The only light that was ever on at Liberty was black light.Rarely in my life have I ever seen a single significant American institution face such a staggering run of scandal and controversy as Liberty University, America’s largest Christian college. It matters, for the church and the nation: https://t.co/f22EkhLq11
— David French (@DavidAFrench) November 21, 2021
I don't think Liberty University is a significant American instititution (no more than all the colleges, universities, and professional schools (law; seminary) I attended are "significant American institutions (well, maybe UT-Austin), even though they are all significantly older than Liberty and held in much higher regard academically and professionally.)
Nor have I ever thought it was signficantly Christian, for that matter. It was founded by an overt racist who established the "Moral Majority" as a reaction to the long, slow, belated enforcement of Brown v. Board, as well as the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts (and probably the protests against the Vietnam War, long as we're at it). Falwell wanted a school he could control and from which he could send forth disciples schooled in his particular and peculiar secular and religious point of view (I could, fairly, say the same thing about my seminary, or the universities I attended; but at least they weren't dominated by a man who encouraged establishing "religious" schools as a way of helping white people evade the impact of Brown. And they weren’t that interested in making us all think “correctly.” Or behave “correctly,” for that matter.).
It matters for the "church" and the nation? Which church, pray tell? Not the one I'm ordained in; not any major church I'm aware of. Falwell was a Baptist preacher, but Baptists come in many stripes and flavors, and most are so Congregationalist they don't really think they belong to a "church," but rather are members of their church, alone and independent. And the nation? The nation would be better off if Jerry Falwell had struck to preaching at Thomas Road Baptist Church.
But, that's just me....
More than Bob Jones U? I'd be more likely to think the graduates of some obscure Bible college might be credible. Come to think of it, I'd be more likely to do that in comparison with those given their credentials by lots of the colleges at the big-name Ivies.
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