I graduated from liberty university in 1994. it is a school founded and run by Jerry Falwell.

I really hate telling people where I went to school for 2 reasons: 1) It's a bad school. The academics suck, the priorities are screwy, and I feel that I got a nasty-ass education. 2) For those who know what "Liberty University" is, it creates a set of assumptions about ME that could be no further from the truth. I am not an evangelical. I am not a christian at all. Perhaps I would be somewhat of a "christian" -- if I didn't go to liberty university. But I did. I hate having to feel like if I'm going to tell people where I went to school, I have to find a way to say, "but i've changed, really, i have."

the school sends out a newsletter. It probably goes to more than just alumni, since Jerry is really good at asking everyone with a pulse (or rather, with a credit card) for money, and the newsletter does as much to ask for money as it does to update on the school. I also know that my Ex has written and called them on numerous ocassions asking them to stop sending him the thing, and they have been most unresponsive.

It also updates on a lot more than the school's doings. it updates on the "moral majority" (or whatever it's called these days - didn't it disband?), or what some people refer to as "the religious right." I am going to concede that not all of the religious right is aligned with jerry falwell, and will therefore resist saying that this newsletter and its sweet little articles are representative of that entire population.

I am, however, going to quote this little journal here, in this blog, for those who may believe that perhaps Jerry Falwell isn't as bad as some people say.

Here we go!!!

1. The New Law School. It was granted provisional accreditation, and they are so excited! "the school is propelled by a refreshing excitement, energy, and devoted sense of purpose." after all, it is "the realization of a dream. the School of Law has a distinctive Christian mission. The law school combines superiore legal education in the best of our Western legal tradition. the law is good if it is used properly, but the law can do great harm when it is separated from faith and eternal principles. The law school is training the next generation of lawyers and world leaders to use the law as a fulcrum for good."

I am surprised to see that the dress code has relaxed some since I was at the undergrad .... girls can wear pants now. I wonder if that's the case at the undergraduate campus, too? At the law school, they're allowed to be in "casual dress" after 5:30 and on Saturdays. This still may not include shorts, hats or caps, or sandals. Of course. We all know how inappropriate that would be.

They have a nondiscrimination policy, too. With this (among other) caveats: The School of Law does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation but does discriminate on the basis of sexual misconduct, including, but not limited to, non-marital sexual relations or the encouragement or advocacy of any form of sexual behavior that would undermine the Christian identity or faith mission of the University.

Oh, look. An Honor Code (pdf). It requires the following: All students of Liberty University School of Law have a duty to live a chaste, honorable and virtuous life, which encompasses many principles, including honesty, integrity, respect and self control, as well as reserving sexual intimacy for marriage. Honesty, respect, I can definitely stand behind. But the sex part? No, I can't stand behind that. We are talking about adults. We are not talking about high school students. We are talking about people who are an average age of 25.

There's also a tattle-tale provision - if you know someone's having sex (extra-marital, homosexual, or even "promiscuous or predatory" behavior), and you don't tell on them, you have violated the honor code. They also are not allowed to become "involved with" pornography (view, own, distribute), nor may they drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes.

2. President Jimmy Carter apparently, desipte his southern baptist roots, is Disfavored by the Liberty Crowd:

We realized that President Jimmy Carter was a pitiful man, but never more pathetic than the ocassion of the February 8 memorial service for civil rights icon Coretta Scott King. With President Bush sitting on the platform, the man who is considered by many to be the most ineffective president of the 20th century denounced [wiretapping] ... We wonder if President Carter would be so vengeful if he were to similarly face open criticisms of his unproductive presidency during the funeral service of a Republican leader. Political dissent is one thing, but utilizing a memorial service to boost up one's own delicate ego and play partisan political games is truly shameful.

3. There appears to be an argument in the world of Evangelicals over Global Warming. A group of them (ECI) have decided that "This is God's world, and any damage that we do to God's world is an offense against God himself." Jerry Falwell not so much. He is "not even convinced that global warming is occurring" and even if it were .. trying to stop it "will devestate the American economy." He is "deeply concerned that a mass endorsement of global warming by evangelicals could pressure the U.S. to sign on to the flawed Kyoto Accords or similarl global agreements which would greatly damage America's national economy."

4. Liberty (the undergrad) has a debate team. I guess it was recently written up in Newsweek. This newspaper of mine is finding much scandal in some of the Newsweek reporting that took place. Apparently, Jerry referred to a bible verse that talks about "salt of the earth." He said that the debate team was a "salt ministry." The Newsweek article said that the team was "an assault ministry." The Journal says, "once again we see that the secular press is lost when it comes to having any knowledge of the Bible."

5. Abortion. There's a lot. 6 full newspaper sized pages. I honestly couldn't read it. It makes me feel literally sick to my stomach. Needless to say, there's a lot of use of the word "murder" and "Planned Parenthood" and "sexual immorality" and "innocent children."

6. Abstinence Education. See #5. For personal reasons, the abstinence education is almost worse than the abortion issue for me. I absolutely hate the religious rights' position on this. It angers me. Deeply. And it has 4 pages in this newspaper. Perhaps one day I'll write a post entitled "How Abstinence Education (or brainwashing) Ruined My Life." I sort of tried with my "Religiosity" series ... but they weren't really getting across what I was going for.

7. Barbie. Or is it White People. Or is it Racism. I can't figure out what the problem is here. They have this little ditty called "the dirty dozen of absurd college courses." Apparently this list was put out by the Young America's Foundation, which the NLJ states, is committed to the ideas of individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values. Therefore, they're very angry about these 12 courses which are examples of "the most bizarre and troubling instances of leftist activism supplanting traditional scholarship in our nation's colleges and universities." 5 of them involve homosexuality in some way (although "lesbianism" is in the title of three of them). 3 involve Marxism. But the one that I find the oddest is "The Unbearable Whiteness of Barbie: Race and Popular Culture in the United States." Huh? This is offensive cuz ..... what? The title of The Cultural Production of Early Modern Women seems just as confusing until you read the blurb. since that course examines "prostitutes," "cross-dressing," and "same-sex eroticism" I can see why a fundy would be upset. But Barbie? Why are they upset? Is she somehow woven into the fabric of their faith? I missed that while at Liberty.

There is also a course called "American Dreams/American Realities" that examines the "myths" of "rags to riches" and the "frontier." I'm a bit stimied on where the offense is found on that one as well, but still. Barbie has me more flummoxed.

8. The Establishment Clause. There apparently is a case going on in Florida where some Wiccans are challenging a state law which allows the sale of bibles to be exempt from sales tax, but not the religious texts of other religions. I find this pretty interesting, b/c the cases cited are ones that I became intimately familiar with during my last co-op; Texas Monthly v. Bullock and Walz v. Tax Commissioner. It seems to me, after reading 2 short columns, that this Florida law does in fact prefer one religion over others, which should be Bad. But Matthew Staver, Liberty's counsel guy (who is quoted throughout the entire 30 page newspaper as if he were God Himself) says,

Even if Florida's law were questionable ... any attempt to tax religion will not be met with enthusiasm by a majority of the Justices on the Supreme Court. In case the Wiccans haven't been paying attention lately, they should realize the times have changed. We have a new Court.

Oh. Wow. If I wasn't scared of the changes on the Supreme Court before, I may be now. I hope this guy's wrong.

9. And finally, the daVinci Code. These people really don't like that book. they find it as being Really Blasphemous in that it tries to make Jesus a human (I haven't read the book, b/c I shun bestsellers, but I will likely see the movie, b/c i'm a sucker for visual stimulation), and b/c it glorifies Mary Magdeline. Is that right? Something else about the feminization of god. This really has their knickers in a twist. This was their cover story - the "ballyhoo" about the coming movie, and how wretched it is that people are saying that god may be a she. that is terrible. for someone to suggest that an icky filthy pooey WOMAN could be the form taken by GOD? pfft. Apparently, some years ago (40), the author was listening to this theologian who damned near predicted the future (oh yeah, and stated the past)

When people come to the end of their rationalism, they will come to the end of their rationality ... [they will finally conclude] there is no god. they will rationalize the reality of god away; they will deny jesus, the resurrection, and truth of the gospel. then they will fall for anything .... the time will come when we would see a return to the very roots of ancient paganism again. people will mark and deface their bodies with tattoos ... people will worship feminine deities. people will stare into crystal balls and they will try to talk to those who are dead, and on the other side.' i remember sitting there, 40 years ago,thinking 'oh, come on! i know you're a brilliant man, and you've got a lot of insight, but people aren't that stupid!

These were some of the things that stood out to me as ... almost other-worldly. There was another little blurb on terrorism, and how people should only be bothered by the spying program if they are terrorists or cavoring with them. Otherwise, they are as ridiculous and as uninformed as that Pinnacle of Evil, the ACLU.

What would Liberty ever say? What would Jerry Falwell do if he were confronted with the fact that one of his little itty bitty graduates from 1994 not only got a divorce (and from such a promising young man, who was handed an award directly from Jerry himself for his athletic and academic prowess), but then went to law school at one of the most blatantly liberal law schools in the nation, and then spent time working at Liberty's arch-enemy?

How weird that I used to be in that world. It is so surreal to read this paper and try to picture myself in 1994 -- reading this smugly, with the idea that everything printed ws right, and wondering why the rest of the world didn't "get it." Was I doing that? i don't clearly remember. I think I was not. But I know I was quite conservative, politically and ideologically. i do not know if I would have swallowed all of this .... without at least questioning or searching for some balancing act in my mind. Some sort of toning down of the material. I know that well before graduation I was squirming in my seat every time Jerry got up to speak - whether in chapel (3x a week) or in church (another 3x a week) - his jokes about homosexuality - while i knew that one of my nearest and dearest friends was a closeted gay man, struggling with the reality of his sexuality b/c of the messages of hate and fear that were being sent to him constantly. his (still Jerry here) political sermons on Sunday mornings at Thomas Road Baptist Church. I was so angry that he used a church to wax political. he would throw out a token bible verse at the start of the service, and never return. never tie it in. he would just go on and on and on about Bill Clinton and how bad his policies were. about the media. about the liberals. about the ACLU. And it made me mad.

There were so many changes in me during those years, I'm not sure what came when. I had many reasons for doubting the soundness of the ideology (i always struggled with the religious aspects .... always. To me, that world was a culture, not a faith), but i don't think that the major changes came until the Ex and I were in Alabama, because that is when we stopped attending the fundy churches. We went Episcopalian for a while. Then we moved to Berkeley, CA, and were presbyterian for a little while - actually I was - he had already thrown in the towel completely. I was about 6 months behind him.

Whenever it happened - the changes were profound, and complete, and I honestly haven't looked back once. My parents are in it, going strong, and I just cannot fathom subscribing to the belief system that they have, or the one exhibited in this newspaper from my old school. I cannot fathom it.

posted by Zuska @ 11:11 PM

9 Comments:

At Sunday, March 12, 2006 2:21:00 PM, The Marpepps! said…

That's a fantastic post, Zuska. I lived with 4 "fundys" (hehe) when I was studying at Oxford, so this brought me right back. Nice to see that you emerged from it and are better for it. The women I lived with were bright, motivated, and interesting. I wish they could read this post.
At Sunday, March 12, 2006 11:55:00 PM, The Marpepps! said…

heh.
At Tuesday, March 14, 2006 7:06:00 PM, Anonymous said…

There's a harm to the soul that none but the self-righteous can inflict.
At Wednesday, March 15, 2006 9:00:00 PM, Filch said…

Oh, go ahead, read "The Da Vinci Code." It's extraordinarily silly, but it's fun, and I can almost guarantee you it's better than the movie will be (Tom Hanks? God - I mean - well, somebody help us, anyway); also, reading the book will probably take less time than watching the movie. It's one of those.
At Wednesday, March 15, 2006 10:57:00 PM, Zuska said…

Nope. not gonna read it. I'm gonna go watch greasy-haired puffy-eyed Tom Hanks this summer instead. Crap books don't deserve my precious reading time. My couple hours here and there of escapist time, okay. But not my precious reading time.

how could they? With things like Fed Courts and Administrative law waiting patiently for me to dive in and find all their little nuggets of wisdom.
At Thursday, March 16, 2006 2:12:00 AM, Anonymous said…

Hey I really liked your post. I am also trapped in Liberty. I had the same ideas coming into this school. I would read the paper and agree with everything. Now I read it and regard it as trash. I have been on the Liberty debate team from the beginning of my time here and it was the critical thinking skills I gained there that caused my transformation into who I am now. The debate team is probably the most liberal group on campus and I am thankfull for that. I'm nearing the end of my second year and am determined to transfer away from here. I just got accepted to San Jose state back home in california and looking forward to freedom. Excellent post. Thanks.
At Thursday, March 16, 2006 10:23:00 AM, Dakota said…

Ewww....I think I need a shower now. Congrats on making it through to the other side. Great post!
At Friday, March 24, 2006 4:11:00 AM, Anonymous said…

Aside from being related to the embarassment you have about telling people where you went to school and purely out of curiosity: Why do you care about their dress code or abstinence policies or whatever? It's a private school, right? As long as they're not government-funded, it seems to me that they can require all students to wear purple socks and eat geraniums at 3:00pm every day and it shouldn't matter. The students are adults and, as such, are capable of choosing a different school if they don't wish to comply with the regulations (just as sampo is doing).
Further, since the things you listed are precisely what drove you, your ex, sampo, and undoubtedly others away, don't you kind of want them to continue in the same path so that more people will see the absurdity and leave?
At Friday, March 24, 2006 10:36:00 AM, Zuska said…

Well, first of all, it's not like I'm jumping up and down demanding that they change their policies. It is something I find intriguing, and therefore chose to share on my blog. I think a lot of people who are not intimately involved with extreme parts of society do not believe that they exist. I would like to point out that they DO exist, and that they ARE extreme.

I would also like to say that during my last year of college, the incoming class showed up in cut off shorts, goatees, tattoos and earrings. They were not told about the rules, they did not know that church/chapel were required, nor did they know that there was a dress code. Liberty's admissions policy is "first come, first served" - so people were just psyched to get into a school away from mom and dad. HUNDREDS demanded refunds and left within the first few weeks.

That's far from adults making adult decisions.

I don't know much about hte law school beyond what I've read, and I would hope that the fact that these are not kids fresh out of high school spending mom and dad's money on tuition that they DO actually have the information pertaining to the requirements ahead of time. But knowing the institution like I do - it's not impossible that they don't.