Falwell's Son Urges Conservative Pastors To Get Out the Vote

RICHMOND, Sept. 11 -- The son of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, whose Moral Majority helped reshape the national political landscape, vowed Tuesday to pick up where his father left off and help change public policy in Virginia and in Washington.

Jonathan Falwell's first mission: Elect more social conservatives to the Virginia General Assembly.

Falwell is pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, which his father founded in the 1950s and later used as a perch to galvanize social conservatives into getting involved in politics. Jerry Falwell's efforts, including the founding of the Moral Majority in 1979, helped realign Virginia into a GOP stronghold in the 1990s.

But amid signs that Virginia might be leaning Democratic, Falwell said Virginia pastors need to refocus their efforts on getting their congregants out to vote this fall for legislative candidates who "believe the Bible is the truth."

"We must stand up and say, 'Right is right, wrong is wrong,' " Falwell, 41, told pastors gathered Tuesday for a meeting at the House of Delegates office building. "We must protect the unborn. We must protect marriage. We must protect our families. We must protect our young people."

Falwell's speech launched an effort by Pastors for Family Values, an offshoot of the Richmond-based Family Foundation, to play a major role in the Nov. 6 election, when all 140 seats in the House and Senate are on the ballot.

The fall elections could have a substantial impact on state policies in such areas as abortion rights, school vouchers and divorce laws.

In recent years, a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans in the Senate has blocked part of the Family Foundation's agenda, especially efforts to restrict abortion.

But several moderate Senate Republicans are retiring this year or were defeated in the primary in June. Social conservatives say they are well-positioned to have a majority in the Senate unless the Democrats pick up the four seats needed to regain control of it.

"There is no question, this election is critical to the commonwealth of Virginia. The number of seats, the location of the seats in terms of committee chairmen, are on the line," said Victoria Cobb, executive director of the Family Foundation. "It's not about party. It's where the candidates stand on values issues."

At Tuesday's meeting, the racially diverse group of pastors was given instructions for registering voters. The pastors also were urged to speak from the pulpit to get voters to the polls.

The Family Foundation's effort comes a year after the group successfully campaigned for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and civil unions in Virginia. The measure was approved by 57 percent of voters.