A few weeks ago, I reported on Falwell's blatant lie on TV that his ministry had never lost its tax exempt status in the past. When Barry Lynn brought it up, Falwell sputtered:
"Never. Never. Not one minute. Not one second. You are wrong. Never one second did we lose our tax exemption."
I posted the text of a NY Times article from April 7, 1993 showing that the IRS had revoked the tax exempt status of both the Old Time Gospel Hour and the Liberty Federation, both non-profits run by Falwell, and fined them $50,000 for violating tax laws for non-profit organizations. Turns out Falwell has continued to tell this lie. On a July 16th broadcast of "The Big Story with John Gibson" on Fox News, Falwell said:
"The fact is that 'Old Time Gospel Hour,' or any other ministry with which I've been associated has never lost its tax exemption."
Now Americans United for Separation of Church and State has published the actual text of the letter that Falwell himself signed admitting that they had lost their tax exempt status for 1986 and 1987 for violating the tax laws. Folks, you gotta have balls the size of, well, Falwell, to go on TV twice and tell a blatant lie that can easily be checked. More importantly, what does it say about his followers that he can so easily get away with doing it? I think it says that they basically shut their brains off.
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"The fact is that 'Old Time Gospel Hour,' or any other ministry with which I've been associated has never lost its tax exemption."
From a strictly logical standpoint, this might not actually be a lie, provided that any one ministry of his has not lost its tax exemption. The "or," combined with the singular verb ("has"), means that he is referring to just one non-specified ministry, which may be Old Time Gospel Hour OR something else.
So it might not be a lie--but it's definitely a dirty trick.
"More importantly, what does it say about his followers that he can so easily get away with doing it? I think it says that they basically shut their brains off."
Sort of. While I disagree with most of Susan Harding's work, she made some pretty good points on this subject in "The Book of Jerry Falwell". Basically, she claims that Falwell is subject to Biblical inerrancy. Believers will not only accept outright lies and retcons, they'll "make them true "by (1) arguing constantly that x is true, and (2) convincing and converting others, thus justifying their own belief. So you get weird crap like this, and Falwell's followers continue to view him as whatever Biblical male figure he feels like being today.