Posted on 05/19/2007 12:23:34 AM PDT by Cinnamon
Commencement today marks new beginning for school he founded
LYNCHBURG -- The Rev. Jerry Falwell planned to save America through his students, 3,598 of whom will graduate today from Liberty University inculcated with his evangelical, conservative vision.
"The reason he built this place was to change the world," said Liberty student Mark Krom. "It's easy for me to buy into that. He was training champions for Christ."
Falwell, 73, died from a heart condition Tuesday in his campus office. Thousands have come to the campus to view his body over the past several days. Falwell, in repose in a coffin in the lobby of the Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center, has a Bible tucked in his hands.
The small-town preacher, whose Moral Majority helped Ronald Reagan win the presidency, touted education as the key for the changes he desperately wanted to sweep over America.
He wanted his Bible and liberal-arts-educated students marching across the world testifying to the importance of prayer in public schools and against same-sex marriages, abortion and pornography.
"The big push behind Liberty is not for us to stay in the Christian bubble,'' said Chris Wygal, a 2002 graduate. "We are to take that Christian perspective and change the world with it. We feel that view can help people live better lives and, from an eternal perspective, keep them out of hell."
Not all, of course, agreed with Falwell's vision.
"People in America have the right to preach what many of us think are the wrong message," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, who leads Americans United for Separation of Church and State based in Washington. "I tried to persuade people he was wrong for America, but I never tried to silence his ideas."
Falwell wanted Liberty to be to evangelical Christians what Notre Dame University is to Catholics or Brigham Young University is to Mormons, and he aggressively sought prestige by seeking accreditation through national agencies.
But Liberty, which has almost 10,000 on-campus students, is a different type of school.
While the school has relaxed its dress code -- women can now wear jeans to class and men don't have to wear ties -- it still bans, for instance, tobacco and alcohol use by students and staff. Dormitories are clearly marked male or female and on-campus students are required to attend prayer services three times a week.
Falwell founded Liberty in 1971 as part of a series of schools he conceived over his life. He founded the Liberty Christian Academy in 1967 to educate youngsters from kindergarten through high school from a Christian, biblical perspective. He started the Liberty Bible Institute in 1972. He founded the Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary in 1973.
The pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church understood the far-reaching potential for Liberty's legacy, which explains why he devoted much of his energy over the past 10 years to the school, said Mark DeMoss, a 1983 Liberty graduate and chairman of the executive committee of the university's board of trustees.
"One of the ironies, I think, of all of the media coverage of his life and death now is it's dominated by his political activity, and yet those who knew him well know that his political activity ranked a distant third in his list of priorities," behind Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty, DeMoss said.
The fact that several thousand Liberty graduates will receive their diplomas today without the presence of Falwell is the first evidence of his legacy, DeMoss observed.
"And the next May the same thing will happen and every May thereafter," said DeMoss, who lives in Atlanta and served as Falwell's chief of staff between 1984 and 1991. "These are students who go out and go into the marketplace, and lead churches and businesses and run for office and go into journalism and broadcasting and so on."
The Rev. Billy Graham, though better known than Falwell, didn't establish a university that graduates thousands of students annually.
"Falwell will leave a greater lasting legacy from that standpoint because as his educational institution endures, over time the Falwell legacy will grow and grow and grow," said Charles W. Dunn, dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University, founded by Virginia's other well-known religious broadcaster, Pat Robertson.
Falwell's last educational accomplishment was to create the Liberty University School of Law, which opened three years ago.
In a 2005 interview, Falwell told The Times-Dispatch that his law school graduates would become legislators and judges who would change the laws -- such as those on abortion -- that he despised.
"I want them to permeate the legal profession,'' he said bluntly. "We believe in the Bible and the U.S. Constitution. Most of the law schools have gone off the deep end to the left. We'll be as far to the right as Harvard is to the left."
Lynn, who is also a lawyer, thinks the mission of Falwell's law school is wrong.
"He wants to use the law school to alter the legal system from a secular to a religious one,'' Lynn said. "The U.S. Constitution does not presume any religious world view."
The first graduates of the law school will receive their diplomas today when Liberty holds its 34th commencement ceremony.
With Falwell's death, his son Jerry Jr. will take over the leadership of Liberty. His other son, Jonathan, will take over as pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, which the elder Falwell founded just over 50 years ago. The new church is now located on campus. Jonathan will preside over church services tomorrow.
Falwell's funeral is scheduled for Tuesday with Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, as one of the speakers. Falwell's burial will be private.
Horse$hit, Barry. Your entire organization is dedicated to a falsehood, and an abominable one at that.
"He wants to use the law school to alter the legal system from a secular to a religious one,'' Lynn said. "The U.S. Constitution does not presume any religious world view."
Wrong again, dumbass. The Constitution didn't proclaim a specific SECT, but this nation WAS 100% founded upon, and expected to follow, Judeo-Christian principles, not morally relative Stalinist atheism you and your knuckle-dragging cretins try to impose upon us through your activist frauds in robes buddies. Why don't you go read the Constitution again, Barry... assuming you've ever read anything except Marx.
And, indeed, God bless Rev. Falwell. His success is a stake through the heart of leftist liars and Satanist enablers like Barry Lynn.
It’s sad how this man has been attacked since the moment he died...
I thought we were having an earthquake the other day, but it was just the MSM dancing on Falwell’s grave.
He’s a hypocritical liar, just like the other socialists living here in America.
The Syracuse Post Standard had a really tacky cartoon defaming Rev. Falwell today. How sad that they can’t wait at least a week or two or at least until the body’s cold, to do such things. Oh well, they may not be sharing heaven with him so that’ll be a relief.
Exactly. In another post I related how the Syracuse Post Standard had a cartoon today insulting and defaming him. Socialist rag.
I cannot say that I was a big follower of Reverend Falwell, and maybe at times I thought he took things a bit too far.
But that does not diminish the fact that we have lost a great warrior for our Western culture and values.
The first 5 words “Congress shall make no law”, the limits are on the government not the people.
Lynn claims, “...but I never tried to silence his ideas.” To which I said, most of the people who read this won’t even know who Lynn is so they won’t be able to understand how untrue that statement is.
The intent of the Founding Fathers was a simple and practical one. They didn’t want a situation where the President would serve as the head of a particular sect of Christianity (a la the King of England). Since each given state had different dominant sects, they entrusted the states, and not the feds, to establish a state religion (Christian sect), and they did so.
Enforced “Separation” remains not only a deliberate misinterpretation, but a clear violation of “free exercise.” But, of course, leftist judicial activists have never concerned themselves with what written laws actually read, but with what they wish to impose via their own ideology.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.