I read with a bit of pride and a hint of skepticism as I read this CT article, Liberty Unbound concerning Liberty University and Jerry Falwell. After 15 years of thinking about Dr. Falwell, I’m still not sure what to make of him. As the chancellor walking around campus, he was great. He had a terrific personality, had a sharp sense of humor and it’s always magnanimous when a ruler of a kingdom chats with the lowly. It was when he was speaking into a microphone from behind a pulpit that I would get a headache. It was when he would appear on Larry King or on a news program that I would wince.
It would be a greater problem if I dared to question his motives and I hope I do not come across that way. In fact, I believe he genuinely cared about the good of everyone from his students to Larry Flynn. The problem was not his motives, but instead the words and methodology he chose to describe his care.
It remains to be seen if I will ever be able to let go of the Teletubbies fiasco. A brief recap, one of the Teletubbies was outed and Falwell basically said watching the show might make your kids gay. Though Falwell was not the first to mention this but the Washington Post, it was his strong words that began the controversy. To me, it seemed to be a fundraising effort to al the grandfathers whose worst fear was that their grandkids would become gay. I can hear it now, “Thank God for the cultural watchman/warrior Jerry is. Let’s write a check to that school of his and turn on some Gaither music.”
To me, this was not counter-cultural or prophetic, but rather it demonstrated a lack of understanding of culture and came off sounding pathetic. However, if the idea was to rally the conservative troops then mission accomplished – in fact, you could even call it brilliant. If it was to engage the culture, hmmm, bad intelligence and poor exit strategy.
I am still trying to repress the memory that it was Dr. Falwell that appeared with Pat Robertson shortly after September 11th. The idea that God was punishing America for its immorality is a very dangerous accusation. While I am very much aware that God punished Israel in the Old Testament, it is not theologically responsible to assume that America is the “new Israel”. To most, the Church is Israel and that changes everything. Second, even if America was the OT Israel and God really was punishing America and chose this way, the prophets didn’t appear in the Jerusalem Gazette the day after Babylon came to town and said, “We told you so! Repent or burn … in captivity and burn some more in hell! There’s a timing issue that those in the broadcast culture were not sensitive about.
We could go on but here’s my point, Dr. Falwell was a better pastor-chancellor than televangelist. For the most part, the vision of Liberty is a solid one when it comes to the topic of a Christian university. That’s not to say that it’s the only model, nor am I saying that all Christians should even attend a Christian college, however, Liberty has done some good things for the Kingdom and Dr. Falwell was an important part of that.
This leaves me asking a few questions:
What if Dr. Falwell had never been a televangelist?
1. Would Bono have heard of him and the Old Time Gospel Hour? Would I still smile every time I heard “Bullet the Blue Sky”?
2. Would Reagan have been elected President if it weren’t for the Moral Majority?
3. Would Jerry’s church (Thomas Road Baptist) been able to birth Liberty?
4. Would he had died at the relatively young age of 73?
Indeed these questions are difficult to answer but I think they are worth asking. Many like to assume that if Falwell had not been the celebrity that he was, the school would not have been founded. Some would like to assume that if he had not been on television that we would have had an even more godless America. I wonder if Liberty would have been as conservative and as strict if it didn’t have such a spotlight on Jerry’s school project. I wonder if it would have run into the financial mess in the late 80’s and early 90’s if Dr. Falwell didn’t feel the pressure from those watching. I wonder if Reagan would have been just fine without Dr. Falwell.
It could have gone the other way. Bono might have befriended Falwell like he did Bill Hybels. Reagan may or may not have been elected and a Moral Minority had been formed to be a subversive voice for those who were weak and in despair. Jerry’s church could have been cool as opposed to what it was in the 80’s and 90’s (if you witnessed a singing Christmas tree, you know what I mean). Maybe he would have lived longer, did more work and perhaps he would not have been so polarizing.
Maybe Liberty would have been more interested in creating a film school than a law school. Maybe Jerry would have befriended Ellen Degeneres instead of feuding with her. Maybe he would not have been important enough in the eyes of the world for her to have returned his calls. Who knows really but that would have made more of an impact on Christian college kids than Teletubbies.
It may be true that I have the ulterior motive of trying to reconcile the tension of Falwell and my Liberty experience but I now look back and seriously wonder about this. Especially now that he’s passed and the Falwell sons have taken over. With credit to their dad, the school is in great shape but to their credit (Jerry Jr. and Jonathan) the future looks very promising. As an awkwardly proud embarrassed alumni reconciling the paradox of it all, I look forward to seeing what happens next.
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