TV preacher Falwell's 'vote Christian' campaign sparks controversy.A new "vote Christian" fund-raising campaign Noun 1. fund-raising campaign - a campaign to raise money for some cause fund-raising drive, fund-raising effort crusade, campaign, cause, drive, effort, movement - a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end; "he supported by the Rev. Jerry Falwell This article is about Jerry Falwell, Sr. For the article about his son, see Jerry Falwell, Jr. Jerry Lamon Falwell, Sr. (August 11 1933 – May 15, 2007)[1] was an American fundamentalist Christian pastor and televangelist. has sparked controversy. Falwell announced the campaign in a fund-raising letter that has been circulating nationwide since the spring. The four-page letter, which traces the history of Falwell's involvement with the Religious Right, comes accompanied by two "I Vote Christian" bumper stickers advertising a new Falwell Web site, www.faithandvalues.us. The material is being sent under the auspices of a new Falwell front group, the Moral Majority Coalition. In the letter, Falwell wrote, "Yes, it is time to finish the job I started more than 25 years ago. It's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a to rewrite the vision to return America to moral sanity. Our goal is to utilize the momentum of the sweeping conservative mandate of the November 2, 2004 elections to maintain a faith and values 'revolution' of voters who will continue to go to the polls to 'vote Christian' and call America back to God. I need your help to make this happen!" Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League Anti-Defamation League B’nai B’rith organization which fights anti-Semitism. [Am. Hist.: Wigoder, 33] See : Anti-Semitism , took issue with Falwell's approach. "Reverend Falwell's recent statements are directly at odds with the American ideal and should be rejected," Foxman said in a press release. "Understanding the danger of combining religion and politics, our Founding Fathers wisely created a political system based on individual merit and religious inclusiveness." Foxman called on Falwell to "retract TO RETRACT. To withdraw a proposition or offer before it has been accepted. 2. This the party making it has a right to do is long as it has not been accepted; for no principle of law or equity can, under these circumstances, require him to persevere in it. his divisive and un-American call to action. Appeals to voters should not be on the basis of religion, nor should a candidate's religious beliefs be a litmus test litmus test n. A test for chemical acidity or basicity using litmus paper. for public office." Falwell is apparently backing down. He told the Lynchburg News & Advance that the appeal had been misunderstood but that he plans to discontinue it anyway. "What I was saying was for conservative Christians to vote their values, which are pro-life and pro-family," Falwell said. "I had no intention of being anti-Jewish at all." In other news about Falwell: * The Lynchburg TV preacher has accused Americans United of filing an Internal Revenue Service complaint against him that AU never filed. Recently, Falwell was informed that he has been cleared of accusations of partisan politicking levied against him after a speech he gave at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, is a private, non-profit institution of higher education, associated with the Southern Baptist Convention, whose stated mission is "to provide theological education for individuals engaging in Christian in Fort Worth in August of 2004. Americans United did not believe that speech was partisan enough to warrant an IRS An abbreviation for the Internal Revenue Service, a federal agency charged with the responsibility of administering and enforcing internal revenue laws. complaint. One month before the speech, however, AU did alert the IRS to an e-mail Falwell sent out through his ministry endorsing Bush. That complaint remains active. Falwell remains convinced AU was behind the Fort Worth report and has accused the organization of lying about it. |
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