A little over a year ago he angered Jews by preaching, at a pastor's conference, that the Antichrist, the archnemesis of God, may be a Jew who is alive today. Who can forget when Falwell's National Liberty Journal outed Tinky-Winky, a character on Teletubbies the British television show for toddlers. Last October, in an attempt to soften his image, he hosted gay minister Mel White and 200 gay Christians at his Lynchburg, Va., headquarters and pledged to tone down his anti-gay rhetoric. Twenty years ago, Falwell's Moral Majority played a key role in electing Ronald Reagan president and building a conservative majority in Congress. Following years of mistreatment and ridicule from the media and the political left, I believe conservative people of faith are once again gearing up to make their voices heard in the critical political elections of 2000.
Democrats take a different view.
They think that Falwell's re-emergence will make it more difficult for Bush to distance himself from the religious right and move toward the center. You can bet that Falwell will be trumpeting his new action campaign every day on his two-minute Listen America radio broadcast, which goes out to more than 200 radio stations nationwide. He is beginning to build a new infrastructure and is calling on his old Moral Majority colleagues to join him. Many have already reported for duty. However, it is clear from the record that he is one of the hardest working guys on the Christian Right.