“Many years ago, there used to be something called ‘conflict of interest.’ No longer, I’m afraid. Today, we all bathe in the same river.”
― Gore Vidal, The Last Empire: Essays 1992-2000
Today, three posts regarding the Fakwells and Liberty U. came to light and they are lighting up social media.
- 911 call from Falwell house reveals ex-Liberty president was drinking, fell down, lost ‘a lot of blood’ after resigning
Read this carefully. Becki Falwell claimed she was at a church meeting until 11 PM and needed to break down a door to get into this house and help her drunk and bleeding husband. There is no question that we are dealing with a very sick family and this didn’t happen yesterday. I’m suspicious that university leaders were aware of these problems. If they weren’t, they should never have been in their positions. - The Falwells, the pool attendant and the double life that brought them all down
The Washington Post printed a damning article on the sexual proclivities and questionable business dealings of the Falwells. - After Jerry Falwell Jr.’s departure, Liberty University faces questions about faith, power, accountability
Today, we are discussing how to do accountability in educational institutions so the post on accountability is timely. The following are some quotes from that final link.
The board of trustees should examine its own failures, said Warren Smith, president of MinistryWatch, a watchdog group, and a Liberty parent. “They have not performed their fiduciary duties. ”Still, he said, Liberty’s strengths — its financial health, its large donor and alumni bases, its breadth of majors and opportunities — give it the opportunity to become an even better school.“There’s a lot going on at Liberty that’s great; I wouldn’t send my own daughter there if I didn’t think so,” he said.
….“This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity in higher education. It’s a school with the budget to hire the best.”For years, members wrote in a statement, Liberty’s board allowed Falwell to harm Liberty’s reputation, permitting him and his family to run the school like a personal business and sitting by “while Falwell’s words and deeds disgraced the name of the Lord again and again.”
Coincidentally (or is it providentially?) Dr. Jeffrey Chalmers, a long time reader and thoughtful commenter at TWW, approached us about an idea he had to write about universities and ethics. Jeffrey has commented frequently about his frustration at the goings-on at Liberty University as well as other Christian educational institutions. He is a professor at a secular university in the area of science and engineering.
He raises the following question frequently. Why do some secular universities and scientific research institutes seem to have a higher standard of ethics than Christian schools like Liberty University? Why can he easily find the conflict of interest statements at major secular institutions while being unable to find them at Liberty University? Is this the reason LU is facing the mess they now deservedly have in today’s news media?
Todd and I are most thankful for Jeffrey’s thoughtful commentary.
COI=Conflict of Interest in the following post.
What does “above reproach” mean?
I picked the above image because the TWW usually has an image to start a post, and most of us have seen this statue somewhere. Years ago I was at an old county courthouse, and the blindfolded lady justice was very prominent. As I was preparing this post, I looked into “Lady Justice”, and realized she was a Roman “god” and was known in Rome before the time of Christ. However, the blindfold did not appear until the 16 th century, apparently.
So, the writer of the NT would have been aware of not only lady justice but the concept of a “balance” of measuring both sides of a “question/issue”
So, I ask again, “What does the concept of above reproach mean in the NT”? The phrase is used a number of times in the NT, including 1 Timothy 3:2, Titus 1, and Colossians 3. It is used not just to describe “overseers” but all Christians (Colossians 1:22). Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines approve reproach to mean “to blame, to revile… equivalent to shame”. It seems to me that “above reproach” is quite clear.
As a reader and blogger on TWW for a number of years now, reoccurring themes are not just the bad behavior of individuals, and in many cases, of “Christian” organizations, but also the common comment that “such and such” would not be allowed, or more realistically, there are policies regarding such behavior/practice in our “secular” organizations.
Since I have spent my professional life in a Big State U, I am well aware of “ethical policies” of which I am bound to follow. It is my opinion, that these “ethical policies” are the “balance” that Lady Justice is holding. At my institution, when there is a “question” with respect to a person upholding/respecting one of these “ethical polices”, an investigation is conducted, usually by a “committee” which then is charged with deciding if the policy was violated. Obviously, when issues of criminal actions are involved, the local authorities, and I have seen in some cases, the FBI is involved.
To keep this post focused, I would like to address the concept of “Conflict of Interest, COI” at Universities. This specific post is further motivated by the recent revelations at Liberty University, and the actions of Mr. Jerry Falwell, Jr. I might add, however, that published allegations of COI by Mr. Falwell Jr are not new, and have been in the press for years.
Therefore, I am posting links to public, published, COI policies for a number of Big Name Universities. Further, I have picked both public, and private institutions, in the “liberal” state of California, as well as the “conservative” state of Texas, just to demonstrate the uniform concern for COI. These institutions listed are big research Universities with very large research grants and contracts from federal agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, NIH, and the National Science Foundation, NSF. Consequently, there are multiple types of COI policies, the most strict of which are those that involve human subjects. (I might add that there are allegations that Dr. Fauci, the head of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, is heavily “conflicted” with respect to COVID-19. I know for a fact that NIH employees are under VERY strict COI rules). Finally, to provide “apples to apples” comparison, I have included the COI policy for Calvin College.
Here are some of the links and text taken directly out of the online documents to demonstrate how explicit they are. I also might add, that not all COI rules are draconian. There are cases that COI is allowed, as long as an independent oversight committee “judges” the actions of the “conflicted party”.
The National Institutes of Health
Conflict of interest in scientific research (NIH): https://grants.nih.gov/grants/policy/coi/index.htm
NIH requires recipient institutions and investigators (except Phase I SBIR/STTR applicants and recipients) to comply with the requirements of 42 CFR 50, Subpart F, “Responsibility of Applicants for Promoting Objectivity in Research for which PHS Funding is Sought” (FCOI Regulation), as implemented in the 2011 Final Rule for grants and cooperative agreements.
The requirements promote objectivity in research by establishing standards that provide a reasonable expectation that the design, conduct, or reporting of research funded under PHS grants or cooperative agreements will be free from bias resulting from any conflicting financial interest of an investigator. An “investigator” is someone:
- defined as the PD/PI and any other person, regardless of title or position
- who is responsible for the design, conduct, or reporting of research funded by PHS, or proposed for such funding
- which may include, for example, collaborators or consultants.
Each Institution shall maintain an up-to-date, written, enforced policy on financial conflicts of interest that complies with the regulation and make the policy available via a publicly accessible Web site.
These FCOI requirements do not apply to Federal employees or Federal agencies. Federal agencies have their own set of rules governing financial conflicts of interest for employees.
When submitting a grant application, the signature of the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) certifies the applicant institution’s compliance with the requirements of 42 CFR 50, Subpart F, including that:
- There is in effect at the Institution an up-to-date, written and enforced administrative process to identify and manage Financial Conflicts of Interest (FCOI) with respect to all research projects for which NIH funding is sought or received;
- The Institution shall promote and enforce Investigator compliance with the regulation’s requirements including those pertaining to disclosure of Significant Financial Interests;
- The Institution shall identify and manage FCOIs and provide initial and ongoing FCOI reports to the NIH consistent with this subpart;
- When requested, the Institution will promptly make information available to the NIH/HHS relating to any Investigator disclosure of financial interests and the Institution’s review of, and response to, such disclosure, whether or not the disclosure resulted in the Institution’s determination of an FCOI;
- The Institution shall fully comply with the requirements of the regulation.
When the Institution determines that an FCOI exists (see #3 above), the Institution must report to the NIH awarding Institute or Center through the submission of an initial (Original) and annual FCOI report using the eRA Commons FCOI Module (learn how to submit a report through eRA Commons).
For full FCOI requirements, see the NIH Grants Policy Statement and the Final Rule.
The University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley: https://compliance.berkeley.edu/conflict-of-interest
Disqualification Rule under the California Political Reform Act
Under the California Political Reform Act, ALL employees (staff and faculty) must disqualify themselves from any University decision involving entities that may affect their personal financial interests. The following are deemed to be economic interests from which conflicts of interest can arise:
- Any business in which the employee or immediate family member is a director, officer, partner, trustee, employee, or holds any position of management;
- Any business in which an employee or immediate family member has an investment worth $2,000 or more;
- Any real property in which an employee or immediate family member has an interest worth $2,000 or more;
- Any source of income worth $500 or more, received or promised 12 months or less before the decision;
- Personal finances of the employee or immediate family member if these personal expenses, income, assets or liabilities are likely to go up or down by $250 or more in a 12-month period as a result of the University decision; or,
- The employee or immediate family member received or has been promised $500 or more in gifts 12 months or less before the decision is made from any person or organization that may benefit by the University decision.
- Immediate family members include spouse, registered domestic partners, and dependent children.
Employees whose financial interests require them to disqualify themselves may not participate in any way in the decision, and may not influence any other person with respect to the decision.
Stanford University
Stanford University: https://adminguide.stanford.edu/chapter-1/subchapter-5
- Definitions
a. Significant Financial Interest, Current or pending ownership interest in an entity amounting to at least one-half percent (0.5%) of the company’s equity or at least $10,000 in ownership interest (except when the ownership is managed by a third party such as a mutual fund).
b.Immediate Family MemberSpouse, dependent child as determined by the Internal Revenue Service, domestic partner.
c.Cognizant University OfficerPresident, Provost, Vice Presidents, Vice Provosts, Deans, Directors of SLAC, Hoover Institute and Athletics, and the University Librarian.
2. Policy: The following actions on the part of staff members are prohibited:
- Personal Gain
Transmitting to outsiders or otherwise using for personal gain University-funded or supported property, work products, results, materials, property records or information developed with University funding or other support.- Confidential or Privileged Information
Using for personal gain or other unauthorized purposes, confidential or privileged information acquired in connection with the individual’s University-supported activities. Confidential or privileged information is non-public information pertaining to the operation of any part of the University including, but not limited to, documents so designated, medical, personnel, or security records of individuals; anticipated material requirements or price actions; knowledge of possible new sites for University-supported operations; knowledge of forthcoming programs or of selections of contractors or subcontractors in advance of official announcements; and knowledge of investment decisions. Questions about confidential information may be referred to the University Privacy Officer at privacyofficer@stanford.edu.- Approvals
Participation in negotiating or giving final approval to financial or other business transactions between the University and other organizations in which the individual or an immediate family member has a Significant Financial Interest or with which the individual or an Immediate Family Member has an employment or consulting arrangement.All staff should also note that originating or approving financial or other business transactions between the University and other organizations with which the staff member has any financial or family ties (even those not rising to the level of Significant Financial Interest or constituting an Immediate Family Member) may create the appearance of a conflict of interest. It is required that all such situations be disclosed in writing to the cognizant University officer and this disclosure should be documented and retained for the duration of the business relationship.
1. Gratuities and Special Favors Acceptance of gratuities, unsolicited gifts exceeding $50 in value, solicited gifts in any amount or special favors from private or public organizations or individuals with which the University does or may conduct business or extending gratuities or special favors to employees of any sponsoring government or other agency or entity.
2. University Resources Use of University resources including, but not limited to, facilities, departmental parking permits, personnel or equipment, except in a purely incidental way, for any purposes other than the performance of the individual’s University employment. Note: Acceptable use of University vehicles is covered in Guide Memo 8.4.2: Vehicle Use.
3.Business Relations Acceptance of or continuing in employment, an official relationship, or a consulting arrangement with another concern which has or seeks to have a business relationship with the University.
4.Commitment For staff members exempt from governmental regulations regarding compensation for overtime work: Acceptance of employment, consulting, public service, or pro bono work which can result in conflicts or the appearance of conflicts with a staff member’s primary commitment of time and energy to the University.
3. Procedures for Exceptions
Because it may be in the interest of the University to grant exceptions to the rules in Section 2, the following procedure has been established:
- Disclosure
Whenever a staff member anticipates a situation where he/she may be potentially in violation of the policies in Section 2, that staff member must immediately make full disclosure in writing of the details of the situation, through his/her supervisor, to the cognizant University officer and request an exception. Exceptions must be approved in writing in advance. If a staff member finds that he/she has engaged in conduct that violates the policies in Section 2, such situation must be reported immediately to the cognizant University officer.- Responsibility of University Officers
Any requests for exception shall be reviewed and all facts thoroughly examined for apparent conflicts. Exceptions may be granted at the sole discretion of the University. If the cognizant University officer determines that the University would best be served by the granting of the requested exception, he/she may do so in writing with justification for the granting and delineating any conditions placed on the approval. Except in rare instances, University officers may not delegate this responsibility and any delegation must be in writing. If the designee grants an exception, the designee must provide the University officer with a memorandum detailing the circumstances of the exception.Copies of the approval must be retained throughout the period of employment.
1. Annual Reports
University officers who receive and grant exceptions to the policies in this Guide Memo shall, at the end of each academic year, provide a detailed summary report to the Provost. 2. Other Reports
In addition to Section 3.c, cognizant University officers may establish, within their areas of responsibility, mandatory periodic conformance and compliance reporting procedures for all staff.
3.Consequences
Failure to adhere to any aspect of the policy and procedures shall subject the involved employee(s) to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment.
University of Texas, Austin
University of Texas, Austin: https://www.utsystem.edu/sites/policy-library/policies/uts-180-conflicts-interest-conflicts-commitment-and-outside-activities#:~:text=of%20Commitment%20Prohibited-,U.%20T.,employees’%20duties%20to%20their%20institution.
UTS 180 Conflicts of Interest, Conflicts of Commitment, and Outside Activities
Main page content
Sec. 1 Purpose
This policy is intended to provide best practices, ensure compliance with the law, and protect the credibility and reputation of the U. T. System Administration, of each U. T. institution, and their employees, by providing a framework to address conflicts of interest, conflicts of commitment, and outside activities.
Sec. 2 Principles
Appropriate oversight of outside activities in order to successfully manage potential conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment is critical to the success of U. T. System Administration and each U. T. Institution.
Sec. 3 Applicability
This policy applies to all employees of The University of Texas System Administration, and to all those employed by a University of Texas institution.
Sec. 4 Primary Responsibility
The primary responsibility of employees of the U. T. System Administration and each of the U. T. institutions is the accomplishment of the duties and responsibilities assigned to one’s position of appointment.
Sec. 5 Value in Certain Outside Activities
Regents’ Rule 30104 permits U. T. employees to engage in outside work or activities, subject to State laws, U. T. System Administration and U. T. institution rules or policies. Institutions may encourage certain specified outside activities that clearly contribute to the mission of the institution and/or provide important elements of faculty or staff development related to their institution responsibilities.
Sec. 6 Unmanaged Conflicts of Interest and Conflicts of Commitment Prohibited
- T. employees may not have a direct or indirect interest, including financial and other interests, or engage in a business transaction or professional activity, or incur any obligation of any nature that is in substantial conflict with the proper discharge of the employees’ duties to their institution.
Activities on behalf of outside entities or individuals must not interfere with a U. T. employee’s fulfillment of his/her duties and responsibilities to U. T. Such conflicts of commitment may arise regardless of the location of these activities, the type of outside entity, or the level of compensation.
Sec. 7 Policy on Outside Activities Required
System Administration and each Institution shall adopt a policy governing an officer’s or employee’s outside activities, including compensated employment and board service, that clearly delineates the nature and extent of permissible outside activities and that includes processes for electronically disclosing the outside activities and for obtaining and electronically documenting institutional approval to perform the activities.
Sec. 8 Procurement and Contract Management Conflicts of Interest
Given the elevated risks present in procurement and contract management, U. T. System Administration and each U. T. institution shall adopt policies and/or procedures that specifically protect their institutions from unmanaged conflicts of interest in the procurement and contract management context.
Sec. 9 Outside Activities of the Chancellor and Institution Presidents
The Chancellor and presidents are required by state law to file Personal Financial Statements with the Texas Ethics Commission. The Chancellor shall file a duplicate copy of the Personal Financial Statement with the Board Office at the time that it is filed with the Ethics Commission. Presidents shall file a duplicate copy of their Personal Financial Statement with the Office of the Chancellor at the time that it is filed with the Ethics Commission. If an institution president seeks an extension of the time to file a Personal Financial Statement with the Ethics Commission, the president must also notify the Chancellor’s Office of the extension.
Sec. 10 Additional Process Requirements
In addition to the approval and disclosure requirements outlined above, policies must include the following minimum features:
- a) A process to prevent, identify, manage, and resolve conflicts of interest and commitment;
- b) A process to electronically document the approval and disclosure process for outside activities;
- c) a process for appealing a decision that includes at least one level of higher review and access to standard grievance procedures in appropriate cases;
- d) a process for approval, prospectively or promptly retrospectively, of activities that by their nature cannot be specifically approved before the work must begin, such as consulting on an emergency or other urgent need;
- e) a process for approving and disclosing activities the details of which must remain confidential (e.g., third party proprietary information, classified government work, and other information made confidential by law); and
- f) a process for rescinding approvals.
Sec. 11 Accounting for Outside Board Service
Institution policies regarding approval and disclosure of outside board service should balance the need to protect U.T. institutions from even the appearance of conflicts of interest with the rights of employees to engage in outside board service activities which are entirely unrelated to U.T. business without undue burden.
Sec. 12 Noncompliance.
Noncompliance with this policy may subject one to discipline in accord with applicable procedures up to and including termination of employment.
Calvin College
Finally, here is the Calvin College COI policy. I might note that Calvin College is a reformed, Christian College, primarily focused on undergrad education: Again, I have included some highlighted verbiage.
Calvin College: https://calvin.edu/directory/policies/conflict-of-interest-and-disclosure-policy-for-employees
Policy Statement
3.1 Each employee must avoid incurring any kind of financial or personal obligation that might affect his or her judgment in dealing for the College with outside organizations or individuals. Each person must examine his or her own activities and those of his or her immediate family to ensure that no condition exists that creates a potentially embarrassing or conflict of interest situation with respect to transactions with the College. Employees covered by the policy (per Section 2.1) shall sign and complete the attached Conflict of Interest Statement, upon adoption of this policy or appointment as a covered employee of the college, if later.
3.2 Unless the provisions in paragraphs 3.3 through 3.5 are followed, an employee shall not solicit or be a party, directly or indirectly, to any contract between the College and:
(a) Himself or herself;
(b) Any firm, meaning co-partnership or other unincorporated association, of which he or she is a partner, member, or employee;
(c) Any organization of which he or she or member(s) of his or her immediate family is an officer, director, or employee;
(d) Any private corporation in which he or she is a stockholder owning more than one percent (1%) of the total outstanding stock of any class if the stock is not listed on a stock exchange, or stock with a present total value in excess of $25,000.00 if the stock is listed on a stock exchange or of which he or she is a director, officer, or employee; and
(e) Any trust of which he or she is a beneficiary or trustee.
3.3 In the event a potential contract or existing contract that does or could present a conflict situation, as described in paragraph 3.2, is presented to the college, the employee shall:
(a) Not participate in any way on behalf of the College in negotiation or amendment of the contract, or in the approval of the contract; and
(b) Promptly disclose in writing any financial, personal, or pecuniary interest in the contract to the President of the College, to his or her divisional Vice President or to any other college officer that has the power to approve the contract.
3.4 A contract referenced in paragraph 3.2 must be approved by a vote of not less than two-thirds (2/3) of the President’s Cabinet, or of the approving body, in open session without the vote of the employee making the disclosure.
3.5 The President’s Cabinet or other official body must disclose the following summary information in its official minutes as to contracts referenced in paragraph 3.2:
(a) The name of each party involved in the contract;
(b) The terms of the contract, including duration, financial consideration between parties, facilities or services of the entity included in the contract, and the nature and degree of assignment of employees of the College for fulfillment of the contract; and
(c) The nature of the employee’s financial, personal, or pecuniary interest.
3.63 An employee shall not engage in a business transaction in which the employee may profit from his or her official position or authority with the exception of royalties, commission, and income which are received under the situations described in the Handbook for Teaching Faculty Section 6.10 — Policy On Commissions, Royalties, And Patents.
3.7 An employee shall not engage in a business transaction in which the employee may benefit financially from confidential information that the member has obtained or may obtain by reason of such position or authority. An employee shall not participate on behalf of the College in the negotiation or execution of contracts, making of loans, granting of subsidies, fixing of rates, issuance of permits or certificates, or other regulation or supervision relating to a business entity (whether for profit or not-for-profit) in which the employee has a financial, personal, or pecuniary interest or is an officer, director, or employee.
Board of Trustees AF/IS Committee – reviewed with consent and referred to college governance for approval, May 18, 2006
Cabinet – Approved, July 19, 2006
Planning and Priorities Committee – Approved, October 19, 2006
Faculty Senate – Approved, November 6, 2006
Board of Trustees – Approved, May 18, 2007
Revised August 1, 2012 – Item 1.9 added
Cabinet – Approved, August 22, 2012
Summary
In summary, it would seem that Mr. Jerry Falwell Jr., and his family, would have violated COI policies a number of times at these institutions, and many, many more that I have looked at which are not listing here. For example, the “yacht party” would be suspicious given that the Liberty has invested VERY large sums of money in the “yacht” owner’s race cars. There are multiple, repeated reports that Mr. Jerry Falwell Jr’s family has had real estate transactions with Liberty University. Conveniently, the only COI public policy that I can find involves faculty conducting research.
Like a good TWW post, I would like to leave you with this question:
1st
Ken P.,
You’re fast. You will love this post.
Because God’s Anointed don’t need a COI policy.
God’s Anointed NEVER have a COI.
God’s Anointed Can Do No Wrong.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Isaiah 55:8-9.
Isn’t that how William Holden died?
Fell down while drunk, hit his head and opened an artery, then bled to death too drunk to do anything other than trying to stanch the bleeding with kleenex?
I’ve been thinking a lot about how much power and money can corrupt people. And if you are born into power and money, then you don’t even know what it’s like to not have those things and are likely to take them for granted.
There’s a person I’ve looked up to for awhile who got rich and famous overnight. Donated huge amounts to charity and was a very gracious person to be around. Recently, that person has gone off the deep end (was pre-covid, so can’t blame that). It’s like the evil of fame and money was so much more powerful than who they were.
But I also see people without much of anything who lose who they are in their desperation for anything to sustain them. It’s like a curse either way, but the desire for fame or money or power just does people in. It’s doing the evangelical church in. It’s blowing up universities. And it’s breaking up families and individuals who may never recover. I used to just blindly trust God to solve all these problems, but that often meant blinding myself to the problems themselves.
Liberty Univ has been a personal project, then a family business, education is a scalable,nexpensive, and lucrative profitable product – and a president not named ‘Falwell’ would be required to get this on a proper footing.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg passed away today.
May she awake to a goodly inheritance in Olam Ha-Ba.
I’m a board member of our schools Childrens centre. We have a conflict of interest policy.
Liberty University was founded by a pastor. There may be some churches with COI policies but I haven’t heard of it.
I doubt COI was a done thing in churches in the eighties at the height of Falwell Sr’s power, so I’m speculating the place was run primarily like an extension of a church or ministry. Falwell Sr was likely considered ‘above reproach’ so the tradition continued.
I don’t know the place but anyone who got their start in the PTL Club probably brought the same bag of tricks to their new endeavour.
Heard that recently-issued diplomas already have Falwell’s name nowhere on them but are signed by the “acting” president
Doesn’t add up … our God and the godless at the helm of these (godless?) institutions.
As Ezekiel documented, the wheels leave the Temple, and God is nowhere to be found. They take God’s name in vain.
Better to do business with honest pagans than lying religious.
Reposting some finds from last month as far as apparent COI concerns:
https://www.liberty.edu/trustees/
One trustee appears to be Jerry Vines, who has been discussed on TWW previously. Note some repeat last names, with brothers and a married couple on the board. Some of the latter’s bio comes from a 2014 press release:
https://www.prweb.com/releases/2014/01/prweb11461746.htm
Jeffrey and Gaye Benson (’83) (’82), Chesapeake, Va.
Jeffrey and Gaye (Overton) Benson met when they were students at Liberty. Jeff was a quarterback on the football team and earned a degree in business administration. Gaye graduated with a degree in political science. Her parents, William and Norma Overton, and grandparents, Alton (“A.W.”) and Lois Overton, were consistent financial supporters of Liberty; the Graduate School of Business was named in her grandparents’ honor. Jeff is a partner in the Overton Family Partnership, which develops and manages commercial real estate, residential development, and home construction in the Tidewater region.
Another pair of brothers were also on the board per that presser:
Glen Thomas, Lynchburg, Va.
Jimmy Thomas, Jr. (’84), Lynchburg, Va.
Brothers Glen Thomas (left) and Jimmy Thomas, Jr. have been faithful supporters of Liberty University. Jimmy Thomas, Jr. is a 1984 Liberty graduate and Glen Thomas also attended Liberty. In 2009, Glen’s generous donation made it possible to open the Thomas Indoor Soccer Center, which is in wide use by Liberty Athletics, intramurals, and large community youth leagues year-round. The brothers also donated the former Lynchburg Inn and Conference Center (now the Residential Annex I) and have donated land on Young Place in Lynchburg for a new transportation center now being planned. The Thomases are the owners of RST Marketing in Forest, Va. They have been involved in real estate developments in the Lynchburg area, including apartment complexes where many Liberty students live.
Per that release, one of Franklin Graham’s sons who graduated from there in 1997 rolled onto the board: “The Graham family has remained close friends with President Jerry Falwell, Jr. and his family for many years.” It also shares details on a current board member and attorney Steven A. Snyder who “worked with Dr. Jerry Falwell’s Old Time Gospel Hour in the 1980s and was executive director of the Old Time Gospel Hour Radio”. Also, “His parents were among Liberty’s first faculty members; they taught for 18 years.” Another interesting note was that “he was the second Liberty student to attend a top 10 law school, after President Falwell”.
Speaking of memory lane, there’s this list of trustees from what looks to be the previous term:
https://www.liberty.edu/media/11090/undergraduatecatalog20132014%5barchivedcatalog%5d/Liberty%20University%20Board%20of%20Trustees.pdf
Note the number of repeat names from the current edition. It’s worthwhile to again consider if people get onto the board because of family connections, donations, or other reasons and then are just moved around to one spot after another over time, are accountability, oversight, and transparency likely to follow?
Max posted this link back in August:
https://www.liberty.edu/human-resources/wp-content/uploads/sites/112/2019/11/Employee_Handbook.pdf
2.6 CONFLICTS OF INTEREST and UNIVERSITY ETHICS
Employment by the University carries with it a responsibility to be constantly aware of the importance of ethical conduct. Employees must refrain from taking part in, or exerting influence in, any transaction in which their own interests may conflict with the best interests of the University.
The University recognizes and respects the individual employee’s right to engage in activities outside of his or her employment that are private in nature and do not in any way conflict with, or reflect poorly on the University or interfere with the employee’s ability to fully perform his or her employment duties. Management reserves the right, however, to determine when an employee’s activities represent a conflict with the University’s interests and to take whatever action is necessary to resolve the situation.
It is not possible in a general policy statement of this sort to define all the various circumstances and relationships that would be considered “unethical.” The list below suggests some examples of the types of policies that employees are expected to abide by:
• All employees are expected to refrain from any actions or activities that impair, or appear to impair, objectivity in the performance of their duties for the University.
• All business activities must be conducted in full compliance with both the letter and the spirit of all applicable laws and safety regulations. Each employee is expected to serve the University with good judgment, discretion, and in the best interests of the University.
• It is a violation of University policy for an employee, or anyone acting on behalf of any employee, to ask for, accept or agree to accept anything of value for their personal gain, or the personal gain for another, or to accept or agree to accept, or pay or agree to pay any money, service or other valuable consideration in exchange for any University business-related favor, advantage or benefit.
• Employees are not permitted to accept any simultaneous employment relationship with another organization without prior notification to their supervisor and/or department head; including serving as an advisor or consultant to any educational organization, unless that activity is conducted as a representative of the University and/or approved by management.
• University policy does not encourage the receipt of gifts by employees for their personal gain (or personal gain of those related to or associated with the employee) from persons, firms or companies that do or seek to do business with the University, unless specifically authorized by Executive Management. The acceptance of cash or its equivalent in any amount is absolutely prohibited. Business meals or gifts of a token value may be accepted or retained if the circumstances indicate that refusing the gift would be inconsistent with the University’s best business interests.
• No employee may offer or agree to offer to any person or company, with which the University does business or seeks to do business, or to their agent, any valuable consideration intended or likely to inappropriately influence the recipient’s impartiality in serving the interests he or she represents without approval of Executive Management.
• Rumors, gossip, or disclosure of inappropriate or confidential information to the public is strictly prohibited. The spreading of rumors, gossip, derogatory opinions, or inappropriate and confidential information regarding other employees, supervisors, management or the Board, whether such discussions are internal or external, will not be tolerated by the University. All employees are expected to refrain from participating in any such activity either as an instigator or as an audience of such discussions.
• The University is committed to maintaining the highest standards of quality, honesty and integrity in its business dealings. All employees are required to use their best efforts to ensure that no false, misleading, or deceptive information is disseminated.
• No employee of the University may misuse confidential or proprietary information or reveal confidential or proprietary information to any outside source.
• While representing the University and/or while wearing identifying logos, employees are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner representing a positive University image, whether during business hours or while on personal time.
As a general guideline to the professional and business ethics, an employee should ask the following questions:
• Is the action legal, does it meet full disclosure standards of the University’s mission?
• Does the action enhance the University’s reputation with the public, academic community,
students/ customers, vendors or other employees?
• Does the action comply with University policies and procedures?
• Does the action compromise personal ethics?
• How would the action look in the newspaper or on television?
Should an employee have any doubts or concerns regarding a particular action, he or she should seek advice from management and/or contact Human Resources with any questions.
Any employee who, during the course of employment, believes that he or she has been compromised in any way regarding any action that could be construed as illegal or unethical; or if they are aware of another’s actions that violate this code, they should bring it to the attention of Executive Management immediately. There can be no exceptions of responsibility in observing the University’s policy on business ethics, nor can an employee justify an illegal or improper act by claiming it was ordered or authorized by a supervisor or co-worker when the employee knew or “should have reasonably known” the action to be questionable. Refer to the Whistleblower Policy.
No employee will be retaliated against in any way for bringing a good faith report of suspected questionable action to the attention of management, nor will they suffer any adverse consequence for participating in such an investigation.
From the same link and handbook, under 3.1 EMPLOYEE CONDUCT:
“Examples of offenses for which an employee will be disciplined include, but are not limited to:
“Involvement with rumors, gossip, or inappropriate information (including social media) which inhibits the smooth functioning of the University or creates a poor image of the University”
“Conduct which disrupts business activities or actions detrimental to the University”
“These examples are not intended to be all-inclusive and are illustrative only. All employees of the University are expected to conduct themselves in matters of language and morality in a manner compatible with the Mission of the University and The Liberty Way. Unsuitable conduct may be grounds for disciplinary action, up to and including termination.“
Thank you for this very timely post. It has long bothered me that some Christian organisations and churches seem to deliberately eschew accountability and regulation. They often cite antipathy to the secular state as an excuse to sail close to the wind, avoiding anything but essential regulation in order to escape the perceived attempts of the state to control their activities or beliefs (note this is often their perception or convenient belief rather than reality).
As a result of their antipathy to regulation and proper transparency, such organisations and churches lay themselves open to become places where unethical and unsafe practices of many kinds can thrive undisturbed, and unscrupulous individuals can take advantage.
Once such an organisational environment is created it is easy for unscrupulous leaders to play fast and loose with the organisation’s resources, including being very ‘generous’ with other people’s money, all for their own gain. Hubris can lead them to (over) extend their unethical and immoral activities as time goes on.
The Graham – Zacharias – Galli – LU nexus (and similar) being placed “at the disposal of” the diocese of Joliet (read: other way round) ought to alarm the public hugely.
The different flavours of Christianity ought to have frankly applied their distinct rules distinctly (live and let live) and with plain good will instead of indistinctly and with unclear motive.
People like Brunton & Spiegel are every bit just as much of the problem as their stated opponents, because they haven’t a clue how to stop subscribing to the same errors themselves.
The spiritually segregationist heritage of Teilhard, Pascal, Edwards and Tertullian will survive a bit of minor light relief around hatches.
As for secular institutions, some of the bigger ones (with their tentacles) in the UK long followed the churches, unfortunately.
Off topic, but if anybody is curious to know what happened to the Greg Locke video (I’m looking through your past posts after a long absence), YouTube took it off for contradicting WHO guidelines pertaining to masks. Sci Man Dan, a YouTuber who critiques Flat Earthers and other anti-science videos on that platform, made a video response to this very video by Pastor Locke. It too was taken down–apparently YouTube did not care that Dan was criticizing Locke’s views and supporting masks, it violated YouTube rules to show any of Locke’s video. (Some commenters speculated that Locke had flagged his own video.) I was fortunate enough to see it. Locke drinks a hell of a lot of highly-sugared coffee, and has that look in his eyes.
Interesting how People Magazine reported this about where Becki claimed to be when Jerry called her:
“Becki reportedly phoned 911 around 2:30 a.m., and said that she had been in church around 11 p.m. when Jerry, 58, called her and told her he fell down the stairs and was bleeding. “
Does Becki really think people will believe she was at church that late? If so what male was she alone there with?
JDV,
Great find… to you and Max
To be nit picky, I will point out this clause
This Handbook is intended for use by all Liberty University employees including faculty, staff, and student workers. Faculty employees should refer to their respective handbooks for information specific to processes and procedures as outlined for their positions. General employment policies outlined in this Handbook will be used in conjunction with all other School/Departmental-specific handbooks. If employment policy language in any of these ancillary handbooks conflicts with the employment policy language in this Handbook, the policy in this handbook will be considered to be the most current and applicable policy.
Note they do not use the words “administration” in defining employees… just faculty, staff, and student workers…. Just like US congress, I have seen blatant examples when the “rules” do not apply to the leaders… including serious ethical violations… In at least one of the policies I listed above, they directly mention U president….
JDV,
Instead of termination, they reward Jr with 10 million!
Your comment is much politer ( 🙂 ) than the words that went through my mind as I read through the comment by JDV that included the excerpt from the LU Employee Handbook.
Great article! Thank you, Dr. Chalmers, for providing this compilation and your comments in this regard. There is no doubt that secular colleges are doing a better job holding their leaders’ feet to the fire than some “Christian” universities. I’m convinced that the LU trustees knew of Falwell’s transgressions, but turned deaf ears and blind eyes to his personal failings because he was too big to fail when it came to LU. In the end, they all failed to protect not only LU, but the precious name of Christ.
“Why can’t I find similar COI policies for Liberty University??”
Could it be that Falwell said something like “Hell no! I don’t want that in writing. Someone might use it against me!” So power corrupted the corruptible.
Some are more special than others . . .
Yes, that was my concern when I looked at LU’s “Employee Handbook” … no mention of holding leaders to the same standards. Although, most folks would assume all rules would apply to everyone associated with a Christian institution. Falwell knew this “loophole” I suppose when he said early on that he had not broken any university rules. He made his own rules obviously!!
When I saw that after the Falwell scandal exploded, I thought Junior must be reading “are not intended to be all-inclusive” as meaning it did not include him!
I find it confusing that Christians who understand the problem of sin could assume anyone is fully above reproach.
At the moment on Twitter, I’m watching the devotees of Ravi Z continnue to defend him. Yet this is a guy who needless;y padded his resume. (That is called lying.) They cannot imagine him doing anything wrong. Do they read their Bibles?It is replete with those who followed God but did some really bad things.
A COI should be part of every Christian organization, including churches.
I agree. Christian orgs and churches should be leading the way on this and going above and beyond to be transparent and above board, not dragging their feet.
Yes, few could jump that hurdle! Even the Apostle Paul said:
“I run the race with determination. I am no shadow-boxer, I really fight! I am my body’s sternest master, for fear that when I have preached to others I should myself be disqualified.” (1 Corinthians 9:27 Phillips)
The best we can hope for in Christian leaders is that they are as irreprochable as possible. Junior wasn’t for decades! He disqualified himself several times.
JDV,
Continuing the post of JVD, from the “Handbook”
2.8 HIRING OF RELATIVES
The employment of relatives in the same area of an organization may cause serious conflicts and problems with favoritism and employee morale. In addition to claims of partiality in treatment at work, personal conflicts from outside the work environment can be carried into day-to-day working relationships. The University reserves the right to make all decisions regarding the hiring of relatives and all reporting lines at its sole discretion on a case by case basis.
Typically, relatives of persons currently employed by the University may be hired only if they will not be working directly for or supervising a relative. University employees cannot be transferred into such a reporting relationship. Executive Management will make the determination, at its sole discretion, of the hire and/or position approval and related reporting relationship.
If the relative relationship is established after employment, the individuals concerned will be allowed to decide who will continue in his or her current position. The other employee may seek transfer out of the unit or department or make application for another open position; however, no position is guaranteed.
In other cases where a conflict or the potential for conflict arises, even if there is no supervisory relationship involved, the parties may be separated by reassignment or terminated from employment.
For the purposes of this policy, a relative is any person who is related by blood or marriage, or whose relationship with the employee is similar to that of persons who are related by blood or marriage.
The section clearly states a “carve out” for “Jr”:
“Executive Management will make the determination, at its sole discretion, of the hire and/or position approval and related reporting relationship.”
Liberty U had the $%#@ to put it in writing!!
Yep; it was reasonable to think his own carveouts could be especially beneficial given all of the deals that related to real estate as well as trustee and / or admin positioning for his brother and his son.
Echoes of empire — complete with tax provisions on the educational and religious institutional level that might happen redound favorably towards such goals
I do want to point out that Junior was not technically a ministry leader, though many might consider LU a ministry. But his many questionable financial and real estate deals were definitely reveal a pattern of conflict of interest that would have gotten him fired and likely blackballed at any other large institution.
As for Junior’s constant public misbehavior, I really don’t care about what he does in his personal life. But LU has very strict standards of behavior for everyone else and that’s problematic. I don’t agree with LU’s policies on that, but I know why they do it. Many Christian parents think that Liberty will continue to shelter their adult children and treat them like children who can’t behave. This is a hugely problematic aspect of evangelical culture. Many evangelical parents don’t raise their kids to be independent adults. I think it’s why they allow themselves to be in abusive churches for so long or buy into things like crazy conspiracy theories. They need a church to tell them what to do because they never learned how to be independent. I even think Junior may be an example of that, because despite his high level of education, he can’t seem to manage his own life.
That’s when appeals to one’s “vision”, and what God has “shown” him / her / them can come in — especially on the heels of a transformation for a sinful lifestyle, used to mean that they’re still under the transformational anointing leading to such visions and revelations and authority from God for what they command.
The ground could be laid for presumptions that they couldn’t be anything but above reproach if God is using them towards grand destinations and has shown what’s seen as fruit and the work of God in the past — Galatians 2 and Paul’s rebuke of post-Pentecost Cephas notwithstanding, amongst other things. The prevailing atmosphere can then be who would think to question them, even as one questionable thing after another happens and accountability, oversight, and transparency are removed from the equation, if they were ever there to begin with.
I think that most sincere Christians feel this way. But many Christian streams focus on us vs them. The language and attitude is it is the world that is wrong and we have it right. The world often including other Christian denominations.
This hubris doesn’t lead to a culture of good governance. At my wife’s Pentecostal Church the pastor is also chairman of the board. He might be a straight arrow being the chairman of the board and the head pastor (ostensibly an employee) definitely can lead COI. His daughter was hired as a pastor. Maybe it was legit but it doesn’t have good optics. Plus the board sets the salary so there we go.
The church members don’t question this because in a culture of compliance they believe this is all God’s will.
So I would add “look at the governance structure” to the list, if I was looking for a church.
You want to be part of an organization that acknowledges human weakness & guards against it. Chances are if they care about COI then they probably also care about things like protection of the youth programs etc.
I do feel like humanity tends to default to “charismatic” or “yes-man” when picking leaders and not look at character. I know people who, despite still being sinners, manage to have their lives together and live in a way that is the least harmful to those around them. But those people are usually not the people that get noticed by the crowd. The ones that get noticed have the ability to attract attention by their personality, their wealth, or their ability to act like they are on your side (whether or not they really are).
I think Paul was reminding Timothy to watch out for the ones who are living as rightfully as possible, though I suspect this was something that they had discussed in person and now we only get this short verse that doesn’t really explain much.
This; the contrasting of his conduct with what is expected from them should be extremely relevant, even if it isn’t actionable in the same way because of the way his own deal is written up. That extends to the conflict of interest end of things, especially with the stated expectations for employees and the standards in the primary post for all of the institutions listed.
He sure proved that! At the very least, as leader of a Christian college, he should have been more Christlike (IMO).
LU board members have breached their fiduciary duty. With just the information that is in the public domain, that is obvious. Not ONE should continue on the BOT. The state AG should move to revoke their non-profit status today. Fiduciary duty of board members is NOT OPTIONAL.
At my evil too big to fail employer, we have to take a basic class every year just to alert ourselves to potential conflicts of interest. The point of the class is just to get people to say, “should I be doing this?” For someone like me, who works in technology and isn’t customer-facing, the conflicts of interest would include things like attempting to buy foreclosed properties (houses) owned by the bank (forbidden) or working a second job that would be in conflict with the bank’s interests (the biggest example being “real estate agent”, which is forbidden). The actual conflict of interest rules are on the bank’s internal policy site, and there is a group within the bank whose job it is to research and approve/disapprove of edge cases. On top of this class, there’s another class which just deals with how to work with governments, both foreign and domestic. For me, it’s more along the lines of, “if you run into this type of situation, call our government group” because it’s not likely I would have a direct dealing with a government official.
In addition to these obvious conflict of interest rules, I took a training this week on “material non-public information” aka “insider information.” The rule for me is that if I hear of non-public information that could materially affect a business (whether they trade on a stock exchange or are closely held), I have to report it. It doesn’t matter where I hear it. If I’m eating a nice lunch in a restaurant and there’s a business group at the next table talking about a deal that could materially affect an entity, and I hear it, I have to call up a specific group to report it. (Obviously I’m not eating lunches in nice restaurants during the pandemic, so this is not likely to happen.) There are other rules on top of that, which generally do not apply to me because I work in tech, am not involved in deals, and unlikely to come across that information in the course of business.
I can’t tell you about the training I took this week about how to handle and discuss information and actions with regards to supervisory governmental entities. Except to say that I thought it was going to be some sort of “supervisory” thing related to actually supervising people at work and it was completely different.
The tl;dr is the bank takes conflicts of interest very, very seriously and you WILL get fired if you don’t follow the rules.
Wasn’t it pointed out not too long ago that John MacArthur and Master’s University displayed some conflicts of interest?
https://ministrywatch.com/the-masters-university-headed-by-pastor-john-macarthur-plans-corrective-actions-after-being-placed-on-probation-by-accreditation-commission/
It was MacArthur’s son in law.
https://www.hometownstation.com/santa-clarita-latest-news/masters-university-president-pays-son-in-law-millions-of-dollars-through-nonprofits-251199
The blindfold on Lady Justice implies that the courts are supposed to be impartial, that justice should be applied without regard to wealth, power or other status. In the case of Junior’s transgressions – and many more failings by Christian ministers/ministries discussed on TWW – a Lady shouldn’t look upon their sins.
Muslin, fka Dee Holmes,
Thanks for your (for me) very helpful, useful, and information-filled comment. 🙂
Steve240,
Unfortunately, COI problems abound in evangelicalism/fundamentalism… heck, many of the mega churches, and new non-denomination/denomination churches (think Calvary Chapel) do not have much (or any) financial transparency.. not even possible to know if there is any COI!
Christian celebrities and personality cults would not have it any other way. Why would these pretty boys “go into the ministry” if they had to exercise fiduciary responsibility?!
Think what extra kudos he could have gained if he had vaunted a shortage of schooling like others. Was he semi-consciously reading scripts ghost written for him and not checked by him? Did his print works not get proof read by him? Perhaps his publishers / managers have to save costs. Or was it him that built those embroiderments in? Perhaps these aren’t a load of quaint fawning Orientals who inadvertently let slip a title (Irish clergy also get called Dr.) against his will. I think the tragedy lies in his denominational background where (Calvinist leaning) parrotting without understanding is the basis.
Max,
I also like the analysis that has been posted several times her at TWW that these “leaders” are casting their “vision”, and if you question any aspect of the “leader”, you are doubting the leaders “vision”, you are then not being “spiritual”
I see the behavior in the secular world, except for the “spiritual” aspect.. it is usually replace with something else to be “shamed/bullied” about… We clearly are seeing this in the current political climate, but also in other aspects of our culture…
A gimmick, pure and simple, to gain control over others … to manipulate, intimidate and dominate. These rascals find a home in the Christian Industrial Complex because the average churchgoer is trusting and easily fooled. These bad-boys are successful because they have a touch of charisma, a gift of gab, and a bag of gimmicks. We will continue to read about them on TWW because the American church is a mess.
In Liberty University news much more important than COI documents or behavior of the Falwells, Liberty defeated Western Kentucky 30-24 today in their season opening football game.
They did it for The Gipper (= Junior)
Football has definitely improved there. When I attended, we were 0-6 all three years. The only reason we went to games is that my roommate liked the 50 cent hotdogs…
Max,
Very well-stated, Max.
Remember that the current political and religious climates have effectively become one.
dee,
In a nutshell, idolatry.
Isn’t there a commandment (1 of 10) that addresses this?
Didn’t God allow people to be sold out to their enemies, when these very people sold out God for idolatry?
The Indust. Evang. Complex et al (our society?) may be in for a rough ride since salt has lost its saltiness, or preservation qualities.
Perhaps it’s time to build an ark, whatever that means in modernity.
Are you familiar with the Newspeak term “duckspeak”?
“…Winston turned a little sideways in his chair to drink his mug of coffee. At the table on his left the man with the strident voice was still talking remorselessly away….He held some important post in the FICTION DEPARTMENT….It was just a noise, a quack-quack-quacking….Every word of it was pure orthodoxy, pure Ingsoc….Winston had a curious feeling that this was not a real human being but some kind of dummy. It was not the man’s brain that was speaking, it was his larynx. The stuff that was coming out of him consisted of words, but it was not speech in the true sense: it was noise uttered in unconsciousness, like the quacking of a duck.”
— George Orwell, 1984
When this happens, what has history taught us? Asking for a friend, with a knowledge of history. Insight from this repertoire.
COI is damn near a(nother) Litmus Test of “Are You REALLY a CHRISTIAN????”
FEATURE, NOT BUG.
“Holy State, we have lived to learn,
Endeth in Holy War.”
— Rudyard Kipling, “MacDonough’s Song”
“WE ARE UNITED BEHIND THE VISIONARY!”
— Sunday School coloring book at Furtick’s Megachurch
How Winsome and Properly Submissive…
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Then there is Jr’s junior, er, son: as noted in a comment to the recent WaPo article: “Trey Falwell is still Liberty’s Vice President of university operations.”
Falwells are still in charge (LU).
Nothing has changed.
One of the articles posted in the earlier posts was about the trustees issuing the order that no one was to listen to Junior if he called and Trey’s power would be limited only to his job. Apparently, Junior had been calling people and issuing orders after his resignation and they wanted it to stop. The alumni and donors are furious over all this and donations have seriously declined, so I doubt they will continue to let the Falwells have much input. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Trey’s resignation sometime soon because his family name isn’t working for him anymore.
I still doubt the “independent” investigation is all that independent, or if it is, that they will release the full results, but I do think they are pretty serious about ridding LU of the Falwells’ influence.
A few days ago, I sent dee screenshots of the letter I received from Jerry Prevo. It was very conciliatory and promised a fair investigation and decisions that were best for the school. Whether that will end up being true, I dunno. But they are trying very hard to placate the alumni.
Christ is our ark. I have a feeling the door is about to close.
If it’s paid for by LU, it’s not truly independent.
Muslin, fka Dee Holmes,
We faculty also have a significant increase in the number of “training activities” that we need to indicate that we have completed, and the number continues to increase.
Just like any other rule, or law, they almost always come about as a result of major abuse/criminal activity. For example, as a result of all of the sexual abuse by coaches and team doctors, at a depressingly large number of institutions, sexual abuse reporting, and prevention activities has risen. But just as we have seen in the church, many of the past abuses could have been stopped if “higher ups” had done what was “right” and put a stop to it instead of trying to “cover it up”. The big difference I see is that secular organizations due respond, as they know how (i.e. create more rules and “training”), it seems that the Church is much slower to respond.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Orwell, a man far ahead of his time.
“Christ is our ark.” Thanks, Max. I get it.
“… the door is about to close.” This, however, I don’t get. ???
Ava Aaronson,
In Tradition, the Church was the Ark.
Rod Dreher’s Benedict Option is of this kind (B. of Nursia took to the hills).
I just said an Our Father.
Door of Ark = brief chance for us to find out what real Gospel is.
R T Kendall has written about the Midnight Cry.
(I also put something about accountability under the excommunication thread)
At the risk of sounding dense, I must ask:
-How can family-owned companies exist if it’s against ethics rules to hire family members?
-What is the exact legal and technical difference between LU and a family-owned company?
In other words, are there laws or accreditation requirements to bring this situation under control?
Liberty has been aware of adult male students having sex with underage female freshman students for years…
Friend,
Great questions! That is partially why I included COI documents from a variety of Universities/Colleges.
One answer to your question revolves around whether a Institution receives Federal dollars. For example, the LU COI page for Federally Funded research looks very similar to the other Institutions I listed. Why? because they are required to if they receive Federal $$$$. In contrast, COI at LU for non-research “stuff” is buried, and not as demanding, and as I mentioned above, “carved out” for “Jr”.
The situation gets “sticky” because almost all Federal research $$ is broken into two parts: 1) direct costs to do the research, 2) indirect costs, allegedly for “overhead” of conducting the research. These indirect costs can be on order of the direct costs. If the Indirect $$$ go into a general pool of money for the school, the Feds can then peer into how it is spent and require “regulations”. This has gotten some Institutions into “hot water”. I will not mention names, but I know about it… I am not as familiar with “non-reserach” grants from the Feds, and the strings attached….
An analogy exist in the business world. There are several very large US corporations that are privately owned, usually by decedents of the founders. If the companies are not listed on a stock exchange, they do not need to publicly disclose much about how they are run.. including family members running “the business”… a couple of engineering and commodity companies come to mind.
So, like most situations, follow the money… and that gets back to my title “ above reproach”…. If not just Liberty U, but as Dee suggested above, all “Christian organization” had robust, public, COI’s, and other “ethical policies”, AND independent “review panels” to enforce them, I for one, would not be spending my time on TWW ( no offense to all you other posters that we “fellowship” with). Are bad things going to happen? Of course! We are Human… The problem is the hubris of “Christian leaders” that think the “rules” do not apply to them, and subsequently cover up disgusting abuse.
“Christian leaders” should be applying many NT principles, which are routinely cited here on TWW, to lead the secular world in ethical standards, not shaming us that are blowing the whistle and shouting foul at the GROSS violations repeatedly exposed on TWW….
Jeffrey Chalmers,
PS..
To give you all a “order of magnitude” estimate. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS, reported 40 Billion dollars of Federal research support went to US Universities in 2018. And, one can assume that 20 Billion of that was “indirect” i.e. overhead costs. My guess that total number is low.. And, as I said before, there are plenty of other “grants” to Universities beyond research support.
My guess is that if the Feds wanted to, there are plenty of ways investigations of LU by the Feds COULD be conducted. But, we all know what would happen then… I am not familiar, obviously, with Virginia State law… And how much $$$ of State money Goes to LU.
Ava Aaronson,
At some point in human history, the final Gospel call will go out to the nations. The signs of the times are upon us, IMO.
You mention research dollars, but what about the gigantic amount of money funneled to LU via federal tuition support? I don’t know, but that might fall into a couple of categories: tuition support for active duty military students online, for veterans in person and online, and individual loans to civilian students.
There should be avenues for several financial investigations.
That’s another potential avenue of investigation. Virginia does have limited tuition support for disabled veterans and survivors, but it only applies to state colleges, not to private institutions like LU.
I don’t know what other state support LU might receive. Certainly they would have needed some state support for improvements around the campus, like maybe that tunnel from campus to Junior’s shopping center.
It can be if the contract is worded right. For example payment is made even if the report is not to the liking of Liberty University or Liberty cuts the investigation early. The public parts of the report are the decision of the outside contractor. Liberty University does not have an extensive current or likely future financial relationship with the outside contractor (in other words the outside contractor is not reliant on future business with Liberty for solvency).
So how do you suppose the Trustees reacted when Junior stood up in a board meeting one day and said “I’m going to use LU funds to build a tunnel to my shopping center”? Did no one have the backbone and integrity to proclaim “Oh no Jerry, that wouldn’t be right”?! However, I doubt that the “independent” investigation will cover such things … since it is not truly independent from the folks paying them to look into items like this.
Then I hope they got their money up front! If they do their job, they are surely going to find some problems with the Trustees’ oversight of Junior. He was behaving badly for years!
With a Standing Ovation praising Junior’s WONDERFUL Idea and adoring Junior’s Great Genius.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cG3PlcSiLA
FEDERAL.
Remember Junior’s Friend in the Highest of Federal High Places.
Release about the pedestrian tunnel. City of Lynchburg helped to finance:
https://www.liberty.edu/alumni/alumni-news/?MID=40086
The tunnel is part of a project that should greatly enhance pedestrian safety along Wards Road, one of the busiest roadways in the city.
Liberty and the City of Lynchburg jointly financed a new pedestrian bridge, which will allow students to walk over Wards Road rather than crossing at road level. The bridge opened earlier this week.
Falwell and his wife, Becki, entered on Liberty’s side behind the Vines Center and walked the full length of the tunnel before Falwell kicked out some boards that protected the Wards Road side during construction.
Max, “the signs of the times were upon us” when I was in-country back in the Seventies. Every news item pointed directly to The Rapture (any minute now), every SCRIPTURE was about The End Times (any minute now), Bible Prophecy Was Being Fulfilled Even As We Speak (any minute now). That was over 40 years ago, and with every Great Disappointment when Date after Date passed without incident, they just set another Date and transferred all the “signs of the End Times” to that one (any minute now).
The Noise in that channel is so high there is no Signal left.
Again, remember Junior has a Friend in High Places.
So it was primarily a City of Lynchburg thing and Junior just grandstanded the opening?
First off, I’m all in favor of road safety. Trains are a hazard. My concern is self-dealing, possible misuse of tax money, and overall corruption.
There’s a vehicular tunnel too. And a bridge:
https://www.liberty.edu/alumni/alumni-news/?MID=119320
Throughout construction, measures have been taken to ensure the safety of those on campus. In 2011, a pedestrian bridge opened over Wards Road, one of the busiest corridors in the city. The bridge was a joint venture between Liberty and the city of Lynchburg. It crosses near Walmart and provides access to other stores and restaurants frequently visited by students. The university also built a pedestrian tunnel under the railroad tracks on campus to give resident students easy access to the bridge.
The pedestrian tunnel and bridge have proven extremely effective in diverting foot traffic away from a dangerous railroad crossing and across Wards Road, especially during rush hour. Recent reports show that in the last 10 months, the Wards Road pedestrian tunnel was used more than 153,000 times and the bridge was used nearly 9,500 times. This means that, on average, about 140 railroad crossings and 90 Wards Road crossings per hour were eliminated during evening rush hours.
It’s an End Times reference.
“…the Night is coming
When man’s work is Done.”
God closes the Door and Judgment(TM) Begins.
No more Mercy, only the Plagues of Revelation and the Lake of Fire.
Like I experienced in the Age of Hal Lindsay 40+ years ago.
(Cue Jack Chick tract panel of Trumpets blowing and Vials being poured out with the caption “God’s Patience Finally Reaches an End!”)
P.S. Max: 40+ years ago I saw Christians dive into that rabbit hole so deep they could never come out. A few months ago we all saw Mr Jesperson take a variant of that road regarding COVID as God’s Wrath for Our Sins — and go so deep it became his Litmus Test of our Salvation. (Before he either went int permanent moderation or shook the dust off his feet and turned his back on all us Apostates.) Once you start down that rabbit hole, it’s really hard to climb out. I did only because I had non-church-related social contacts and secular knowledge OUTSIDE of the Rapture Ready scene, but it still took 10 years for the PTSD flashbacks to die down.
In summary: They invested in shops on the far side of a dangerous railroad crossing, and took years and public funds to build safe access.
But there was no icing on the cake after all, according to Junior:
In a statement to Reuters last year, Falwell said the tunnel helps ensure the safety of students who otherwise had to cross railroad tracks to get to the shopping area. It was “the only workable” location for the tunnel, Falwell said.
Moreover, he said, the pedestrian tunnel did not help the shopping plaza but hurt it. The reason, Falwell explained: Students would sometimes park at the mall and clutter the area.
A Liberty spokesman told Reuters that the university knew about Falwell’s ownership interest before the tunnel project was launched. The school has said the tunnel offers “easy and safe access to restaurants and stores along the busiest corridor in the City of Lynchburg.”
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-falwell-legacy-insight-idUSKBN25V27L?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=news_tab&utm_content=algorithm&fbclid=IwAR3hZ2gge1pnYHwMmCygoN0SD3Ew6TdyfXJ335lwmUOqZPCaS9zgN7VZuKM
You know what Eric Blair (his real name) did in WW2? He worked for the BBC doing wartime Propaganda. Some of his pointy-haired bosses and got written into 1984 and his experience with BBC corporate culture got exaggerated into the Ministry of Truth. (Move over, Scott Adams.)
“I HAVE ABSOLUTE AUTHORITY!”
(Probably powered by ethanol; those sort of calls sound like “Drunk Dialing” in action.)
Maybe the Trustees see their chance and are staging a Coup?
(Assuming the rules of Third World Banana Republics are now in play….)
Headless Unicorn Guy,
And, Jr he likes to questions the size of Male spherical organs in evangelical “leaders” if they do not follow “Jr” party line…. funny, I never thought of myself as a Eunuch..
Headless Unicorn Guy,
While I did not get as deep as HUG, growing up in CA in the late 70’s, that “end time mania” was just crazy….. and, those that questioned it were “shamed”… sigh…
Actually, I’m told that they’re not spherical, but rather real ellipsoids.
Max,
Oh.
In that case, living each day as if it matters.
Which is always relevant in our Jesus walk.
Blessings.
(Not a fan of Hal Lindsey / Jerry Jenkins drama kings fear spreading/profit making tactics. And not indicating anyone else here is.)
I hear you, HUG. I’ve been a Christian for several decades. I’ve seen multiple “any minute now” movements come and go … they sent my head spinning, leaving me with a touch PTSD too. But, at some point, any minute will be a minute away. When Lord when?
(I lost track of Hal Lindsey. Is he still around?)
Exactly.
I tell my grandsons when we spend time together “We have each other, we have Jesus, and we have today.”
I just realised this also applies to the denomination of the Vissers, which the Thompsons were in. Did any readers of CT at the time think it was strange that Galli’s staff were eliciting from Zacharias an apparent whitewash of the Visser denomination? With not only CT staff but also probably most readers well aware of standard professional procedures in these cases. Does that denomination have rules for its pastors’ business practices? He had been alarming his parishioners for years and not just the Thompsons, who tried to help him assuming he was honest. Not only should Visser have known better than to act like this but it is tragic he himself drifted into that denomination in the first place. Has Galli now been invited to “move higher up”? It’s tragic he and his staff drifted into employment with CT.
Max,
“But, at some point, any minute will be a minute away. When Lord when?”
+++++++++
there are interpretations and traditions which don’t feature the rapture. (not that i remember any of it at the moment)
.
.
as a young kid i thought the rapture was the most fantastic-ly amazing thing. like, fantasy-science fiction but “real” — it thrilled me no end. i thought Disneyland was outrageously exciting, but this…! it’s even better than UFOs!
my only concern was how i was going to take my 31 stuffed animals with me.
if it turned out the “thief in the night” motif was more literal than metaphor, then my plan was to put them all in a large bag, put it right next to my bed, and hold onto the handle while i slept.
.
.
elastigirl,
(continuing)
as i grew up into the 80’s, the rapture idea faded from the scene and from my mind.
as i grew into full-fledged adulthood i learned of different strains of thought on the subject. (not that i can articulate any of it at the moment)
it would be such an interesting TWW post/article to discuss these different strains of thought. (i could volunteer to write it, and have it vetted by ‘theologians’ i know for accuracy).
.
.
elastigirl,
(finishing up, and how i go from tangent to tying this in to the conflict of interests topic:)
.
.
Part of this hypothetical blog post/article would be how these beliefs inform our day-to-day living.
such as being careless and remiss in taking care of flora and fauna because it’s all going to ‘explode’ anyway.
this also applies to caring about the quality of life of human beings outside our circle.
And an “ends justifies the means” way of going about things…
furthering “the mission”, at the expense of honesty, integrity, and its impact to ‘the least of these’ (the fact of the matter is these things simply cost too much — and it’s all going to ‘explode’ anyway).
.
.
the analogy to all this is sort of like how one prepares for vacation:
all the hyper-focus of the busy preparations are on the trip. if things are messy and problematic at home, oh, we can let that slide.
I’m confident that the City of Lunchbag is in the thrall of Liberty University.
My reading of Scripture generally falls in line with these “end-time” events:
https://www.moodybible.org/beliefs/positional-statements/second-coming/
As you note, views on the “rapture” are varied by religious camp.
As I got older, I reduced by theology in this regard to “When Jesus comes, I go” without going through all the jots and tittles of when and how that will happen.
P.S. I agree – this would make a great future TWW post. I vote for you to write it!
Max,
“there are interpretations and traditions which don’t feature the rapture”
+++++++++++++
sorry if it sounded like i was informing you of this fact.
it was more like my introductory statement to an invisible audience, before i prattled on.
thanks for your vote! maybe i’ll just do it, and submit it to dee for a slow news day. (“Turkeys On The Townhall Roof” “i ain’t ne’er seen nothin’ like it”, a local citizen remarked’…. [that kind of day])
(ha… christian culture creates its own prolific news, unwittingly through poor judgement or on purpose– “lets’ give them something to talk about” to create our own buzz & publicity, make a name for ourselves, and/or deflect from what we don’t want them to see.)
And aren’t we glad they do!! We wouldn’t have had the chance to fellowship on TWW!
I wasn’t sure where the tunnel was until this. I can vouch that the crossing was a bit unsafe. The shopping center had a Walmart in it, though it was not the nicest part of town. Could have been fixed up after I was there, though. People used to ask me to drive them to Walmart because they didn’t like walking across the train crossing and the busy highway where people often ran the light. So, I do think the tunnel probably was safer. There’s actually a very similar one in the university town where I live now and there was one in Wake Forest next to SEBTS, as well. So, maybe this is a thing?
My contribution would obviously need to be based on a typo. It would be be something along the lines of the rupture or the second combing.
Place your truss in the lard.
“Let’s go to Chuckie Jesus for lunch!”–one of my kids on some Saturday a long time ago.
(…just ignore me if a certain pizza arcade franchise didn’t make it as far as i thought it did)
Max,
Thanks for the link, and insights, Max.
Beautiful.
I’m going to use the quote, if you don’t mind.
(IOW, we have love with God, love with each other, and we are in the presence of both, right now, and for Eternity. Can’t beat that.)
Thoughts. POV, perhaps you differ.
There seem to be two all-ins or nothing: our commitment to Jesus, and sex in marriage (respectful sex, that is, with none outside of marriage.)
Falwells, it appears, have lost their way in both regards.
What does that mean? Maybe entitled, but they’re not leaders (they’re the mission field & definitely not missionaries, we used to say back in the day).
Nothing more to see. Time to ghost (from leadership circles) while recommending they get help. Off the letterhead, off the payroll, uninvited, unfollowed, out of the spotlight, off the podium, no more microphone, off the stage, off the yacht, … and everyone just moving on, while the couple privately attends to getting their affairs in order with each other and with our Lord. Hopefully.
They have shown no talent for living in virtuous obscurity.
Ava Aaronson,
“Thoughts. POV, perhaps you differ.
There seem to be two all-ins or nothing: our commitment to Jesus, and sex in marriage (respectful sex, that is, with none outside of marriage.)”
+++++++++++++++++++++
all-ins or nothing…. hmmmm… what does an all-in or nothing commitment to Jesus look like?
Sorry to depart from the subject but The Dallas Morning News today ran a large investigative article into the Inspiring Body of Christ (IBOC) Church in South Dallas. The article alleges that the church’s founder/pastor, Rickie Rush, sexually assaulted one of his members, attempted to do likewise on her half-sister, and severely beat the half-sister’s son, among other things. This might be another topic for a separate article.
Mark R,
“Tomorrow on Christians Behaving Badly…”
All too often, “ME! NOT THEE!!!”
Another set of Khristian Kardashians.
I think so. Punched his name into a search engine and got his website “hallindsey.com”. According to the thumbnail summaries, he’s still into the End Times (any minute now) trip. Has a half-hour “News in Light of Bible Prophecy” show on Daystar called “The Hal Lindsey Report.” And he’s also on TBN, but no details. In any case, he’s still superspreading Left Behind Fever.
Guy should be really old by now. Wonder which wife he’s on?
During the late Eighties, I was getting my head shrunk because of End Times PTSD (Post Traumatic Religion Disorder?) My shrink told me that she lived in San Pedro (like Lindsey at the time) and as far as she could tell “he wrote those books for the money.”
My response was “Great. He’s laughing all the way to the bank while I’m having flashbacks like a Nam Vet.” (The flashbacks didn’t end until around 1990.)
This is the same ManaGAWD that bragged his shlong was so big his wife couldn’t handle it.
(Maybe that’s why he had to watch Pool Boy going at it?)
Isn’t this one of the 12 steps? Like, key to the 180 transformation? The new life?
Paul had a time of obscurity & maturity in his new life before the HS launched his ministry.
Didn’t Jesus warn about putting a newly converted up on a podium, too much too soon?
(Seems to fly in the face of what we used to see in our youth group back in the day. A new convert was instantly up front testifying, & paraded like a celeb. Maybe that’s not Common Sense good practice.)
Like the apostles & other noted NT disciples, men & women? Or, Gladys Aylward, Eric Liddell, George Müller, Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, Nelson Mandela, Watchman Nee, Corrie ten Boom?
Like Jesus, or Jesus-adjacent? Approaching like-Jesus?
Mark R,
Shocking, shocking, I tell you !!!
I’ll have to look up the story, but I’m SHOCKED, I tell you, by this behavior, and right out there in public, also, too~!!~
If it’s true, Karma and her sister Comeuppance have their work cut out for them.
Front page of today’s Dallas Morning News.
Ava Aaronson,
yes, they are impressive. I don’t know all of those individuals — the ones i recognize are well-known because of their response to publicized/extreme/historical circumstances.
i’m trying to figure out what an an all-in or nothing commitment to Jesus look like for someone like me (who lives a rather obscure life in the predictable suburbs).
actually, my last attempt at living such a life resulted in ptsd that still manifests in certain circumstances.
so, i’d rather Jesus and i be companions and business partners (in the business of altruism) in a simple way. and leave it at that.
(ugh – sorry for how my comments so often end up being about me)
We all tell our stories, and that’s part of healing ourselves and one another. Besides, you are wonderful, and your comments are intriguing.
Moment of leveling and not excluding: This is an outstanding group of folks. Dee’s high standards, and the pugs’ careful sniffing of luggage, have made it so.
Because no matter how “all-in” you got, It Was NEVER Enough.
No matter how “On-Fire” you were, It Was NEVER Enough.
No matter how SAVED you were, You Were NEVER Really Saved.
There was always some additional Purity, some additional Devotion, some additional Commandment you had to add on. On Pain of Being Left Behind/”I Shall Spew Thee Out of My Mouth”/Eternal Hellfire.
Mark R,
Thank you for the tip. I’ll read about it.
Being radical was one of the latest, but it seems to be giving way to being woke.
I vote for elastigirl’s article too.
She won’t put me to sleep with a whole bunch of excess wordiness that doesn’t do a dang thing cept’ obfuscate the topic.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
You’ve described Southern California fundagelicalism to a tee.
Always love your comments.
Simple, obscure, the key. Even the folks I mentioned never were seeking attention. Most of us do the simple quietly following Jesus. It’s nice, though, to have a few narratives of the most difficult times for reflection here and now. Inspiring. Gladys Aylward, in particular, was totally rejected by the religious of her day. She followed Jesus.
Thanks for sharing. Always grateful for your helpful, honest, and thought-provoking comments.
Muff Potter,
I agree…
and, what TWW is showing me, and what I suspected, but usually kept my mouth shut about, is that the biggest advocates that sad you did not do “enough” as HUG says, were the biggest hypocrites.
For example, I now know enough “dirt” on Calvary Chapel to know that allot of their “on-fire/all in/etc” was a facade..
We are now coming to learn about the false image of LU!
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Sounds like the burden of the religious order of Jesus’ day. Jesus warned about this, and totally rejected it. Would we be so wise to follow Jesus.
In our younger days, it seems, we get caught up in what the “religious order” expect. Thank God, He rescues us. Max notes “church” vs. “Church”.
Ava Aaronson,
As I reflect on it, it was a “burden”… In fact, I seem to remember “they” making it sound like “they” had the true spiritual path, not like all those dead, or nearly dead, “mainlines”… but….
Calvary Chapel completely DOMINATED the local Christian AM airwaves from 1980 on (where there was literally “NO Salvation outside of Calvary Chapel”). Calvary Chapels ended up sprouting like Starbucks franchises throughout the area, and “non-denom” startups copied everything from Calvary Chapel except the name and allegiance to Papa Chuck. For the past 40 years in SoCal, Calvary Chapel WAS/IS Christianity; like Landmark Baptist IFBs, the ONE True Church among Satan’s Counterfeits. And Calvary Chapel-bots (i.e. the REAL Christians) had/have the attitude you’d expect from all that.
“Cage Phase” does not apply to only Calvinists and EOs.
And in time, being Woke will give way to something else.
Which will in time give way to something else.
Which will in time give way to something else.
“Oh, the more it changes
The more it stays the same;
And the Hand just rearranges
The players in the game…”
— Al Stewart, “Nostradamus”, 1973
“Crazy Eddie vs the Cycles.”
— Jerry Pournelle & Larry Niven, A Mote in God’s Eye, 1975
And after long enough, you either go crazy or bail out completely.
And the damage hangs on like Frodo after The Ring.
The more I see all this at work, the more I think that simple and quiet is the way to go and not the “Are you on fire enough? You need to do MORE!” attitude of the evangelicals. It’s too easy for humans to think that doing more means they are more than others (and eventually, God).
Muff Potter,
i consider this a great compliment
ishy,
“The more I see all this at work, the more I think that simple and quiet is the way to go and not the “Are you on fire enough? You need to do MORE!” attitude of the evangelicals.”
+++++++++++++++
my simple and quite dream is to live in a cabin on the tundra in iceland, tend to some crops in the growing season, fish, read books,…
(a Dick Proenneke “alone in the wilderness” thing — anyone ever see his films? he chronicled his years being self-sufficient on the alaskan tundra, save the occasional sea plan visit with mail/supplies, etc)
…i haven’t thought that one through all that carefully, though.
That sounds lovely. We moved to a homestead about 4 years ago, and it’s done wonders for my mental health. I would like more animals like chickens, but they might be more work than I can handle. I do garden, but not very well yet. My neighbors have horses and a donkey and they come visit us. I don’t think I’ve really found a suitable faith community yet, but I’m still pretty beat up from the SBC.
I will have to look up those movies.
That reminds me of a recent article re: a Norwegian mindset of being outdoors:
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/2020/09/how-norways-friluftsliv-could-help-us-through-a-coronavirus-winter/
My Mom, who has both Norwegian and Swedish heritage in her background, had some saying she remembers (maybe from Luther College??) that went something like: “Out of the weeds came 10,000 Swedes, chasing 1 sick Norwegian”, i.e. how tough Norwegians are (at least comparing her 2 grandmothers, that was true in her family!).
Ava Aaronson,
Nelson Mandela?
Surely there is a mistake here. Research his history regarding human rights. We should strive to be more like Jesus Christ, not fallen man.
Karen,
You got me thinking about Mandela in a new way. Similar objections were raised about Abraham Lincoln. One difference is that Lincoln did not survive to see his nation through the reconciliation process.
We’re both Veterans of the Holy Psychic Wars.
(Or should that be “survivors”?)
If I remember right, you live down the 91 from me, on the other end of Santa Ana Canyon. After things loosen up, I’d like to make direct contact and compare notes.
I suspect the only thing Karen can see about Mandela is “Terrorist!” and “Communist!” Her closing sentence sets up a “Whose Side Are You On — GOD or Man?” which is always a warning sign.
It’s One-Upmanship with a Christian coat of paint.
There’s no real difference between “More On Fire Than Thou” and “More Woke Than Thou”.
They’re both “Holier Than Thou”.
I second that. Maybe a guest post?
I got seriously mixed up in the Rapture Ready (any minute now) crowd back during the Age of Hal Lindsey. I experienced its Fruits. (Now I refer to that “Fellowship” as “End of the World CULT”.) The long-term damage is still there.
I had an English prof. (a Jew) many eons ago who admonished us thus:
“Never spend 3000 words on something for which 300 will do nicely.”
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Agreed, and still thought a serious answer might advance discussion.
Both Lincoln and Mandela are revered as secular saints. Early in his political career, one of Lincoln’s political rivals slanged him as Not A Man Of Faith. After that, Lincoln did everything he could to keep his personal religious views out of public discussion. He attended a Presbyterian church and probably received some pastoral help to cope with the death of his son Willie during the Civil War. Those who claim Lincoln as a devout Christian do not have much evidence to support the assertion.
Friend,
Considering many people call Ravi Z. a great saint, I think what “many people say” is just a proposition for a argument.. sigh… one of my favorite quotes from Lincoln is something along the lines, “ Both sides say G$d is on their side, I just pray I am on G$d’s side….
Jeffrey Chalmers,
Maybe not the same quote, but this is from Lincoln’s second inaugural address, about both sides in the Civil War:
Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered ~ that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes.
Headless Unicorn Guy,
Warning sign to what? There are those leaders whom nation’s worship, that speak out of both sides of their mouths. Do the research and listen to the South Africans, there are a few in our area who fled for their lives under Mandela’s regime.
Things are not always as they appear to be regarding history. And go ahead, mock all day long.
Not impressed.
While policies and guidelines aren’t a necessarily a bad idea I don’t think LU adding them would have done squat in our day and age. People’s resolve for money and power can get around any document, charter, or system generated by an institution. I have a customer whose kid is best buds with Falwell Jr.’s kid and my discernment from the stories I hear is that money talks while Jesus walks (far away). Not untypical of American Christianity where Jesus is a mere spoke in the wheel. It takes an incredible amount of drive (not talking about the Matthew 6:33 drive) to build what LU has become.
“The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws.” Tacitus, The Annals of Imperial Rome”
The more dishonest people there are within a system – the easier it is to bypass said rules, policies, or laws. Just look at how far the church has gone off the rails from the picture that yields from just a cursory reading of the Scripture. Or, how far the USA has veered from the Constitution (thanks to people like Ginsburg).
When the systems are evil good people need to abandon them instead of propping them up to continue the illusion of goodness that they appear to be.
You’re assuming that people do not listen to the South Africans. Maybe, instead of blaming Nelson Mandela, you should focus on architects and enforcers of apartheid.
But, since you asked, here are victims on both sides, as presented by Desmond Tutu in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech:
Before I left South Africa, a land I love passionately, we had an emergency meeting of the Executive Committee of the South African Council of Churches with the leaders of our member churches. We called the meeting because of the deepening crisis in our land, which has claimed nearly 200 lives this year alone. We visited some of the trouble-spots on the Witwatersrand. I went with others to the East Rand. We visited the home of an old lady. She told us that she looked after her grandson and the children of neighbors while their parents were at work. One day the police chased some pupils who had been boycotting classes, but they disappeared between the township houses. The police drove down the old lady’s street. She was sitting at the back of the house in her kitchen, whilst her charges were playing in the front of the house in the yard. Her daughter rushed into the house, calling out to her to come quickly. The old lady dashed out of the kitchen into the living room. Her grandson had fallen just inside the door, dead. He had been shot in the back by the police. He was 6 years old. A few weeks later, a white mother, trying to register her black servant for work, drove through a black township. Black rioters stoned her car and killed her baby of a few months old, the first white casualty of the current unrest in South Africa. Such deaths are two too many. These are part of the high cost of apartheid.
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1984/tutu/lecture/
Sounds like a plan when this pandemic winds down and we get back to some semblance of normalcy.
I lived in Southern California for a few years. I got used to calling freeways “the ##” back then, but now it seems odd again because I have been away for so long. Now I live in a place where people say things like “I/we might could…”
Lots of good points. Leaders without scruples especially top leaders can alway find a way around rules.
IMO, if a leader had more ethics this probably wouldn’t have happened. Shows the need for checks and balances but that still doesn’t always work either.
No doubt, especially when a system of checks and balances (like the Constitution of the USA Inc) is riddled with fraud at its inception. Recording history in a manner that makes this disappear while indoctrinating the generations to come with fables is a sure way to keep the system alive and supported, yet indirectly abusive to everyone not in positions of power and authority.
Good article from an attorney’s perspective:
“We are steeped in a whole world of how wonderful our constitution is and what a miracle of freedom it was, etc. Understanding how it is that nothing seems to WORK in PRACTICE as we are taught in school, starts with understanding what a spin job they put on the drafting and RATIFICATION of that constitution. Now I don’t claim to be “telling the whole story”. That is impossible anyway. My goal here is to be the PEOPLES’ Lawyer. To make the case ON BEHALF OF THE PEOPLE, instead of the money power. The OPPOSITE side of the story from what you’ve been told all your life. Just a sketch. A little “equal time”. We need a little counter balance to the one way propaganda machine that describes this event. I want to put it into some perspective for you. Then you can make up your own mind. Probably for the first time.
I am not a historian, I am just a simple caveman lawyer. But I can read and I can understand bulls*** when I see it. Don’t believe the brainwashing that only “scholars” and formal historians are fit to comment about “history”. You don’t have to go through the archives to see what was really going on at the constitutional convention. I can see THE RESULT. And that is the gigantic federal government they claim is supported by a constitution they claim created only a “limited” government. Those two don’t fit together. So maybe it is worth a bit of time to look into what REALLY happened that summer in Philadelphia.”
http://www.thetruthaboutthelaw.com/the-peoples-case-for-what-happened-at-the-constitutional-conventionon/
ken,
Hooboy. Lots of free association on that website. First time I’ve seen a TWW poster go out on a limb to say the US Constitution is bee ess. False flag allegations, things “they” don’t want you to know. Not even slightly enlightening.
Friend,
Do I win an award then? 🙂
Did you take the time to read the article and understand his takeaway points regarding fraud, or is there something specific you disagree with him?
I don’t remember rubber stamping everything he has to say via his website, nor indicating that I think the Constitution is a bunch of hooey. As I’ve mentioned to you before – truth is truth no matter where it comes from.
Have you ever read Lysander Spooner’s No Treason – the Constitution of No Authority? He had legitimate concerns of voter fraud, manipulation and abuse back in the 19th century. The parallels between institutional church abuse that results from bylaws, charters, and membership covenants and that of GOV are quite similar.
When I was a kid in the Sixties, freeways were always identified by name. Usually the name had something to do with the destination – Pasadena Fwy, Harbor Fwy, San Bernardino Fwy, Riverside Fwy, Hollywood Fwy, Long Beach Fwy, Foothill Fwy, San Diego Fwy, Golden State Fwy, Santa Ana Fwy… (The last three being different stretches of the same Fwy.) I think the 605 (circa 1970) was the first one everyone referred to by number, though it did have an official name.
They transitioned from names to numbers over the next 20 years or so; by the Nineties everyone was using numbers:
* Harbor Fwy became the 10
* Riverside Fwy became the 91
* Golden State, Santa Ana, San Diego Fwys became I-5
* Santa Monica & San Bernardino Fwys became I-10
* Long Beach Fwy became I-710
* Foothill Fwy became I-210
But fitting right in with the Grand Unified Conspiracy mania that’s everywhere these days.
Problem with Grand Unified Conspiracy Theories is they have a way of pinching you off from outside reality. “THE DWARFS ARE FOR THE DWARFS! WE WON’T BE TAKEN IN!”
If you want lobster, don’t go fishing in a herring barrel.
What a great saying! 🙂
Friend,
Well, unfortunately I’ve never tried lobster (eaten plenty of crawdads though), but I try to routinely fish out of many different barrels for truth since it’s not found only in one.
A sign of indoctrination is when a person fishes only out of one or two barrels while they shoot holes in all other barrels in attempt to discredit them as legitimate sources of fish.
” The great enemy of the truth is very often not the lie, deliberate, contrived and dishonest, but the myth, persistent, persuasive and unrealistic.” John F. Kennedy
Happy fishing my Friend! 🙂
ken,
I appreciate your friendliness, but not the implication that I’m indoctrinated. Days are short; I’d rather spend them on websites with uniformly high quality.
Years ago the neighborhood kiddies came by with small plastic buckets full of crawdads from a nearby creek and asked me to cook ’em. The little ones had labored over their catch, but at the time I was teaching school groups about native wildlife. So we walked together to the creek and set free the hard-won lunch items, giving them names and waving bye-bye. 🙂