Liberty U Sues Jerry Falwell, Jr.
File under: What took you so Long?
The ugly split between Liberty University and Jerry Falwell, Jr. just got uglier as university brainwashing camp filed suit demanding $10 million in damages for concealing damaging personal information even as he negotiated a lucrative employment contract. Jr., capitalizing on his father’s fame delved into politics even further than Sr., who was one of the founders of “The Moral Majority” which was neither moral or a majority. After Sr.’s passing in 2007, Jr. took over, went all-in hypocrisy and ended up all-in for Trump. While embracing conservative ideology and conspiracy theories, he looked the other way a plethora of times to rationalize Trump’s many scandals and character flaws. He even started the pro-Trump Falkirk Center at Liberty, which was nothing more than another Trump campaign mouthpiece, hiding behind a non-profit 501(c)3 tax status.
Falwell is the textbook example of everything that’s wrong with Big Church, the multi-billion dollar mega church industry which is all about God, warmongering, guns, bathrooms, hating gays, and deploring Democrats. Liberty is a billion dollar enterprise that uses its clout in the ever judgmental evangelical subculture in the US, and Falwell Sr., followed by Falwell Jr., tsk-tsked at scandals like Clinton’s, but suddenly became sympathetic when Trump’s multiple sex and criminal scandals emerged. What Jr. was hiding, though, is that he and his wife were also neck deep in their own scandals, including a multi-year affair between Becki and their pool boy. Apparently, Jr. liked to watch. Yeah. The Falwell’s reportedly gave the pool boy $2 million for a business venture, which is questionable whether it was financial help or extortion to stay quiet. And apparently this was all going on as Jr. was negotiating his next contract.
In a fit of late to the party guilty conscience, the board of Liberty wants their money back, and Falwell, who just dropped a defamation suit against Liberty in December, is now recycling the same denials and assertions now that they are after him.
The Arc of the Moral Universe does bend toward justice; and in this case, toward irony. And the irony is entertaining .
There must be a special suite in Hell for the Falwells, they’ve done so much to destroy Christianity and general decency. Hopefully, their setting is “well-burnt”.
1There but for the grace of god I DO NOT GO. Would never even cross my mind. Where do Evangelicals find these hypocrites? Why do they support them?
2“Big Church” leaders are nothing more than charlatans pretending to be “Christian”. They are anything but. They don’t follow Christ’s teachings of being humble, helping the sick & poor and loving thy neighbor.
They would gladly take your last penny so as they could live their lives of sin and luxury.
3Junior Falwell and Franklin Graham have a lot in common with trump. They inherited thriving businesses from their fathers and mismanaged them. On their own they lack the energy and skills to set up a vegetable stand next to the highway.
4Buttermilk Sky- you beat me to commenting on F graham. He’s been spending money on teevee in Oregon for going on a year. He made thinly veiled comments against BLM and for trumpf during the election. He’s still on teevee and acts like a super righteous person who’s going to save us and instill his morality on us. He is as hypocritical as jr fallwell and all those far right christian repugnanticans that worship Trumpf as their chosen one. They have no working moral compass.
5These KK-Kristians all worship the Anti-Christ. That’s why Christians like Jimmy Carter make them so angry…
6Buttermilk Sky @3
Falwell Jr. and Trump have virtually NOTHING in common in terms of organizational competence.
Trump is well known to have 6 bankruptcies and a host of failed products.
Falwell Jr. went to the college, graduating in 1984. At that point, the school was a shabby little operation, deeply in debt, missing payroll on numerous occasions, with accreditation put on probation at various points. After earning a law degree and beginning a law practice in the area, Jerry Jr. began to serve as the General Counsel, the school had about $80 million in short term debt and marginal assets. “In 1990, the university’s debt totaled $110 million.” From that low point, the University has steadily grown. By 2000, revenue minus expenses created a small positive income.
In 2007, Jerry Sr. died. Jerry Jr. and his brother basically split the Falwell Sr. empire, with Jerry taking over leadership of the University and brother Jonathan getting Thomas Road Baptist Church and affiliated media ministries. The University’s “key man” insurance policy of about $35 million paid off the last of the debt and created a small endowment.
Since then, enrollment jumped to about 80,000 and made Liberty one of the largest religious Universities in the US. Revenue moved from about $200 million in 2006 to over $1 billion in 2015, expenses went up to build out the campus and the program, but net income was at or about $200 million a year from 2011 on. The institutional endowment and the value of the physical assets also grew.
Jerry is apparently sleazy and amoral … but as a manager he is WORLDS ahead of Trump.
7Wasn’t aware that Franklin was floundering. My parents were fans of Billy Graham in the previous century, so he was in my peripheral vision. IIRC, Franklin was a wayward son, back in his youth. Maybe he converted once he saw the family financials.
8Goofy. Flat out goofy. Yeah. Morons. Sending their kids off to be indoctrinated only to discover the indoctrinators are perverts.
Our boys are 2 & 4 and we’re scared witless about formerly accredited universities that have Koch infiltrated departments.
Before I met Jane, I once dated as in ONE time, a sweet girl who planned to attend Bob Jones U. Seriously. She was nice. Pretty, too, and I couldn’t flee fast enough.
Houston we have a problem of which Fox Not the News is only one aspect, when there are “schools” openly offering a crazy curriculum. And, there are “loving” parents ready to spend major dollars for the indoctrination. Land of the free, but at what point do we reject the crazy?
9Once had neighbors who were big Falwell/Liberty U. backers. They sent their kids to LU because “it had an excellent music department and program.” So does every college in the state. The south is big on music. They make no bones about it. Check out their bands and the videos they make available to every PBS TV station for Christmas viewing. Those videos are also aimed at fund raising from the alums. Papa Falwell was so obvious about his hypocracy. Must have passed it on genetically to his kid. As for Mrs. Jr Farwell, her fling with the pool boy says “open marriage”. Not exactly the sacramental thing Liberty U. parents were thinking of as an example for their kids, who by the way, are pretty cynical about their dear old school.
10In the newspaper business, I worked with 2 men whose parents sent them to Bob Jones U. One quit before lunchtime the same day, the other didn’t return the second day.
There are 2 kinds of people. Those who see through the bible-thumpers on sight, and those who never do.
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