Letters to the Editor for Monday, December 14, 2009

LU, leaders finally out themselves
With amazing presumptuousness and arrogance, Liberty Counsel has launched a program they call “Adopt a Liberal,” the ostensible purpose of which is to encourage people “to pray for these individual leaders who have policies that seriously and negatively undermine life, liberty and family.” The requested prayers are intended to ask God to “move upon them” in order to change their views to coincide with those the Counsel deems appropriate.

It should be noted that although the Liberty Counsel is careful to separate itself legally from Liberty University, the two are clearly aligned, as demonstrated by the fact that the founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel, Mathew D. Staver, happens also to be the dean of the LU School of Law. It is Staver, by the way, who is quoted as saying this program is “not intended to be negative,” when in fact the “Adopt a Liberal” section of the Liberty Counsel Web site provides a starter list of liberals to choose from, followed by brief profiles of these “misguided leaders” — each of which contains familiar far-right buzzwords designed exactly to be negative to the target audience of far-right conservatives. For example, almost all of the profiles contain the word “homosexual,” playing directly to the rampant homophobia that energizes far-right bigots and the ill-informed.

Incredibly, Liberty Counsel is producing a deck of “liberal cards” that will no doubt be a “fun” way of promoting this absurd program. The cards will, I suppose, facilitate the selection of one’s favorite liberal target with minimum effort or thought prior to praying for (or is it not against) them. Although zealous fundamentalists ignore such things, not everyone considers “liberal” to be a negative term. My dictionary maintains that liberal means “not limited to or by established, traditional, orthodox, or authoritarian attitudes, views or dogmas; free from bigotry; favoring proposals for reform, open to new ideas for progress, and tolerant of the ideas and behavior of others.” In essence, the opposite of the attitudes and beliefs of most of the leaders who flourish atop Candlers Mountain.

If there is still doubt about LU having a specific political agenda, a look at the Holiday 2009 Edition of the official bimonthly publication Liberty Journal will remove that doubt. The cover has a full-page photo of Virginia’s Gov.-elect Bob McDonnell delivering his acceptance speech, with a slightly grainy but clearly recognizable shot of a fawning Jerry Falwell Jr. in the background. A quick flip to page 6 reveals the lead story, entitled “The Deciding Factor,” proudly touting the impact that Liberty students had on the Nov. 3 election and quoting Jerry, Jr. that “as Becki and I celebrated with the new governor in Richmond … I received word that the LU vote was responsible for Scott Garrett’s victory … I was elated.”

The simple fact is that Chancellor Falwell supports and promotes “pure” conservative Republican candidates at all levels.

There is nothing wrong with that per se, but for Falwell to continue to assert that neither he nor other LU leaders project those preferences on LU students is disingenuous at best. Perhaps we should pray for him.
BILL BLACKWELL
Lynchburg