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The Falwell Affair

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  • The Falwell Affair

    Business partner of Falwells says affair with evangelical power couple spanned seven years

    Giancarlo Granda says his sexual relationship with the Falwells began when he was 20. He says he had sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell Jr, head of Liberty University and a staunch supporter of President Trump, looked on.

    By ARAM ROSTON Filed Aug. 24, 2020, 4 p.m. GMT
    Granda showed Reuters emails, text messages and other evidence that he says demonstrate the sexual nature of his relationship with the couple, who have been married since 1987. “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda said in an interview. Now 29, he described the liaisons as frequent – “multiple times per year” – and said the encounters took place at hotels in Miami and New York, and at the Falwells’ home in Virginia.

    The love life of Falwell fils and femme provides yet another object lesson for evangelicals preaching against sexual immorality. By their actions, they prove the behavior they publicly condemn is essentially harmless. I wish him the best. If Pastor Ted has found his way to a new life, perhaps Jerry Jr. can follow along. The only shame is the road to their redemption has to be paved with the bruised and bloodied souls of their erstwhile followers.

    Or so it seems to me.

  • #2
    Other more recent text messages, such as an exchange from this June that Granda provided to Reuters, show Granda growing angry and frustrated as his relationship with the Falwells frayed.

    “Since you’re okay with ruining my life, I am going to take the kamikaze route,” Granda wrote to Jerry Falwell. “It really is a shame because I wanted to reach a peaceful resolution and just move on with our lives but if conflict is what you want, then so be it.”

    In the same message string, Falwell replied: “You should by now understand that I will not be extorted. I have always treated you fairly and been restrained in response to your threats because I did not wish to ruin your life. Going forward, stop contacting me and my family.”
    Hell hath no fury like a lover scorned.

    Edit. I would agree that it's his followers and Liberty students that will suffer the most because of this.
    P1) If , then I win.

    P2)

    C) I win.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by Diogenes View Post

      Edit. I would agree that it's his followers and Liberty students that will suffer the most because of this.
      I disagree re: the students. Falwell leaving is the best thing that could happen for the university. He's driven its name through the mud the last few years. There's a reason the top Protestant scholars flock to Baylor, not Liberty.
      "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
        I disagree re: the students. Falwell leaving is the best thing that could happen for the university. He's driven its name through the mud the last few years. There's a reason the top Protestant scholars flock to Baylor, not Liberty.
        He may be leaving, but it's in a fair amount of disgrace.
        P1) If , then I win.

        P2)

        C) I win.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Diogenes View Post
          He may be leaving, but it's in a fair amount of disgrace.
          Disgrace or not, it stops the bleeding. Enrollments were down, and the dream of sports success was going up in flames once prominent black athletes had started transferring.

          https://frenchpress.thedispatch.com/...skBF427WXng4M4
          "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

          Comment


          • #6
            Good riddance. He called my daughter's private Lynchburg area college "The whores on the hill" several years ago. He's just not a nice man. Daddy's coat tail hanger is all he's ever been.
            That's what
            - She

            Without a clear-cut definition of sin, morality becomes a mere argument over the best way to train animals
            - Manya the Holy Szin (The Quintara Marathon)

            I may not be as old as dirt, but me and dirt are starting to have an awful lot in common
            - Stephen R. Donaldson

            Comment


            • #7
              I know nothing about him, other than the legacy of his father. If he is being sexually immoral, then he deserves everything they throw at him. I am just suspicious that this is just another election cycle attack. They will be coming out of the woodwork between now and November.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                I know nothing about him, other than the legacy of his father. If he is being sexually immoral, then he deserves everything they throw at him. I am just suspicious that this is just another election cycle attack. They will be coming out of the woodwork between now and November.
                As much as possible, let's steer clear of the politics here. I deliberately chose not to put this in Civics.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Bill the Cat View Post
                  Good riddance. He called my daughter's private Lynchburg area college "The whores on the hill" several years ago. He's just not a nice man. Daddy's coat tail hanger is all he's ever been.
                  It always concerns me when a son takes over for his dad in Christian ministry.
                  Not saying it can't happen, but I think all too often, it's not a "God calling" but a "legacy grabbing".

                  For example - I knew Joel Osteen's dad, John, and he was a GREAT guy. (I think he got a little weird in his later years, but I used to attend his Pastors Conferences)
                  The first to state his case seems right until another comes and cross-examines him.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                    I know nothing about him, other than the legacy of his father.
                    He's a businessman first, and a university president second. He did a great job shoring up their finances and putting their endowment in order. They're long-term stable now where they were perpetually insolvent previously. I could give reasons why I think his methods have further eroded an academic quality at Liberty which was already questionable, but none of that changes the fact the bottom line was vastly improved under Jerry Jr.

                    I'm thinking getting one's kicks watching the wife get boffed by the pool boy, if it became known, would scotch any executive outside the porn industry. If it was consensual on all sides, I'd be hard pressed to say it was wrong, but love triangles are inherently unstable, and even more so when they get mixed with business. There has to be a carefully constructed off ramp for all parties to maintain the consensual nature of the relationship. That was missing here.

                    At the same time, as head of a prominently Christian enterprise, the Christianity of the enterprise comes into question. Billy Graham ran a famously scandal-free organization, even as it attracted unstable individuals by the thousand. Entry into the Falwell org, as staff, student, or professor, was carefully controlled to prevent exactly the kind of scandal Jr has acknowledged, at least in part. He says he wasn't involved, and he didn't watch when his wife was having sex with the pool boy, in his home, where the pool boy cum business partner came for sex with his wife.

                    I'd personally find it easier to believe in Jesus.

                    There's an accountability problem in Christianity, and it goes all the way from "Praise the Lord and pass the mashed potatos" ministries to Wednesday-night hucksters at the local AoG, to their college presidents. Increases in position aren't matched by increases in scrutiny. Pastor Ted got caught because his rent boy told the tale, not because of any due diligence. President Falwell, same same.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Juvenal View Post
                      He's a businessman first, and a university president second. He did a great job shoring up their finances and putting their endowment in order. They're long-term stable now where they were perpetually insolvent previously. I could give reasons why I think his methods have further eroded an academic quality at Liberty which was already questionable, but none of that changes the fact the bottom line was vastly improved under Jerry Jr.

                      I'm thinking getting one's kicks watching the wife get boffed by the pool boy, if it became known, would scotch any executive outside the porn industry. If it was consensual on all sides, I'd be hard pressed to say it was wrong, but love triangles are inherently unstable, and even more so when they get mixed with business. There has to be a carefully constructed off ramp for all parties to maintain the consensual nature of the relationship. That was missing here.

                      At the same time, as head of a prominently Christian enterprise, the Christianity of the enterprise comes into question. Billy Graham ran a famously scandal-free organization, even as it attracted unstable individuals by the thousand. Entry into the Falwell org, as staff, student, or professor, was carefully controlled to prevent exactly the kind of scandal Jr has acknowledged, at least in part. He says he wasn't involved, and he didn't watch when his wife was having sex with the pool boy, in his home, where the pool boy cum business partner came for sex with his wife.

                      I'd personally find it easier to believe in Jesus.

                      There's an accountability problem in Christianity, and it goes all the way from "Praise the Lord and pass the mashed potatos" ministries to Wednesday-night hucksters at the local AoG, to their college presidents. Increases in position aren't matched by increases in scrutiny. Pastor Ted got caught because his rent boy told the tale, not because of any due diligence. President Falwell, same same.

                      If someone is going to be a leader, they need to be above reproach. The Poker of Cows just had a sermon on that very thing this last Sunday.

                      I am trying to remember Jerry Falwell, Sr. I remember he started the Moral Majority and Liberty U. But I keep mixing him up with Jim Bakker in my head. Wasn't Falwell sr involved in some scandals back in the 80s too? I can't recall.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Sparko View Post
                        If someone is going to be a leader, they need to be above reproach. The Poker of Cows just had a sermon on that very thing this last Sunday.

                        I am trying to remember Jerry Falwell, Sr. I remember he started the Moral Majority and Liberty U. But I keep mixing him up with Jim Bakker in my head. Wasn't Falwell sr involved in some scandals back in the 80s too? I can't recall.
                        He was a little before my time. The only incident I remember from the senior Falwell was when he made headlines for accusing the Teletubbies of promoting homosexuality late in life. I don't think he was actually involved in any major scandals.
                        "I am not angered that the Moral Majority boys campaign against abortion. I am angry when the same men who say, "Save OUR children" bellow "Build more and bigger bombers." That's right! Blast the children in other nations into eternity, or limbless misery as they lay crippled from "OUR" bombers! This does not jell." - Leonard Ravenhill

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by KingsGambit View Post
                          He was a little before my time. The only incident I remember from the senior Falwell was when he made headlines for accusing the Teletubbies of promoting homosexuality late in life. I don't think he was actually involved in any major scandals.
                          I remember him getting sued by a Gay activist, and losing, twice.
                          “He (Falwell) had indicated that I was a liar and that I was not a reliable person,” Sloan said. “So it was a matter of personal integrity.”

                          Sloan sued Falwell after the minister failed to settle a $5,000 wager on whether he had condemned the Metropolitan Community Church in a sermon. Falwell, who knew Sloan from the mid-1950s when both attended Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Mo., denied having made the remarks but Sloan produced a tape recording of them.

                          A Sacramento Municipal Court judge last September ordered Falwell to pay the $5,000, plus 7% interest. A three-judge panel rejected Falwell’s appeal in June and added attorney fees.

                          But no sex scandals of his own.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            My question is why did it take so long to dump him?
                            Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.
                            Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man;
                            But will they come when you do call for them? Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, Act III:

                            go with the flow the river knows . . .

                            Frank

                            I do not know, therefore everything is in pencil.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Originally posted by shunyadragon View Post
                              My question is why did it take so long to dump him?
                              My question would be why are Christian pastors/leaders so often found to be adulterers, swindlers, and on several occasions gay? The latter often being the most vile anti gay ranters - Haggard comes to mind.

                              Someone should do a research thesis on the Christian Right, hypocrisy, and Freudian denial.
                              "It ain't necessarily so
                              The things that you're liable
                              To read in the Bible
                              It ain't necessarily so
                              ."

                              Sportin' Life
                              Porgy & Bess, DuBose Heyward, George & Ira Gershwin

                              Comment

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