Channel: The Atheist Voice

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Tags: bold and truthfuljerry falwellhemant mehtaatheistsboth sidesdonald trumpfriendly atheistcharlottesvilleliberty university

Description: The misguided protest at Liberty University patheos.com/blogs/friendlyatheist/2017/08/21/returning-your-diploma-to-liberty-university-in-protest-is-a-waste-of-time Hemant Mehta (friendlyatheist.com, patreon.com/Hemant , facebook.com/friendlyatheist) ... One of Donald Trump's closest Christian allies throughout his campaign and presidency so far has been Jerry Falwell, Jr., the president of Liberty University. And while we can assume most of the conservative Christian students who attend Liberty have no problem with that, Falwell rubbed a lot of people the wrong way after the recent events in Charlottesville. Remember Trump's speech where he blamed "both sides" for causing violence? And then his bizarre press conference when he doubled down on those words? Falwell tweeted that he was proud of Trump for his "bold and truthful" statement.  In response, a few dozen graduates of Liberty got together in a private Facebook group and decided they would protest by sending Falwell their diplomas. Here. Take it back. We don't want it.  It's a powerful symbolic move... but it won’t make one damn bit of difference. Let's talk about why. First, of all, the last student protest over Falwell’s support of Trump went nowhere. Back in October of 2016, not long after the Access Hollywood tape came out and Trump was caught talking about grabbing women without consent, Falwell defended him. In fact, he said the tape must have been leaked by “establishment Republicans.” (As if the leaker’s identity was the real issue…) At the time, an ad hoc group of students -- not graduates but current students -- calling themselves “Liberty United Against Trump” issued a statement saying they did not share Falwell’s political views (at least this particular endorsement) and were frankly embarrassed he was using the school’s credibility to boost Trump’s campaign. Or should I say "credibility." And then what happened? Nothing. Hell, a week later, when a student wanted to publish an article denouncing Trump in the school’s newspaper, Falwell personally nixed it. Life went on. Falwell has backed Trump ever since. He even said he was being considered to run the Department of Education but he couldn't accept the offer because he didn’t want to leave Liberty for that long. In other words, the students’ protests before the election changed nothing. So why would this gesture by alumni move Falwell in a different direction now?  Another problem: Why would Charlottesville be the final straw for the people sending back their diplomas? The graduates said to the media that “the Chancellor’s recent comments on the attack upon our neighbors in Charlottesville have brought our outrage and our sorrow to a boiling point… This is incompatible with Liberty University’s stated values, and incompatible with a Christian witness.” I’m glad they’re condemning Falwell over what he said… but why is THIS the tipping point? There’s a long, long list of horrible things Trump has done that contradicts Liberty’s (and Christianity’s) supposed values. He’s torn apart tight-knit families. He’s blocked Muslims from entering the country, contradicting the idea of religious freedom. He’s defunding programs that reduce teen pregnancy. which means more teens will get pregnant, which means they'll have more abortions. He bragged about sexual assault. And there has always been evidence that Trump is racist. These graduates could have sent back their diplomas years ago. They didn’t. Were they not bothered enough by any of those things? Also, why would Jerry Falwell care about diplomas from graduates? These students have already paid their tuition. Their résumés still list Liberty on them, and if they don’t, maybe that’s because they have a job and where they graduated from is now irrelevant. They’re statistics to him now. If they were making large donations to Liberty, and now they're not, that's a different story. But just sending Falwell a piece of paper? Who cares. . . . Join the conversation. Leave your questions and comments below and we'll try to address them in future videos. Don't forget to subscribe for more! Also, follow us at ... twitter.com/atheistvoices facebook.com/TheAtheistVoices plus.google.com/u/0/b/106662137332631352312/106662137332631352312/posts/p/pub theatheistvoice.tumblr.com theatheistvoice.com