Jerry Falwell Jr., former president of powerhouse Christian school Liberty University and a prominent ally of former President Donald Trump, took to the internet to defend his faith after a scorching profile in Vanity Fair magazine.
Mr. Falwell, who resigned in 2020 amid a sex scandal, attested to his Christian beliefs.
“While I didn’t wear my religion on my sleeve to be seen by others, I have nonetheless had a strong faith in Christ and his teachings since college,” Mr. Falwell wrote in a message posted on Instagram. “While I am far from perfect, let me be clear: I believe Jesus was born of a virgin. I believe in the Deity of Christ as the only Son of God.”
Mr. Falwell, son of the famed independent Baptist evangelist who founded the Lynchburg, Va., school in 1971, resigned as president of the school in August 2020 after news broke of an affair his wife, Becki, had with a former pool boy in Florida. In January, writer Gabriel Sherman published a nearly 5,000-word article detailing Mr. Falwell’s rise to power and precipitous fall.
According to Mr. Sherman’s profile, Mr. Falwell was not a clone of his preacher-father, Jerry Falwell Sr.
The evangelist’s son drank alcohol and enjoyed life far away from central Virginia where he could let his hair down. He invested in a Miami hostel in partnership with Giancarlo Granda, who claims to have had sex with Mrs. Falwell while the school president watched. Mr. Falwell “vehemently” denied the claim of “threesomes,” Mr. Sherman wrote.
The article, which contained numerous salacious details and received wide media coverage, apparently gave many readers the impression that Mr. Falwell wasn’t as dedicated a Christian as was his late father, or as his brother, the Rev. Jonathan Falwell, pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, also founded by the senior Falwell.
Jerry Falwell Jr. took to Instagram and Twitter to dispel that impression.
“I love [Thomas Road Baptist] and its people with all my heart along with its theme under my Dad’s and brother’s leadership ‘to love God and love people’!” Mr. Falwell wrote.
A spokesperson for Liberty University, which is engaged in litigation seeking to recapture part of the eight-figure severance paid to Mr. Falwell, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.