--- title: Jerry Falwell RNC Speech: What to Know on Evangelical Leader description: Christian leader Jerry Falwell Jr will speak at the Republican National Convention on Thursday night in support of Donald Trump. canonical: https://time.com/4416820/rnc-jerry-falwell-donald-trump/ author: Will Drabold article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-21T14:26:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T05:42:35.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: What to Know About Evangelical Leader Jerry Falwell Jr. Before His Speech at the RNC og:description: Jerry Falwell Jr. was an early Christian supporter of Donald Trump og:url: https://time.com/4416820/rnc-jerry-falwell-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf60a6b79729a3d71/69887a9c3c16396b8645bb75/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-endorsement.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Donald Trump Delivers Convocation At Liberty University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About Evangelical Leader Jerry Falwell Jr. Before His Speech at the RNC twitter:description: Jerry Falwell Jr. was an early Christian supporter of Donald Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf60a6b79729a3d71/69887a9c3c16396b8645bb75/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-endorsement.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About Evangelical Leader Jerry Falwell Jr. Before His Speech at the RNC by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:42 AM UTCPublished: Jul 21, 2016 2:26 PM UTC  Jerry Falwell, Jr. presents Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a sports jersey after he delivered the convocation on Jan. 18, 2016 in Lynchburg, Va. Jerry Falwell, Jr. presents Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a sports jersey after he delivered the convocation on Jan. 18, 2016 in Lynchburg, Va.Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images by [Will Drabold](https://time.com/author/will-drabold/) ## Will Drabold Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:42 AM UTCPublished: Jul 21, 2016 2:26 PM UTC **Correction appended, July 21, 2016** Ted Cruz [kicked off his campaign](http://time.com/3754153/ted-cruz-campaign-launch-liberty-university/) last year at Jerry Falwell Jr.’s Liberty University, and Bernie Sanders spoke there too. Now, a day after[ Cruz was booed off the Republican National Convention stage ](http://time.com/4416507/republican-convention-ted-cruz-delegates-boo/)for not endorsing Donald Trump, Falwell will close out the convention. It was not always clear Trump would earn Falwell’s support. Trump has had three wives, has espoused [contradictory](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/04/03/donald-trumps-ever-shifting-positions-on-abortion/) [positions](http://time.com/4276877/donald-trump-abortion-history/) on abortion and uses rhetoric that turns off some religious conservatives. But since the lead-up to the Iowa caucuses this winter, Falwell has urged evangelicals to back Trump. “We need someone other than a career politician,” [said Falwell](http://time.com/4201357/donald-trump-jerry-falwell/), the leader of the Christian university founded by his father, at a rally for Trump in Iowa in January. The pairing has struck many as unconventional, including Liberty University alums who said Falwell had [sold his soul](http://christiannews.net/2016/01/26/liberty-university-alumni-express-concerns-about-falwell-after-soul-selling-trump-endorsement/) in his endorsement of Trump. But it is crucial for Trump’s candidacy. The New York billionaire must turn out voters in the religious right in Ohio, Pennsylvania and elsewhere to beat Hillary Clinton. Last month, [Trump met with](http://time.com/4377051/donald-trump-evangelical-meeting/) more than 1,000 Christian evangelical leaders who largely gave the real estate mogul positive reviews. Falwell was there, paving the way for Trump’s support. **Correction**: _The original version of this story misstated Jerry Falwell’s and Liberty University’s role in the 2012 election. Neither endorsed a candidate._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4416820/rnc-jerry-falwell-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4416820/rnc-jerry-falwell-donald-trump/"},"headline":"What to Know About Evangelical Leader Jerry Falwell Jr. Before His Speech at the RNC","datePublished":"2016-07-21T14:26:40.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T05:42:35.000Z","description":"Jerry Falwell Jr. was an early Christian supporter of Donald Trump","url":"https://time.com/4416820/rnc-jerry-falwell-donald-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf60a6b79729a3d71/69887a9c3c16396b8645bb75/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-endorsement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Will Drabold","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/will-drabold/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf60a6b79729a3d71/69887a9c3c16396b8645bb75/jerry-falwell-donald-trump-endorsement.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Donald Trump Delivers Convocation At Liberty University","caption":"Jerry Falwell, Jr. presents Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump with a sports jersey after he delivered the convocation on Jan. 18, 2016 in Lynchburg, Va.","creditText":"Chip Somodevilla—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4416820/rnc-jerry-falwell-donald-trump/","name":"What to Know About Evangelical Leader Jerry Falwell Jr. Before His Speech at the RNC"}}]}] ```