SALT LAKE CITY -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell, who for the first time is a voting delegate at the Southern Baptist Convention, now says he is a full-fledged Southern Baptist. And he believes that his adopted denomination is one of the most powerful political forces in America.

"Southern Baptists, with 15 million members strong, is a force to be reckoned with," Falwell said in an interview at the convention.

The high-profile leader of religious-political conservatives predicted that the leadership of the giant denomination, which now sides with social conservatives opposing abortion and gay lifestyles, and championing prayer in schools, will have a major influence in electing a Republican president in 2000.

"Whether it's George W. Bush, John Ashcroft (a Republican senator from Missouri) or Steve Forbes, the Baptists will be a force in getting them elected," Falwell predicted. "And President Clinton is making it easier for a Republican to win."

Falwell said he and his church have always been identified with the independent fundamentalist Baptist movement, which was founded in the 1930s by the late Rev. J. Frank Norris of Fort Worth.

But he has moved steadily closer to the Southern Baptist Convention as it has become more conservative. Now he says his church is dually aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Bible Baptist Fellowship, an independent Baptist organization based in Springfield, Mo., that grew out of the Norris movement.

September 1998