Jerry Falwell, Jr. needs an intervention

Jerry Falwell, Jr. needs an intervention August 31, 2016

In my recent update on the ongoing weirdness of Liberty University president Jerry Falwell’s pro-Trump advocacy, I neglected to cite a recent piece that quite succinctly and devastatingly identifies the crux of the problem.

Writing on the National Review website, Peter Wehner makes the convincing case that Falwell is truly harming not only the institution he leads, but also Christian political witness in general.

Please read the whole thing.

In his private life, Falwell may be a devout man, but in his role as Donald Trump’s flatterer, defender, and attack dog, he has pushed Christ to the rear. His politics are damaging his public Christian witness. They are injurious to the faith to which he has proclaimed his allegiance.
Those who care for Jerry Falwell Jr. and for the institution he represents should intercede on his behalf. His embarrassing and unfortunate act needs to end.

Wehner has admirably taken up the unenviable task of attempting to call Falwell to account. Others have alluded to the damage Falwell is doing. But for various reasons, certain players in the evangelical political world have incentives to not attack a fellow evangelical. The thing about the “in” crowd of conservative evangelicalism is that as long as you assent to the “right” doctrines about the Bible, God, and Jesus Christ, you can never really be kicked out no matter how embarrassing you become. “Closet liberals” like Russell Moore can only do so much.

So if falls to someone like Wehner to be the bad cop and state plainly that Falwell is doing great harm and that people who care about him (and Liberty) need to have an intervention.

Will such a thing happen?

I doubt it.

Though we don’t know all the details, a Jerry Falwell, Sr. aide and  longtime Liberty trustee with a sterling reputation in conservative evangelicalism left his post very soon after Jerry Jr’s Trump endorsement.

From what I can tell, Falwell does not face a lot of dissent at his evangelical mega-college. I’m happy to be corrected if I’m wrong. But I know of plenty current and former Liberty faculty and administrators who strongly preferred candidates other than Trump in the Republican nominating contest. I don’t know of a single Liberty professor who has publicly stated that Falwell’s ill-considered Trump endorsement and subsequent campaign advocacy is actively harming the institution’s reputation.

Again, please correct me if I’m wrong.

But if Liberty is this great bastion of higher education where ideas are freely shared and debated, then why does it fall to a Washington-based politico to chastise Falwell in secular publications?

Jerry Jr. needs to hear what Pete Wehner is saying. But he needs to hear it from people a lot closer to home.

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