In his last televised Sunday sermon before Christmas, Moral Majority founder and Faith and Values Coalition national chairman Reverend Jerry Falwell announced, “we are winning the Christmas war” and thanked God for the “few conservatives” in the media.

In his December 19 sermon, Falwell continued to forward the right-wing claim that “secularists” are waging a war on Christmas; Media Matters for America has documented this claim here, here, here, and here. Falwell asserted that “the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and other secularists” “hate Christ” and want to “steal Christmas from America.” He went on to state: “Imagine God raising up an army of attorneys. ... We have declared war on the left, and we're going to sue the hide off of everybody, everybody, who tries to inhibit the liberties of our children and our families from worshipping and honoring the Lord.”

Falwell also thanked God for “the few conservatives out there” in the media, specifically mentioning FOX News Channel host and nationally syndicated columnist Cal Thomas, as well as ABC News analyst and nationally syndicated columnist George F. Will -- both of whom Media Matters for America has documented as sources of conservative misinformation. Falwell also lauded Virginia newspaper The Richmond Times-Dispatch, which in September 2004 published a 1,700-word commentary that leveled spurious charges against Senator John Kerry. As Media Matters noted, the commentary was penned by “guest columnist” retired Admiral Roy F. Hoffman, the discredited chairman and co-founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (now Swift Vets and POWs for Truth); it ran on the front page of a Sunday "Commentary" section.

From Falwell's December 19 televised sermon, broadcast from his Thomas Road Baptist Church:

When we began the Christmas season this year, we were all very much aware that a war was being waged by the Christmas grinches -- the American Civil Liberties Union [ACLU], Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and other secularists, to steal Christmas from America. To not only take Christ out of Christmas, but to remove Christmas totally from the American scene. I am happy to announce today that we are winning the Christmas war.

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Well, the fact is that lawyers today, over 3,000 of them in America -- Christian lawyers, constitution, conservative lawyers -- have offered their services at no charge, pro bono, to certain groups of constitution firms to do war with the ACLU, with the secularists, with Americans United, and all who hate Christ and want to drive God from the public square.

[...]

Imagine God raising up an army of attorneys, far more than the ACLU has, to stand up for religious freedom in America. This is a positive thing. It's an encouraging thing. Why do we always have to be on the defense? We have declared war on the left, and we're going to sue the hide off of everybody, everybody, who tries to inhibit the liberties of our children and our families from worshipping and honoring the Lord, as we in America are constitutionally allowed to do.

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It's amazing to me how somehow they all [liberals] seem to collect in the media. Now, not altogether -- thank God for a few George Wills and Cal Thomas's, and thank God for a few conservatives out there. Thank God for The Richmond Times-Dispatch. The problem was, when they bought the Lynchburg [Virginia, location of Falwell's church] newspaper, they didn't fire some of the editors.