Fighting the Right

In response to the news of the death of Jerry Falwell, People For the American Way President Ralph G. Neas issued the following statement:

We extend our condolences to Rev. Jerry Falwell’s family and friends. He was an effective advocate for his vision of America, a vision with which we strongly disagreed.

People For the American Way was founded in part to help Americans mobilize principled opposition to the rhetoric and agenda of televangelists like Revs. Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson.

Right Using Foley Scandal to Push Anti-Gay Bigotry, Falsely Equate Being Gay with Being an Abuser

David Barton: Propaganda Masquerading as History

In 1987, God reportedly told David Barton, a one-time science teacher at a fundamentalist Christian school that grew out of a church started by his own parents, that he was “to search the library and find the date that prayer had been prohibited in public schools [and] obtain a record of national SAT scores … spanning several decades.” Predictably, the result of Barton’s unscientific study was to find a “correlation” between the alleged banning of prayer and a decrease in SAT scores, as well as increases in everything from alcohol consumption to crimes rates across the nation.

The Right’s Favorite Pseudo-Historian

Through his organization, Wallbuilders, Barton peddles a wide array of videos, books and other resources designed to “introduce the current generation of Americans to an uncensored view of America’s religious and political history.”[10]

Report Documents Rise of ‘Patriot Pastors’ Movement in Ohio and Other States

“I came to incite a riot! Man your battle stations! Ready your weapons! Lock and load!” Those incendiary words are the rallying cry of televangelist Rod Parsley, a leader of an increasingly prominent group of Religious Right activists known as the “Patriot Pastors” who are using their pulpits to advance far-right policies and politicians at the ballot box.

Ralph Reed: The Crash of the Choir-Boy Wonder

Religious Right power-broker Ralph Reed’s first bid for elected office crashed and burned July 18 week amid the stench of the Jack Abramoff corruption scandal. The former Christian Coalition front man’s hard-nosed and duplicitous tactics, which had catapulted him to right-wing political stardom, ultimately became his undoing. People For the American Way Foundation traces the rise and fall of the political wunderkind, who once said “I want to be invisible. I do guerilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don’t know it’s over until you’re in a body bag.”