Religion: Jerry Falwell's Crusade

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The Evangelicals, positioned to the left of both the New and the older Fundamentalists, are heavily influenced by their dominant celebrity, the Rev. Billy Graham, 67. Once again, the differences are not essentially doctrinal. Graham believes in biblical "inerrancy" as fervently as Falwell does but works happily with people who have more liberal theologies

and styles himself a tolerant centrist. Although he praises Falwell as "a tremendous spokesman," the two men have talked in person only three times; the most recent meeting was two years ago.

The one figure among the political preachers who comes close to rivaling Falwell in nationwide impact is the Rev. Pat Robertson, 55, of the Virginia Beach-based Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN). Besides his importance as head of the nation's No. 4 cable-TV network, which reaches 30 million homes, and as folksy host of TV's 700 Club, Robertson is the leading figure in yet another subcategory among Protestant conservatives, the Pentecostals. These are Evangelicals distinguished by their practice of such "Holy Spirit gifts" as faith healing, speaking in tongues (ecstatic utterances in unknown languages) and the giving of prophecies thought to come directly from God. There are 7 million members in totally Pentecostal denominations. In addition, millions of others, known as Neo-Pentecostals or Charismatics, are members of traditional Christian denominations but follow Pentecostal practices.

Though he backs the religious-right agenda, Robertson insists that he wants to "build bridges" among all varieties of Christians and that he is no Fundamentalist. Technically, he is right, if only because true Fundamentalists, Falwell included, reject Pentecostal practices, even though the phenomena are mentioned in the New Testament. Fundamentalists believe that God intended such "gifts" only for the special period when the church began.

Robertson's organization, which includes a graduate school that opened in . 1977, received $233 million last year from tuitions, receipts and donations. A Yale Law School graduate and son of the late A. Willis Robertson, Democratic Senator from Virginia, Robertson says he is now "praying about" whether to run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1988.

A professional observer of religion and politics, Albert Menendez of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, believes that as a result of the overwhelming white Evangelical and Fundamentalist vote for Reagan, "Walter Mondale was simply out of the running throughout the South, the border states and parts of the Midwest." One index of the remarkable political change: between 1980 and 1984 the proportion of Southern Baptist pastors who identified with the Republican Party went from 29% to 66%. Falwell's Moral Majority claims that it registered 8 million voters during the past two national elections. Even if the actual number was 2 million, as some outsiders estimate, the feat remains impressive. Another political lobby on the religious right, Christian Voice, sent its controversial "moral-issues report cards" on congressional candidates to 8 million voters last year. More specifically targeted campaigns have been effective as well. Moral Majority's 200,000 registrations in North Carolina last year were crucial in saving the U.S. Senate seat of Pro-Life Leader Jesse Helms.