By Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
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.
Forty percent of Virginia voters identified themselves last year as born-again Christians, according to exit polls. But social conservatism in Virginia has had difficulties in recent statewide elections.
Democrats won two consecutive governor's races and last year's U.S. Senate race despite a strong effort by social conservatives.
Abortion rights and gay rights groups are vowing to match the efforts of the Family Foundation, which distributes tens of thousands of voter guides ranking candidates by their stance on key issues.
Jessica Bearden, deputy director of NARAL Pro-Choice Virginia, said Virginia could be one of the first states to outlaw abortion if the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
"This is really crunch time for pro-choice voters," Bearden said. "It's time for us to vote our values and say, 'We are not going to stand for the General Assembly telling our doctors how they can treat us.' "
Dyana Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia, a gay rights organization, predicted that the Family Foundation's efforts will fail.
"There is more than one way to be a person of faith on these issues," Mason said.
In the 2008 session of the General Assembly, Cobb said, the Family Foundation will fight efforts to add protection of gays to the state's hate crime laws and seek to limit abortions, including requiring doctors to offer a woman a chance to get an ultrasound before she has the procedure.
Cobb said the organization will also push restrictions on payday lenders and fight proposals to expand gambling.
After his speech, Falwell said he expects to be visible into next year's presidential election.
"I had a good teacher," Falwell said. "I can assure you, I am going to do what my daddy told me, and I am going to stand up and speak for the issues I care about."
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