[Lemon:] It is coming up on 15 past the hour. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. And we're following the death of a major political and religious leader here in the United States, the Reverend Jerry Falwell. Here's CNN's Candy Crowley with a look back at his life.
[Candy Crowley, Cnn Sr. Political Correspondent:] Son of an alcoholic who sold bootleg whiskey during prohibition, father of a movement to restore America as God's country. A big thinker from small town Virginia, growing his 35-member Thomas Road Baptist Church into a congregation of thousands, and then millions as the fundamentalist reverend raised on radio preachers pioneered a new evangelism, the TV pulpit, beaming his old-time gospel hour into American homes, turning living rooms into pews. Jerry Falwell said he found Jesus in 1952, he found politics in 1979, forming the Moral Majority to lobby against abortion rights, gay rights, pornography, and a host of social issues. He claimed credit for helping elect Ronald Reagan and a string of officials down the government ladder.
[Jerry Falwell, Founder, Liberty University:] We have a goal of 200 of our people running for office this year at different levels across the country.
[Crowley:] A visionary to conservatives.
[Falwell:] We admire and respect you, the president of the United States.
[George Herbert Walker Bush, Fmr. President Of The United States:] Jerry, I'm glad to have been introduced by a loyal friend.
[Crowley:] A Lucifer to liberals.
[James Carter, Fmr. President Of The United States:] ... in a very Christian way, as far as I'm concerned, he can go to hell!
[Crowley:] Pilloried by a high priest of porn in the pages of "Hustler".
[Falwell:] I personally was anguished, am anguished, am still hurt.
[Crowley:] Always provocative. AIDS, he said, was God's punishment to homosexuals. September 11th, that was God's punishment, too, unleashed on the America of abortionists, feminists, Pagans and gays. Falwell apologized for that one, blaming a lack of sleep, asking for the lord's forgiveness. Through the decades, his targets ranged from terrorists to Teletubbies, first toting lovably lavender Tinky-Winky was an agent of the homosexual agenda.
[Falwell:] Parents, be very careful what your children are watching.
[Crowley:] Despite the occasional colorful outburst, Falwell retreated from the secular world in his later years, dedicating himself to the once tiny church he turned into a multimillion-dollar empire.
[Falwell:] Twenty million religious conservatives to the polls nationally.
[Crowley:] Leaving politics to those who followed the road he paved. Candy Crowley, CNN, Washington.
[Kyra Phillips, Cnn Anchor:] A lot of friends Jerry Falwell coming forward, making statements now that they learned about his death. Most recently, we just heard from televangelist and the host of "The 700 Club on the Christian Broadcasting Network, CBN, the creator of that, Pat Robertson. Coming forward and saying this: "Jerry's courage and strength of convictions will be sadly missed in this time of increasing moral relativism. I join with the tens of thousands of his friends to mourn the passing of this extraordinary human being." Reverend Pat Robertson now coming forward, talking about his friend and colleague, Jerry Falwell. As you know, Jerry Falwell appearing a number of times on his show on CBN, "The 700 Club".
[Lemon:] Yes. And Kyra, this morning in the press conference, they asked about his how his family was doing, and the representative from the university there said they're doing as well as possible in these moments. Of course he leaves behind his wife, two sons and a daughter, very successful people. His daughter is a surgeon, two of his sons are attorneys. And they're also on the board and work as executives at Liberty University there, so a very successful family. Let's talk about his legacy and what he meant, especially to the political scene. And the person who can do that for us is our political analyst, Bill Schneider. Bill, just before that press conference sorry for cutting you off, but we wanted to get that we were talking about his power on the political front.
[William Schneider, Cnn Sr. Political Analyst:] Yes, he organized a lot of the evangelical community and the Moral Majority in 1979. And when he was interviewed by Christiane Amanpour, he made an interesting statement. He said we were driving into politics by the various court decisions and legislative actions that on issues like abortion rights and gay rights and women's rights, that he believed were very threatening to the evangelical community. They essentially were mobilized into political action, because they objected to a lot of things, particularly things done by the federal courts in the name of liberation and social advancement that they found very threatening to their religious liberties. He brought that group, the evangelical group into politics, and I must say he had an able partner in Ronald Reagan when he was nominated for president in 1980. He reached out to religious Americans, not just evangelicals, but he argued that the Republican Party would be welcoming to persons of faith who felt that faith was being driven out of the public sphere. And it was quite a marriage. I remember going to the Republican convention in 1984, where Jerry Falwell was treated as a conquering hero. He had helped to make Reagan president. Reagan had brought him into political prominence. And I suppose the peak of his influence came 10 years later, when the Republicans took over Congress. Jerry Falwell claimed a lot of credit for bringing some eight million new voters to the polls in that midterm election who had not voted in the previous midterm. A lot of them Christian conservatives, in that case angered by the record of President Bill Clinton.
[Lemon:] And Bill, all these people we see on the scene now, was he did he sort of make the way easier for them, all the political conservatives that we see who are very vocal and very much in the spotlight? How much did Jerry Falwell have to do with that?
[Schneider:] Well, he certainly helped bring a lot of religious conservatives into politics and into the world of political activism. A lot of evangelicals, a lot of religious people are more worried about another world than they are about this world, and their political activism has historically ebbed and flowed. They were important, of course, in the past in things like the prohibition movement, even the anti-slavery movement back in the 19th century. But he did bring them in this new wave of political activism, driven by what he regarded as aggressive efforts by the courts and by the liberals to, again, threaten their personal religious liberty. Now, of course, those issues have become very controversial. He has become intensely controversial. You may remember in 2000, when John McCain first ran for president, he attacked Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, called them agents of intolerance.
[Lemon:] Right.
[Schneider:] And now, of course, the influence of that big Republican majority created under Ronald Reagan has diminished since last year's midterm, and also the role of the religious right, the Christian conservatives in the Republican Party, has become more controversial over time.
[Lemon:] CNN political analyst Bill Schneider. Thank you, Bill.
[Schneider:] Sure.
[Phillips:] Our own Roland Martin had a chance to actually interview Reverend Jerry Falwell recently. Roland joins us now by phone. Roland, did you interview him on your radio show?
[Roland Martin, Cnn Contributor:] No, actually interviewed him for the "What Would Jesus Really Do?" special that aired on CNN on Good Friday last month.
[Phillips:] So, tell me about your conversation. What stands out to you? What was the majority of your of your discussion?
[Martin:] Well, first and foremost, he talked about the whole issue of the war, how he believes there are just wars, that God does not necessarily that God is not pro-war. It's interesting. We got into a conversation about the whole issue of people of faith being in politics. And he made a significant point. He said, "I would rather have someone who is an atheist, frankly, but who understands national security, versus a Sunday schoolteacher who knows nothing about national security." And so he was talking he was really separating the two, saying, hey, you can be a great person of faith, but if you don't understand the world of terrorism and how to deal with that, you can't survive.
[Phillips:] Interesting. And did you did you talk about the comments he had made after 911...
[Martin:] Say it again, Kyra? I'm sorry.
[Phillips:] That's OK. I realize we have got you on a cell phone. Sometimes we...
[Martin:] I'm actually boarding a flight.
[Phillips:] OK. You let me know when the doors shut, OK? I don't want you getting in any trouble. His controversial comments after 911, talking about this was God's punishment to those that didn't that didn't follow the lord, but then later came forward saying that he apologized, blaming it on a lack of sleep, and that he's asking for forgiveness. And now he continues on with this conversation about security and terrorism. I mean11?
[Martin:] No, we didn't get to those 911 comments. I wouldn't really call it a change of perspective. And again, I think you take any public figure who makes a comment one time, and then sort of pulls back another time, and so you sort of had that. But you're dealing with somebody who also said, look, I'm 73 years old. You know, I've come a long way. And so you sort of have that. But again, I think the critical point is Reverend Jerry Falwell will soon be remembered as the father of this movement who represented so many different people. Maybe the generation today can't understand his power, but certainly between 1979 and the whole eight years Reagan was in office, a significant, significant influence. Clearly controversial, clearly somebody who could really tick people off. I mean, there were people who sent us e-mails and said, "Oh my god. The moment I saw Reverend Jerry Falwell on the CNN special, I turned the channel." But then there were people who say he was a beloved figure. And so he was certainly he was controversial in life. And he'll certainly be controversial in death.
[Phillips:] Roland, real quickly, before you get on that flight, issues of diversity. Did you ever get into a discussion with him about that? How did he fell about preachers like T.D. Jakes, Paula White? Did he ever take a stand on issues of diversity in Christianity?
[Martin:] Well, we didn't speak to that particular issue in terms of the whole notion of diversity. Certainly what Bill Schneider just talked about, in terms of their concern about some of those court decisions, that was one of the issues. Another piece that's critical is that who he galvanized were namely white evangelicals. African-Americans, of course, were significant in the civil rights movement, so they were always involved in the whole political process.
[Phillips:] Our Roland Martin. Appreciate it, Roland. Thanks for talking to us before you board.
[Martin:] Thanks a lot.
[Lemon:] And we'll have continuing coverage throughout the day here on CNN on the death of Reverend Jerry Falwell, the man who founded the Moral Majority, a controversial and outspoken figure in politics and religion here in the United States. Our Christiane Amanpour interviewed him very recently, and we're going to share some of that with you when we come back. Jerry Falwell dead at the age of 73.