and careful ascertained evidence ofthe likelihood of damage to the emotional,
mental, and physical health of themother. Did you get that? Nineteen
seventy one, the Southern Baptist Conventionsaid that they will work for legislation that
(13:35):
will allow for safe and legal abortionsnot only in the instance of rape,
incest, and evidence of fetal deformity, but also the likelihood of damage to
the emotional, mental, and physicalhealth of the mother. The Southern Baptist
Convention, you want to know whatelse. They affirmed that position in nineteen
(13:56):
seventy four, the year after Rowwas passed, and then again in nineteen
seventy six, the day Roe itselfwas handed down. A former head of
the Southern Baptist Convention, a mannamed Wachriswell, expressed his satisfaction with the
ruined, stating quote, I havealways felt that it was only after a
child was born and had a lifeseparate from its mother that it became an
(14:18):
individual person. And it has alwaystherefore seemed to me that what is best
for the mother and for the futureshould be allowed. That there is one
of the granddaddies of American fundamentalism.On January twenty second, nineteen seventy three,
the very day that Rowe was announced, affirming the typical Baptist opinion at
(14:39):
the time that abortion should be legaland that women are their own separate entity
from the potentials of their reproductive parts. And then there's this quote from James
Dobson. That's right, James focuson the family. Dobson, who would
eventually received very different marching orders,stating in nineteen seventy three that since the
(15:00):
Bible didn't say anything about abortion,there was no reason an evangelical couldn't believe
that quote a developing embry or fetuswas not regarded as a full human being
end quote. But we're supposed toaccept Jerry Fallwell writing in nineteen eighty seven
that a tearful seven year old JonathanFollwell begged his father in nineteen seventy three
(15:22):
to do something to save all themurdered babies, give me a break.
The truth is Jerry Falwell didn't evengive his first sermon to crying the evils
of abortion until a full five yearslater, in February of nineteen seventy eight.
But why the revisionism. What wasthe actual reason that evangelicals finally coalisced
(15:43):
into a powerful voting block in thenineteen seventies. If it wasn't for abortion,
like they always say, I mentionedbefore that, of course, it
was racism and that's true because itwas, of course racism, but it
wasn't just racism. It was racismand also o money and the fact that
if evangelicals didn't find a way tohave power to sway elections, a lot
(16:06):
of rich racists were going to losea lot of rich racist money. We
(16:49):
talked last episode about school disegregation inthe nineteen sixties and how Jerry Falwall opened
his Lynchburg Christian Academy like so manyother white leaders in the South, as
an alternative for white families who didn'twant their kids to go to school with
black kids. Fowell would later saythat his school was opened in response to
prayer be abandoned schools, but hiswords, as well as the timing of
(17:11):
lcia's opening, proved that to befalse. As we discussed the last episode,
mccauseie segregation academies were supposed to becharitable institutions. They were tax exempt,
and that was all well and gooduntil May of nineteen sixty nine,
when a group of black parents inHolmes, Mississippi, sued the Treasury Department
to keep three new whites only privateK through twelfth schools from receiving tax exemption
(17:33):
on the basis that they were discriminatoryagainst black students. They correctly assumed that
the only way to stop what amountedto resegregation in the South was to hit
them in their wallets. Those appealsto their humanity had never worked in the
past. In nineteen seventy those blackparents wanted preliminary injunctions against that Mississippi county,
(17:55):
the results of which revoked segregation Academy'stax exempt status, and the position
of Richard Nixon government at the timewas that yeah, I mean, the
stuff is discriminatory, so of courseyou can't be tax exempt. Conservatives were
not happy with Nixon after that.The policy was upheld nineteen seventy one,
and questionnaires are sent out to segregationacademies all over the South for them to
(18:17):
answer to their own practices regarding racein the admissions process. And this led
to a famous statement by our ownJerry Fallwell that quote, in some places
in the South, it's easier toopen a massage parlor than it opened a
Christians school. But Elsie wasn't theclear on that one, because in the
fall of nineteen sixty nine, justthree months after that lawsuit was filed in
(18:38):
Mississippi, the first black child wasenrolled in Lynchburg Christian Academy, and I
can't help but think that was nocoincidence at all. We all know what
a shrewd business man Jerry was.He had surely seen the writing on the
wall. A primary reason evangelical leadershad initially been so chill about roversus Wade
(19:00):
is because it helped to assure themthat the wall between church and state was
super strong. They wanted a superstrong wall because they didn't want the government
meddling in their affairs. What awild term that It's taken from the church
wanting the government to stay out oftheir affairs to the church now meddling in
so many of the governments. Ona technicality, LCA would escape IRS scrutiny
(19:25):
with that one black kid. Butin nineteen seventy one, the same year
that IRS ruling was affirmed, Jerryhad taken on a new venture, originally
named Lynchburg Bible College and with anenrollment of just under two hundred students.
Jerry and his Powell Elmertowns had plantedthe seeds of would eventually become Liberty University,
and Jerry definitely wanted to make surethat what he envisioned would one day
(19:48):
be the evangelical version of Notre Dame, would not be meddled with by the
government. But of course Jerry wasn'tthe only player in this game, and
there was another institution that threatened tosink them all, the three thousand students
strong Greenville, South Carolina, ultraconservative Bob Jones University. When those questionnaires
(20:11):
got sent out in nineteen seventy askingabout racial considerations and admissions, Bob Jones
University was super clear about things,saying, oh, yeah, we definitely
do not admit black people. Thegovernment pushed back on this for years,
until finally, in nineteen seventy five, Bob Jones did and met one black
student part time. He was anemployee who worked at the radio station,
(20:33):
and, unsurprisingly, considering how hostilethe place was to black people, he
dropped out after a month. Theirs was unamused, so then Bob Jones
said, Okay, we will admitblack people, but only if they're married,
because we cannot accept misagenation. Misogenationis the fancy word for when people
of opposite races procreate again they aresaid, y'all, that's bullshit, and
(20:56):
you know it and in nineteen seventysix, after six years of warnings and
negotiations, the IRS finally said yeahno, and they revoked Bob Jones University's
tax exempt status. Evangelical leaders everywherefreaked the fuck out. Bob Jones was
a big deal, and if theycouldn't forestall government intrusion into the way they
(21:18):
did business with that pesky Civil RightsAct that guaranteed equal access among public institutions,
then what hope did the rest ofthem have? So y'all remember Paul
Weyrich, the ulture conservative Heritage Foundationguy. This is the ship Paul Weyrich
had been waiting for for years.Way Rich was a Catholic and as such
(21:40):
had always been against abortion, aswell as against women's rights, pornography,
civil rights integration, and the removalof prayer from public schools. He had
been waiting for an issue to galvanizereligious leaders in opposition to the government for
a long time, and in nineteenseventy six he realized that with that Bob
Jones University ruling, they were finallystarting to pay attention. But it was
(22:03):
nineteen seventy six. Now. Whileit made good sense for race and money
to galvanize religious leaders. Those twoissues were a hard sell for average Americans
who were starting to get used tointegrated society there was in nineteen seventies.
The middle class was still strong.People weren't yet paying attention to what the
rich were up to. After Romadeabortions, legal abortions did skyrocket before finally
(22:25):
settling down as access to contraceptives alsoimproved. But it was that rise in
legal abortions and motivated the shit outof Roman Catholics who had always hated abortion,
and he became a mini block oftheir own in certain voting districts where
their numbers were large. So innineteen seventy eight in Minnesota, incumbent Democrats,
highly favored to win their races,were unseated solely because Roman Catholics had
(22:51):
organized around abortion, turning out tothe polls in record numbers. That was
what provided Whereas would proof that aorstion could be an organizing force for political
power if it could just be soldand packaged the right people in the right
way. He had a feeling thatstray religious groups who had previously not been
(23:11):
interested in politics could be corralled intocaring about this if they did it right,
if they could paint it as afamily issue, if they could sell
themselves as proponents of classic historical andreligious American family values. Drawing upon the
ultra conservative religious views of Francis Schaeffer, a man who was not a politician
(23:33):
but rather the wise old academic ofevangelical Christianity, they put forth a dystopian
slippery slope whereby abortion would shortly leadto and fantasize and then later euthanasia vulnerable
populations. Shaeffer's noomsday scenarios would havepackaged nicely for consumption by a devout religious
public that had put their faith inthe hands of leaders with dubious motivations,
(23:56):
and as we can see forty yearslater, their plan worked like gangbusters,
and in nineteen seventy nine meeting ofEvangelical leaders, Paul Witch used the term
moral majority to describe a segment ofthe population that, while not unified around
a specific Christian denomination, held similarbasic values. Where it had been crowing
(24:19):
about the so called moral majority foryears, and then the finally the right
person heard him. Jerry Folwell.Ever, the salesman loved the phrase as
it suggested superiority and a potential forpower. In June of that year,
a group of evangelical leaders coalesced,with Jerry Folwell as its leader. The
(24:41):
Moral Majority organization was born and headquarteredin Lynchburg, where it could take advantage
of them. By that point significanttelevision and radio facilities owned by Thomas Road
Baptist Church, as well as trbc'senormous mailing list. The Moral Majority's first
tas ask was making sure that JimmyCarter, an actual evangelical Christian, was
(25:03):
defeated in the nineteen eighty election.Why did they hate Jimmy so much?
Because the Southern strategy that had alliedpoor and working class Southern Whites with wealthy
Northerners to create the modern Republican Partywas working, but still a bit shaky.
The Republican Party needed something more naturallyunified than rich people using Southern racism
(25:26):
to manifest votes, a concept thatwould only realistically work for so long as
people got used to an integrated societyand previous social norms eroded. If they
could tie these same people together withanother cause, something else that could be
branded as a natural bedfellow, thenthey could solidify power for years. And
that cause would be abortion. Soit was easy to convince people with short
(25:52):
memories that Jimmy Carter was to blamefor the Bob Jones ruling, even though
it had been Nixon who had startedthat ball rolling and that decision had been
handed down inteen seventy six before Carterhad even been elected. And they could
blame Carter for the desegregation of schoolseven though it had started long before he
had even been elected governor of Georgia. People were still royal in about that
one, because a lot of placesin the South were still being forcibly integrated
(26:14):
well into the nineteen seventies, includingmy own town of Lynchburg, which was
forcibly integrated in nineteen seventy three.Carter also had a lot of legitimate things
going on with fuel shortages and hostagesin Iran, but it was evangelicals,
the community that he himself was apart of, that would do him in.
Ronald Reagan that smiling Charlotte was morethan happy to cozy up to him
(26:37):
whomever he could get him elected,because there was so much money to be
made for all involved. By theelection of nineteen eighty, when Reagan defeated
Jimmy Carter, the Moral Majority asan organization, proudly and somewhat accurately claimed
that victory as their own. Anaside here for anyone debating my liberal credentials.
I was five years old when Reaganb Carter, and according to my
(26:59):
mother, when I woke up thenext morning and found out that quote the
peanut Man had lost, I cried. For all intents and purposes, Jerry
Folwell was the Moral Majority. Hewas the public head, and it was
his organization, Thomas Road Baptist Church, that had supplied the means and method
of getting the word out to peopleall over the country efficiently enough to make
(27:22):
waves in a national election. TheMoral Majority could hit the ground running because
Jerry himself had money, and hehad connections, as we've talked about before,
to plenty of other people who alsohad money. The idea that it
was a grassroots organization of humble Christiansdespairing about abortion is laughable. Like the
(27:44):
Heritage Foundation and Focus on the Familyand countless other organizations, the Moral Majority
was created by rich people to helpother rich people, all under the guise
of saving quote unquote babies. Ithad been their racist response to integration brought
them together and the money made fromthat racism that kept them together. By
(28:07):
the nineteen eighties, our boy Jerryhad made the big time. Long on
were the days of knocking a hundreddoors every morning. He had the ear
of the President of the United Stateshimself. He was a household name all
across the country, and he hadbeen instrumental in planning the seeds for a
lie that would irreparably harm countless personswith reproductive organs for decades with no end
(28:29):
in sight. The idea that theGod of the Bible thinks women should be
forced to give up their lives fora clump of cells, an idea that
was considered barbaric by the vast majorityof actual Baptists in the nineteen seventies.
There's the only reason some people votedall and no amount of personal stories,
or scientific studies or legittive information aboutactual human development will ever sway these people,
(28:55):
so many of them goodhearted folks whoearnestly want to do the right thing.
All because in nineteen seventy six,the Supreme Court told that shitty racist
Southern college Bob Jones University, thatthey needed to admit black people if they
don't want to pay taxes. Whata world the thing is. Even though
we might not have known the originsof the pro life movement that bait and
(29:18):
switch, the reality is clearly visibletoday. Pro life is not about babies,
or women or children, and neverhas been. If it was,
they would care about actual children afterthey are actually born. The pro life
movement has never advocated for contraception orfor any of the myriad support services for
underprivileged women and their children, andto a fault, they vote for people
(29:41):
who make life for women and childreneven worse, especially poor women and children,
and especially poor Black women and children. But seeing people weep for aboarded
fetuses and not for actual children makeso much more sense when you realize the
rot at the root of the prolife tree. There was never a comprehensive
(30:02):
plan to take care of all thesebabies forced to be born, because the
babies were never the point. Inthat sense, that's clear it's day.
The pro life movement is a shaminvented to protect the ill gotten gains of
rich people who benefit from the secondclass citizenship of black people. And our
boy Jerry, that charismatic king ofrevisionist history, was the leader of it
(30:23):
all the public face of a familyvalues movement that made his own family even
richer while others suffered. There wasn'ta tearful seven year old Jonathan begging his
daddy to do something to save allthose innocent babies. Though at the end
of the day, I bet evenJerry chose to remember that it all went
down that way, the way thatcenters him as the hero of this American
(30:45):
story. No different really than howmillions of pro lifers go to sleep at
night convinced that they've done exactly theright thing. For a list of sources
(31:07):
or additional information, please visit wwwdot le Virginia dot com or visit our
Facebook page. Thanks so much forlistening, and we'll see you next time.
Six Temper Trannis, y'all come to
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!