Jerry Falwell Jr. Says Past Personal Experience with Hillary Clinton Shows She Is a Threat to Religious Liberty
Jerry Fallwell Jr., one of Donald Trump's most prominent evangelical backers, is telling of a personal experience with Hillary Clinton that, he says, shows she is a threat to religious freedom.
Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., wrote on his Facebook page Tuesday about when, in 1989, he was a young attorney working for the university while it was in deep financial turmoil. One of their donors pointed them to a Little Rock, Arkansas-based investment banking firm, Stephens Inc.
The bankers at Stephens Inc. served Liberty well but were not able to secure the financing the school needed. The firm's lawyers, however, "were extremely arrogant, condescending and disrespectful to all of us," Falwell said.
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"They had an attitude of superiority like we had never experienced before. They soon began to push Liberty hard to abandon its Christian traditions and doctrinal foundations," he continued, noting that their "argument was that the school could save money by issuing tax exempt bonds instead of taxable bonds."
But they were unwilling to compromise their beliefs and how the Virginia laws were written at that time, that option was not feasible.
When Falwell revisited those old files recently they realized that the law firm that tried to make Liberty undermine its Christian witness was the Rose Law Firm, with Bill Clinton at the helm. Listed on the letterhead were none other than Hillary Rodham Clinton, Webb Hubbell, and Vince Foster, whose 1993 untimely death remains a subject of suspicion after his body was found in a Fairfax County, Virginia park.
"I have no doubt that, if elected, one of Hillary Clinton's prime targets will be the religious freedoms of all people of faith across our nation. The federal government is already using Title IX to attack the religious freedoms of faith based colleges and universities," Falwell said.
"I believe Americans will be wise enough next Tuesday to avoid putting itself through an experience like the one Liberty University was forced to endure in 1989. I believe Americans will elect Donald Trump and Mike Pence and send Hillary Clinton and all her corruption back to the private sector."
The loss of religious liberty, particularly regarding the rights of Christian colleges and universities to conduct their affairs in accordance with the teachings of their faith, has been a major concern for many Christians in this election cycle. But not everyone, especially among the younger generation of evangelicals, believes that Trump constitutes a solution.
Falwell's steadfast support of Trump has particularly troubled those even from within his own university. In May, Mark Demoss, who sat on LU's board resigned over Falwell's support of Trump. When the student body of thousands were polled during the Republican primaries, Trump received only a paltry 90 votes.
As CP reported on Oct. 13, a group of Liberty University students released a statement, signed by over 200, expressing their distaste for Donald Trump, distancing themselves from the actions of their president.
"Because our president has led the world to believe that Liberty University supports Donald Trump, we students must take it upon ourselves to make clear that Donald Trump is absolutely opposed to what we believe, and does not have our support."
"We are not proclaiming our opposition to Donald Trump out of bitterness, but out of a desire to regain the integrity of our school. While our president Jerry Falwell Jr. tours the country championing the log in his eye, we want the world to know how many students oppose him. We don't want to champion Donald Trump; we want only to be champions for Christ," the statement read.
