Something Good Happened

 

Liberty University is in Lynchburg, Virginia and was the brainchild of Jerry Falwell who, at the time, was the Senior Pastor at Thomas Road Baptist Church, also in Lynchburg.  Jerry Falwell was one of the leaders of the organization he co-founded, The Moral Majority, and was a leading voice in the Religious Right.  The current Senior Pastor of Thomas Road Church is his son, Jonathan Falwell.  Although Jonathan is not as nationally known as

his famous father, one would presume his philosophy and theology are comparable.  The President of the school is Dr. Jerry Falwell, Jr.  Again, one would imagine his philosophy and theology are comparable to his Dad’s.

Liberty University has been a stalwart in conservative political thought and philosophy and, theologically is an institution that prides itself on it’s theological fundamentalism. This is who they are and I’m not going to make any value judgments on this.  They have every right to be who and what they choose to be.

Most of the politicians who have been invited to speak at Liberty have been people who are pretty much in harmony with the people at the school.  The people who have spoken there wanted to speak to a friendly audience and be of one accord.

Yesterday, however, a self-professed Democratic Socialist Jewish politician spoke there.  Senator Bernie Sanders spoke to everyone and they all came and listened.

Some applauded wildly at everything.  In some instance a large number of people applauded respectfully.  Some people never applauded.  Sanders spoke respectfully to them acknowledging they differed in a lot of areas, but respected their opinions.  The Liberty Students did likewise.

Dr. Falwell, Jr. said he admired Senator Sanders courage to come.  He was asked some difficult questions and responded respectfully and honestly, recognizing that many would disagree with him.  Conversely he challenged people with their own faith development and people received his challenge with grace.

Many of the students walked away saying this even was going to evoke a lot of good discussions.

I suspect Bernie Sanders is not going to have an abundance of Liberty students voting for him and I also suspect that his mind is going to be changed by them.   But I applaud both the school and the Senator for having the intellectual courage to look further than their own noses. So often we listen and read only those people and those things with whom we disagree.  We find out other people’s opinions through the filters of analysts with whom we agree.  Bernie Sanders and Libert University had the courage to talk face to face.  To me, something good happened.