Falwell Jr. Deepens Rift With Anti-Trump Liberty U Students

[UpInArms]

Source: Daily Beast

Donald Trump’s candidacy hasn’t just ripped a gash through the Republican Party; it’s also deeply divided one of American Evangelical Christianity’s most important institutions.

Campus organizers say that 1,100 Liberty University students signed a blistering letter last week criticizing the college’s president, Jerry Falwell Jr., for backing Donald Trump despite the candidate’s boast in 2005 that he could get away with grabbing women’s genitals without their consent. Falwell’s endorsement of Trump on Jan. 26 of this year––right before the Iowa caucuses––played an outsize role in helping the mogul court court conservative Christians who were concerned about his moral character.

Falwell’s blessing was controversial at the time. And his decision to stand by his man is generating even more furor now––and fear.

<snip>

“A recently uncovered tape revealed his comments bragging about sexually assaulting women,” it reads. “Any faculty or staff member at Liberty would be terminated for such comments, and yet when Donald Trump makes them, President Falwell rushes eagerly to his defense – taking the name ‘Liberty University’ with him.”

Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/16/falwell-jr-deepens-rift-with-anti-trump-liberty-u-students.html

[LiberalFighter]

1. Has Jr been guilty of groping?

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

14. "Let he who is without sin throw the first grope."

[trusty elf]

21. .....

[img][/img]

[oberliner]

2. The hypocrisy is undeniable

Last edited Sun Oct 16, 2016, 12:24 AM - Edit history (1)

How any fundamentalist Christian could make excuses for Trump is beyond understanding.

[mjjoe]

13. Power

It's all about power. Trump promises to pack SCOTUS with right-wingers who will be bent on rolling back progress we've made as a society.

The fundamentalists wouldn't care if Trump introduced new mistresses at a weekly Rose Garden ceremony, as long as he follows through on nominating from his list of proposed justices.

[oberliner]

16. But how can they trust him?

Isn't he a bit of a wildcard, even in their eyes?

[mjjoe]

25. Maybe

It seems to me the fundamentalists would try to bully him in some way if he didn't seem to be following through. Whip up their followers until he caves - he's obviously not as tough as he would have people believe.

Given how Trump has doubled down on appealing to his base, he probably wouldn't have much choice. Sort of like how Russian investors have propped up his business, which makes him pro-Putin.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

24. Yup. Power-blinded Dominionists. . . . . nt

[JI7]

3. isn't this a fake college ?

[radical noodle]

5. Not exactly fake

but certainly steeped in religion.

[JI7]

12. well, not fake like Trump U

[Missn-Hitch]

29. It's probably okay for communications or accounting. But science, hells to the NO.

[Tanuki]

48. Learning Creationism at Liberty University

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/learning-creationism-at-liberty-u/

".... “Creationism and evolutionism have different ways of explaining the evidence. The creationist way recognizes the importance of Biblical records,” said [Liberty professor Marcus] Ross.

He teaches his students that dinosaurs were wiped from the face of the Earth some 4,000 to 5,000 years ago during the Biblical flood that Noah survived by building an ark.

He says carbon-dating techniques that have been used to suggest the Earth is in fact billions of years old are simply not reliable."

[Missn-Hitch]

49. Exactly.

[paleotn]

36. By most measures ...

...their academic programs are weak and in some cases extremely weak. But the same holds true for most evangelical colleges and universities.

[pstokely]

51. but it might not take much to get full ride there

these places can't be very selective

[OldRedneck]

47. Back in the late-1990's . . .

I was director of a faith-based ministry in SW VA. Among our regular volunteers were church youth groups from the Lynchburg area, home of Liberty University.

The pastors of two of the churches whose kids volunteered with us told me their church cut all ties with Liberty University because Liberty U. students, working as youth group leaders, were telling their kids they were going to Hell because they attended public schools, not private church schools.

[pstokely]

50. somehow it's fully accredited

nt

[no_hypocrisy]

4. What's Falwell going to do to them? Expel them?

[radical noodle]

6. If he does

he may find an empty campus

[Kennah]

10. What is the downside, if any? (n/t)

[pstokely]

52. it might be the only place a lot of fundy parents will pay for

nt

[radical noodle]

53. Ah, but there's always Oral Roberts University

as bad or maybe worse.

[longship]

7. The great Hitchens on the senior Falwell.

Last edited Sat Oct 15, 2016, 11:53 PM - Edit history (1)

Upon his death. No doubt it may also apply to Jr.

BTW, what Hitch has said -- not here -- is that if Jerry Falwell had an enema he could have been buried in a matchbox.

That's true.

[rusty quoin]

11. Very well said. Falwell and Pat Robertson were good friends.

They were very much alike and made lots of money. Isn't Robertson a billionaire?

That thing about a rich man getting into heaven being as likely as a camel passing through an eye of a needle...how could Pat get there? Maybe it's why he prays so hard down into his clenched hands, because he knows he's not going there.

[manicraven]

18. I miss Hitch!

[Missn-Hitch]

30. Me too. Cheers!

[paleotn]

37. Same here. n/t

[LuvNewcastle]

8. This election is opening some eyes, I think.

Maybe the students at Liberty will finally see what the rest of us see in people like Falwell.

[mrmpa]

9. Maybe Bernie Sanders talk at Liberty U......

earlier this year had some effect on the students and their sensibilities.

[notawinger]

15. My Christian relatives

Tell me they are less concerned with what he says than what Hillary has done.

[Missn-Hitch]

32. Yep. In an argument with my evangelical preacher brother,

I dropped an F bomb in a moment of "passionate" discussion. Not on purpose, I have always tried to be civil and respectful. After I had said it, my comment was "well, if your candidate can say it on TV, I can say it to you." He left it alone.

I am hearing the same thing from my christian relatives. Cheers!

[notawinger]

44. I try to be respectful

As well, they sure don't seem to respect my view though.

[Missn-Hitch]

45. You are not alone. DU is a great place to share our experiences. Cheers.

[notawinger]

46. It is nice

To have a place to vent that's for sure. I for one will be glad when this election is over.

[keithbvadu2]

33. Political Christians rather than Christians of faith

[notawinger]

39. They are

Christians of faith

[keithbvadu2]

41. The students apparently. Not the Trump supporters

[notawinger]

42. Agreed

[paleotn]

38. And when you ask them what' Hillary HAS done....

....you get a bunch of canards for which there is no evidence. When you question them on their knowledge of what actually happened in Benghazi they have little clue. The usual Whitewater and Vince Foster memes appear and are easily shot down. In the end, they have nothing with which to back up their claims. Ironically, they have no problem with the positions she's taken that I don't agree with. Go figure.

To those people, it's not the truth that's important, it's their preconceived, ill informed notions, implanted years ago by decades of incessant Clinton bashing. It's the same reason they're so susceptible to that damn religion.

[notawinger]

40. This is true

My family votes on one issue only, abortion!

[PSPS]

17. Already posted in LBN last Thursday

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10141596172

[Initech]

19. Hey Falwell, when you're in a hole, stop digging!

[DeltaLitProf]

20. But some of the students probably also noticed drinking is okay

If Franklin Trump Jr. is not an avid tippler I've never seen one. The words were slurred. The face was red. The eyes were glassy. He looked like Foster Brooks after being fed a corncob rectally.

[dembotoz]

26. i think it is good when the leader of an autocratic instituion does something stupid

maybe he doesn't have god on his speed dial after all

[Achilleaze]

27. Rev. 2nd Coming Moon (R) must taste the bitter burn of buyer's regret

concerning his investment in Falwell & Liberty U. (R), as he contemplates things from THE OTHER SIDE.

[Missn-Hitch]

28. Me likey!!

[Grins]

31. And now, the immortal words of another ofteninvited speaker to Liberty Univ......

"If Republicans in this election vote in such a way as to say a candidate’s personal life and personal conduct in office doesn’t matter, then a lot of Christian evangelical leaders owe Bill Clinton a public apology." - Mike Huckabee quoted by the Wall Street Journal, 31 March 2007.

"Christian evangelical leaders." Gee. I wonder whom he is referring to....?

[keithbvadu2]

34. Good one!

[greymattermom]

35. so the students should petition to change their behavior code

To allow kissing, grabbing, etc. without consent.

[GulfCoast66]

55. At Liberty U

Even consensual premarital sex will get you expelled.

But maybe grabbing a pussy is now ok

[Rex]

43. Sorry kids, but your 'dean' is a political junkie and GOP flunky.

There is no religion to him, just a GOP con man. Sorry you had to find out this way.

[Dorian Gray]

54. Falwell

is a scumbag.

Good for the students who are standing up and saying he doesn't represent them.

There is no way in hell i would go to that school or send my kids to that school. But the kids who go there have even had enough and good for them! Good for them for standing up for what they believe.