LYNCHBURG, Va. -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, said today he has mailed hundreds of letters to pastors in Alabama saying that he and former Alabama Gov. George Wallace are in agreement on social issues such as prayer in the schools, the Equal Rights Amendment and abortion.
Falwell denied that he was endorsing Wallace's bid for the governorship or telling his followers how to vote.
He said he mailed the letter last week to inform his supporters that Wallace agreed with the Moral Majority on key issues while his opponent in Tuesday's runoff for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Lt. Gov. George McMillan, held the opposite views.
'A number of pastors in Alabama were friends of mine and had asked me where Wallace and McMillan stood on the social issues,' Falwell said. 'I made an inquiry and sent that information to several hundred pastors in Alabama without any suggestion as to how to vote. I did that personally; it was not done by the Moral Majority.'
Falwell said the letter was distributed on his personal stationery and not on the letterhead of the Moral Majority, his political action wing.
Wallace is a long-time friend of Falwell's and has shared his Lynchburg pulpit.
Falwell said he contacted Moral Majority staffers in Alabama and asked them to compare the candidates' stands on the three issues as expressed in media reports and information released by their campaign headquarters.
Falwell said the result showed a clear difference between the candidates.
'Mr. Wallace on all three issues was with us in opposing federal finding for abortion, opposing the Equal Rights Amendment and supporting the return of voluntary prayer to public schools. Mr. McMillan was on the opposite side on all of those issues,' he said.
