God's Right Hand: How Jerry Falwell Made God a Republican and Baptized the American Right

by Michael Sean Winters

An acclaimed reporter presents the first major biography of the legendary, and divisive, conservative pastor who reshaped the landscape of American politics—Jerry Falwell. At a time when the Tea Party movement is dominating much of America's social and political discourse, the story of Falwell's Moral Majority will resonate strongly. Indeed, Falwell’s language may sound familiar to anyone who has heard recent speeches by figures like Sarah Palin, Rick Perry, or Michelle Bachmann.

Genres: Religion, History, Politics, Nonfiction, Biography, Christianity, American

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 17, 2012

Reviews

[Margaret Wilber · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an aggravating read. The author was clearly straining to remain objective but was often unable to offset his obvious admiration for Falwell and his opinions.

[Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author of Gods Right Hand, Michael Sean Winters, is not forthcoming about his biases and it impacts the information presented in the book. He clearly has done his research (albeit apparently largely from Jerry Falwell’s own books), but he completely bungles the discussion of the moral majority’s stance on abortion and race and does not adequately fact check falwells claims about himself and his work.

He makes little to no mention of the fact that the southern Baptist convention (SBC) (of which, in fairness, Falwell was not a part) was fine with abortion throughout the 70s, and only "came to recognize it as a social ill" in the run up to the 1980 elections.

This, conveniently, happened at the same time that segregation academies (private "Christian schools" founded to ensure that white children would not have to attend integrated public schools) - a fight that the SBC was deeply concerned about, but faced an uphill PR battle on - looked to be heading to the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) in 1981 in "Bob Jones University v. United States." The author even mentions the segregation academies, albeit opaquely, in chapter nine when discussing Falwells beliefs on the first amendment. Yet he does not interrogate the matter further ? Bizarre.

Winters doesn’t seem to think that Falwells public work had any racist or discriminatory overtones despite discussing school privatization a page earlier (again without mentioning segregation academies - loc 3652). He mentions the "BJU v. United States" but completely glosses over it. Winters merely quotes Falwell as saying that SCOTUS just ruled against BJU because SCOTUS didn’t like them (rather than because BJU was racist and violating the constitution) (loc 3652) and does not investigate Falwells claim any further. Taking this claim at face value amounts to lazy research at best, and an endorsement of Falwell’s racist beliefs at worst.

The epilogue is patently ridiculous, touting how kind and respectful Falwell was to people he disagreed with- after an entire book discussing his decades-long, ardent work to disenfranchise and discriminate against people who weren’t white, straight, male, and right wing. He claims that Falwell didn’t "indulge in vulgar personal attacks" but rather "demonized… in the abstract" (loc 6586). Hillary Clinton would beg to differ.

In short - this book is very poorly researched. It’s not a question of agreeing or disagreeing with Winters on issues of racial discrimination or abortion; winters seriously bungled a fundamental tenet of falwells work with the Moral Majority by failing to adequately investigate falwells own claims about himself.

Several pieces of miscellany: Winters compares IVF to Auschwitz which is objectionable in the extreme (p 214 on the kindle app), and reveals a complete ignorance of international affairs when he refers to Saudi Arabia as a "moderate Muslim country" (loc 6515).

[Beth Shultz · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read most of this book. Very insightful, but I got bored and disgusted with it. And that is all I will say about this.

[J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye opening. You won't understand American politics and religion unless you read this book.

[Brent Rosendal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had heard about Jerry Falwell many times but didn't really know much about him before reading this book. The book did a good job sharing the story of Falwell's life. The biggest negative about the book was that the author seemed to look down on Falwell and his beliefs which was annoying at times.

[Keelah Butts · Rating 4 out of 5]

a good reminder that it "didnt used to be like this", and there's a frighteningly small handful of people we have to thank for making many Americans see party affiliation as a religious choice. Like so many things we take for granted, its easy to forget that (for example) the right's vehement opposition to abortion is a recent development.

[Sam Gilbert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poorly written, workmanlike biography. Few penetrating insights.

[Aubrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

may or may not finish. talked too much abt him not enough abt stuff whatev u get it

[Katie Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Riveting. I enjoyed this very much. If you have ever wondered how so many Americans are confused by the term "Christian", Jerry Falwell can be thanked. Looking back, the man was a genius at builidng the relationships that combined religion and politics and made that combination either palatable or abhorrent for the rest of us. To this day, the term "evangelical Christian" stirs up in most people an image of Jerry Falwell or some other televangelist or mega-church leader whether that's accurate to the term or not. The expectation of fitting into the evangelical category by way of political party is attributed to Falwell. Very interesting, very well written.

[Tim Chavel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book written by someone who did not think highly of Falwell's beliefs. However, he did a good job of conveying Falwell's convictions and a great job of how Falwell came to be one of the most important man in American politics. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to learn more about Falwell or to those who like to learn hoe Christianity and politics can influence each other.

[Robert Core · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jerry Falwell and Ronald Reagan presented a dynamic duo in combating creeping socialism and family decay. Many have tried on Reagan's cloak, but none has dared to follow in the footsteps of Falwell. This book documents the unique circumstances that fueled his popularity and the simple running out of gas that marked his stalling out.

[Geoffrey Kabaservice · Rating 4 out of 5]

I reviewed this book for the Episcopal Digital Network in July 2012:

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/st...

[Rosemary A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and well balanced.