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Earlier this year, when presidential aspirant John McCain recklessly lashed out against the Christian "agents of intolerance" in his Republican Party, it was no surprise that Jerry Falwell was on McCain's list. The outspoken founder of the now-defunct Moral Majority has long been an easy target for bashing. As pastor of the 22,000-member Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Va., president of Liberty University, host of his own TV and radio broadcasts, and a regular guest on nearly every political talk show, Falwell is a ubiquitous figure in the conservative wings of Christianity and politics. But when he met with gay-rights leaders last year and vowed to curb his potentially inflammatory rhetoric, many wondered whether the 66-year-old preacher was losing a step. Yet this too is genuine Jerry Falwell, an affable man who would rather play with his grandchildren or see a Liberty ballgame than crusade against immorality. But duty calls. He recently spoke to CT's Edward Gilbreath.

Tell me something about yourself that people would find surprising.

Persons outside Lynchburg probably know me only as a voice crying in the wilderness and as a street fighter on the moral and social issues, but everyone who lives here knows that I am a family person to a fault. My wife and I have three children and five grandchildren —and we're expecting three more at any moment. We made our children our priority, ahead of the ministry and ahead of the church.

What do you do for fun?

I'm a great sports fan. Here at Liberty, I attend every football and basketball home game and many of the home baseball games. The students probably would say I'm the number-one fan—certainly the fan with the biggest mouth. I like to talk to the refs. Just the other night at a basketball game, I stood and took my glasses off during a time out and offered them to the official.

That sounds like a technical to me.

Oh, he's a good friend. He turned around jokingly and did a "T" signal, and everybody went wild. So, those are things that I doubt people would expect of Jerry Falwell. The general public thinks of me as a "John the Baptist, confront-the-culture, nuke-the-earth" kind of person.

Is that a fair perception?

Well, it is the only perception they could have, because when they watch me on Geraldo that's who they see. I'm a regular on that and other shows. Geraldo [Rivera] and I are actually good friends, and just today I wrote a blurb for [Harvard law professor and liberal pundit] Alan Dershowitz's new book on Genesis. Though we battle on TV, he's another friend.

You are buddies with your TV sparring partners?

For 25 years, Geraldo and I have been doing radio and TV shows together. And I'm always the token conservative. During the Clinton impeachment proceedings, I was on his show almost every night. We don't agree on a great deal, but we're friends.

After last year's "gay Teletubby" controversy, you were on NBC's Today show talking to Katie Couric, and it was clear that you were there to be the bad guy. Why do you appear on shows like that when it's so predictable that they're going to go after you?

That's really what I enjoy. I do CNN's Crossfire at least once a month. I do Bill Maher's Politically Incorrect every fifth week. I feel like I'm a minister to the media. I have an Acts 17, Mars Hill calling. I love to debate.

Late last year, you met with Christian gay-rights activist Mel White for an antiviolence summit, where you agreed to tone down your rhetoric against homosexuality. How did that come about?

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April 24 2000, Vol. 44, No. 5