Why Liberty University is requiring its Students to Attend a Sanders Speech ..Hillary didn't Accept!

[KoKo]

(Article In FULL is a great read about how "Liberty University" has Evolved under Jerry Falwell, jr. after his Father Died. It's something I've not seen posted on here and if you have time it's well worth the read...but, here's a snip)

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Why Liberty University is requiring its students to attend a Bernie Sanders speech - Well, Hillary didn't accept the invitation....

It was the fall of 2008, and Liberty University suddenly found itself dealing with a problem it had never before encountered in its more than 40-year history:

College Democrats.

The largest evangelical Christian university in the world, whose doctrinal statement at the time declared its “strong commitment to political conservatism, total rejection of socialism and firm support for America’s economic system of free enterprise,” had never had a chapter of the student organization on its campus.

For a while, the newly formed group went about its business as College Dems at any other school would. They held meetings and drank too much coffee and campaigned aggressively for Barack Obama.

But the following spring, the club’s leadership received an e-mail from the vice president of student affairs: “I must inform you that the College Democrats club is no longer going to be recognized as a Liberty University club,” it read. “We are unable to lend support to a club whose parent organization stands against the moral principles held by Liberty University.”

Citing problematic aspects of the Democrats’ platform — support for federal funding of abortion and hate crime legislation, promotion of the “LGBT agenda,” “socialism,” etc. — the e-mail said that association with the party ran contrary to Liberty’s values. The students were ordered to stop referencing the school in the group’s name and promotional materials and informed that their club would be removed from the school’s Web site.

Six years later, David Nasser, Liberty’s senior vice president for spiritual development, set about booking guest speakers for the school’s “convocations,” the semiweekly school assemblies that evolved from chapel services. He reached out to the expected list of people: Christian musician David Crowder, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), Heritage Foundation president and former senator Jim DeMint.

Also on the list? Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), a Jewish, self-styled “Democratic socialist” who voted against the Defense of Marriage Act, defends Planned Parenthood and has called for a downward “transfer” of wealth from the top 1 percent to the middle class.
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The longest serving independent in Congress fights to win left-leaning Democrats inclined to heed his fiery call to action.

Nasser asked, Sanders accepted, and when the convocation schedule was announced Wednesday, the whole world (or at least the political press) asked, “Why?”

It’s obvious why Sanders would want to speak at Liberty: He’s running for president. Speaking to large and sometimes skeptical audiences is what presidential candidates do. And Sanders, who’ll be speaking from the most left-leaning end of the political spectrum, probably has more trouble reaching audiences like Liberty’s than almost anyone else.

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Just as Sanders hopes to bolster his candidacy by speaking to an audience from way across the aisle, Liberty sought to affirm its legitimacy by inviting him. Having a Jewish quasi-socialist speak at the school is a way of fighting the perception that the school is just an echo chamber for conservative Christian politics.

And, Falwell Jr. said, other “liberal” schools could learn a thing or two from a purportedly closed, conservative campus like Liberty’s. When former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice was invited to speak at Rutgers University’s commencement last spring, students and faculty protested for weeks until she voluntarily backed out. Falwell says he’s seen no such response to the Sanders invite from Liberty’s own student body.

“You have to hear from people who believe something different from you,” he said, the only slightest hint of smugness in his voice. “That’s why you go to college.”

MUCH MORE AT........

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/07/why-liberty-university-is-requiring-its-students-to-attend-a-bernie-sanders-speech/?tid=pm_national_pop_b

[JackInGreen]

1. Bernies an example

we can all follow in political discourse I think, and we should.

[stevenleser]

9. I agree 100%. I'm just surprised to hear that voiced from certain folks here.

You will allow me to quote you on this and you will join me in refuting folks who say otherwise in the future?

[Fred Sanders]

2. Huge mistake. Clinton declining the invitation, or "rejecting", whatever, shows she gets it.

Liberty Fundie Indoctrination Camps should not be given the credibility they crave almost as much as the End of Days.

Bernie, don't do it!

[KoKo]

3. You need to read the whole article about how "Liberty University" changed when Falwell, Sr. Died.

I had trouble fitting a title into the DU Subject Line. I just revised...to try to squeeze in what, at first, sounded uncomplimentary to Hillary.

It's a fascinating read! Really!

[Fred Sanders]

4. After watching Cruz open his campaign of stupid at Liberty "University" I had all the research I needed to do.

[KoKo]

6. Liberty University (since you refuse to read the article) has Opened It's Doors to Other Viewpoints.

If you take the time to read the article you will understand why.

[Person 2713]

11. And listening to Sanders is required. That right there seems like a wrong for a "liberty university"

Liberal schools can learn from us? Huh?
Rice rejected had to back out ? Yes that to me seem more like liberty and freedom lessons than being required to listen. In fact it sounds like a free market concept you know the stuff they like to cling to when it is in their favor
Isn't freedom of choice fundamental to the free market LU?
Up next Jim DeMint and Gohmert!

[Fred Sanders]

18. The students also had the mandatory liberty to sit down, shut the fuck up and applaud on cue for Cru's debut speech.

Like O'M I refused to look at any of the PP smear propaganda videos, yet I was able to pass the correct judgement on all that...same thing here.

[DinahMoeHum]

5. Methinks your concern is unfounded. And I'm not naive. . .

of what LU and Jerry Falwell are and were all about.

It seems Sanders is taking his cues from Howard Dean and his followers in that he will not write off any constituency, district, or states just because people there are scared of him because he has different ideas than they do.

In fact, I think his economic message will resonate better out there than most people think.

Now, OTOH, I see HRC's camp making the same mistakes they did in 2008, namely that they are taking her nomination for granted. Somebody please get it to their/her heads that she will have to earn it, it's not gonna be handed to her on a silver platter.

[Fred Sanders]

7. I got no problem with a single Democratic candidate not getting a single Fundie vote....doesn't Trump have that sowed up?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Fred, are they trying to turn HRC refusing to address a group of right wing religious zealots ...

Fred, are they trying to turn HRC refusing to address a group of right wing religious zealots into a bad thing?

[SidDithers]

12. That makes my brain hurt...

'Really, guys, Liberty University isn't so bad!!



Sid

[Fred Sanders]

17. Apparently. Not knowing how silly it is for a liberal of any color to do so.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. At least they abandoned their policy where you can't date a member of another race without...

At least they abandoned their policy where you can't date a member of another race without parental permission.

[Fred Sanders]

21. It is the same degree of "change" when black folks got to sit at the same counter....I am still not

impressed by the changes at Fundie U.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

23. I wonder whose permission you would need to get to date someone of your own gender at Liberty.

eom

[Bluenorthwest]

25. Barack Obama held a string of 'Faith and Family' rallies in the South, featuring anti gay preachers

as part of an aggressive quest for the votes of religious conservatives. Openly hostile rallies at which Evangelical anti gay speakers pandered to the crowd. Obama insisted he wanted to reach out to people who don't agree about everything, which is great. But he did not have to actually hire preachers who said gay people kill kids, but he did just that.

So what do you say about that? Why are the rules different for Bernie? Please specify. Does Bernie's candidacy set you 'ablaze' Fred? We could do a selection of links, Fred. So you really should comment on those Obama events. You have a biased standard at play and it needs to be explained.

[dsc]

34. I do agree that what Obama did was worse

but I don't think Liberty U should be given credibility and that is what Bernie is doing by going there.

[Fawke Em]

28. So you're not in favor of attempting to open some eyes?

The best time to awaken a "kid" to a new point of view is when they are young adults in college. Why? Because it's usually the first time a young person is away from his/her parents.

Maybe some of these kids have never heard the liberal viewpoint. Maybe they've always grown up indoctrinated by their parents, Faux News, their fundie church and their conservative-Christian school.

Hearing a real-life liberal speak openly and not through the filter of conservative parents, media, pastors and educators might jolt them into some realization that what Jesus preached matches more closely to a liberal's viewpoint than a conservative's.

If it opens one set of eyes, I'm all for it.

[Fred Sanders]

29. Many eyes would be opened if they just had seen Cruz's President campaign opening speech video.

Hoping 30 minutes of a speech from another old white guy the students are yet again forced to listen to, as they are for dozens more, 8 months a year, 3 times a week.....is far beyond being optimistic about the result.

[m-lekktor]

10. I am sure if Hillary accepted you would be proclaiming it a good thing. nt

[QC]

13. Yep. It would be a mark of her confidence, bravery,

and unique ability to cross divides and bring people together.

[stevenleser]

15. So I can quote you on that? Taking on conservative organizations and speaking to conservative

audiences is a mark of confidence and bravery and is indicative of someone attempting to cross divides and bring people together?

[QC]

20. I defended Obama for going on FOX News when others here condemned

him for it.

I was less impressed with his visit to Saddleback because he essentially went there to assure Warren and his flock that he wasn't going to take orders from the homos.

If Bernie goes to Liberty to declare his agreement with the Falwells, then I will gladly criticize him for it.

[Bluenorthwest]

27. Obama did it, as you know, he went to Saddleback Lily White Hate Church and also did those

rallies with McClurkin and Kirbyjon Caldwell, people who call gay people vampires and child killers. When LGBT people on DU took issue with that, many DU treated us very poorly for it.
It's the history.

[KoKo]

14. I think Hillary, O'Malley and Sanders should all Participate!

Why Not. Getting out the Democratic Message to Young People is what we SHOULD be DOING!

Why would you object. Young Minds are receptive. And, the article shows that "Liberty University" is trying to move forward to allow its Students to hear Other Voices.

Isn't this what we Dems should be Proud Of? We have a Message for the People. Why would any Dem run away from the opportunity to spread our message?

[stevenleser]

16. Why would any Dem run away from an opportunity to spread our message indeed! Well said!

You will defend this point in the future with me?

[delrem]

26. But, she refused.

So your counter-factual also contradicts the express wishes of the candidate.

That's hard for me to get my mind around - what kind of argument would be premised like that!

You propose that if Hillary were not Hillary, and if this not-Hillary spoke, then yadda yadda someone would have a different opinion than it is about Bernie having accepted the invitation to speak.
However, if a not-Hillary accepted the invitation to speak, this not-Hillary (by nature of the rhetorical device) would also be accompanied by an entire not-Hillary prehistory which the narrator of the fiction is free to make up. I'm sure that if you spent enough time inventing not-Hillary's, you'd eventually invent one that I'd tend to "support", if that not-Hillary in your alternative reality existed.

Or to put it another way, your rhetorical "what if" scenario is purest bullshit.

[HereSince1628]

38. Sure it does...well it shows she chose something else...

Private colleges across the nation require students to deal with what they see as social issues in required 'convocations'

It's part of that nasty thing known as a Liberal Arts Education...something Sanders wife as an academic and recent college president understands...which I am guessing how Sanders comes to know these things...

I don't know about Liberty University's relationship to this practice, but Sanders sharing ideas with students who basically don't here his perspective is a very good thing.

I taught at schools that scratched evolution from intro biology, yet invited Richard Leakey to speak to students in a "confrontation" about conservation issues in Africa.

[delrem]

22. I hope there's good video of it.

I find this very very interesting, more interesting than anything else up to now:

“It is very easy for a candidate to speak to people who hold the same views. It’s harder but important to reach out to others who look at the world differently. I look forward to meeting with the students and faculty of Liberty University,” Sanders said.

I can't think of a more difficult, and appropriate, task for a Dem politician, and I'm pretty damn impressed that he accepted it.

[KoKo]

24. Thank You.. I think the minute its available someone will post.

I applaud him for taking the challenge and going and glad to see a few here who agree.

[RandySF]

37. They didn't accuse Bernie of murdering Vince Foster.

[delrem]

39. Please, don't pretend that I'm defending Liberty University and Jerry Falwell.

That's an obnoxious suggestion, and it's equally obnoxious to interpret this speaking engagement as Bernie defending Liberty University and Jerry Falwell.

Bernie will be speaking to impressionable young minds, not all of whom are guilty of everything thrown at them. Not all of whom are guilty of the sins of their fathers and mothers, and their educators.

For many, this will be the first time they've heard a strong message forcefully put from a moral perspective from a "socialist", a person whose god isn't capitalist absolutism.

But if you aren't interested - if your mind is closed - then that's OK with me. Many people have closed minds and perceive the entire world in terms of "you're either on our side of the war, or you're the enemy". Black and white.

[RandySF]

40. They are NOT impressionable.

Not to progressive value

[delrem]

41. Oh, this is intolerable!

Like. Fucking. Wow.

ignore function: ON

[arcane1]

30. Exposing young people to new ideas, at a college??? Say it isn't so!

The horror!

[RandySF]

31. They also made everyone show up for Ted Cruz.

[MADem]

32. Oh, come on. They are "requiring" the students to attend Sanders' speech because they 'required'

them to attend Cruz's announcement speech.

If they forced an audience on one and not the other, it could be perceived as bias and they'd lose their religious tax exemption.

The reporter who missed that key fact should be ashamed of herself.

They haven't changed. They're still the same grifters they always were. They've done a little trimming around the edges, but it's the same lousy haircut.

As for liberal schools (not that they're all that liberal anymore), Ann Coulter used to have a nice sideline throwing shit-bombs at those venues. And she wasn't the only one in the right-wing-mouth-breather crowd to get some scratch from those left of center institutions.

[Fred Sanders]

42. Speaking at Fundie U is like taking the stage in front of young prisoners of mythology....no thanks.

[SonderWoman]

33. Good for Hillary.

[Comrade Grumpy]

35. I read these threads and marvel at how putrid, how rancid GD:P is.

[Fred Sanders]

43. Rancid and putrid? Then you have not been in the DU Gungeon I take it?

[Maedhros]

44. I see only three of the 35 responses, thanks to my ignore list.[n/t]

[RandySF]

36. Anyone who uses Hillary's refusal to visit that snake pit against her

is not worthy of being called a Democrat for progressive.

[Juicy_Bellows]

45. Thank you for posting!

Kick.