Liberty's Jonathan Falwell warns public schools pushing agenda that will 'destroy' young people (part 2)
Read part 1 of Falwell's interview with The Christian Post here.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Jonathan Falwell, who serves as chancellor of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, has warned that ideological shifts and governmental pressure are increasingly threatening the quality of education in the United States and shared how Christian parents can fight back.
“The Department of Education, other agencies, are constantly pressuring schools, both Christian and secular schools, that if they're going to receive any assistance or financial aid from the government, that those schools are going to have to change what they do and change how they do it,” Falwell told The Christian Post.
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“For a lot of smaller schools, whether Christian or not, that’s a big pressure point because students come and we know that there's a huge student loan crisis in our country today, students are having to use that because of the escalating costs of the academic experience. That’s the way the government puts pressure on schools to give into a narrative and a worldview that would be counter to what followers of Christ have.”
This pressure forces some institutions to abandon their foundational principles, leading to a secular shift in even traditionally Christian colleges, Falwell said, citing examples like Harvard and Yale, which started as schools to train Christian ministers but have since drifted from their origins.
“We've got to make sure that we don't let that happen, not just to Liberty, but to the Christian schools that are in our country today, all of which are very, very important,” he said. “Whether small or large, every single one of them plays a critical role in training up young people, both from Christian families and secular families, to make a positive impact and difference in our society and our culture. We must always focus on truth and not let the government or any other outside entity push that school away from what they believe in.”
Falwell, who also serves as the senior pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, noted the growing need for alternatives to public education, as school districts and states are incorporating curriculums “that truly are going to destroy the young people of our nation.”
“Kids are not being taught the basics and the foundational truths of academics, but rather, they're being infused, their lives are being infected, by these kinds of ideologies that flow completely away from the truth of the Bible,” he said.
Liberty University was founded by Falwell’s father, Jerry Falwell Sr., in 1971. Falwell, a prominent Southern Baptist pastor, televangelist and conservative activist, wanted to create a comprehensive Christian university that would offer rigorous academics while nurturing students' spiritual growth through a biblical worldview, according to his son.
Today, Liberty University stands as the largest Christian university in the United States, with over 100,000 students enrolled in both on-campus and online programs.
“My dad always said, and we continue to make sure, that if it’s Christian, it ought to be better; excellence in academics, excellence in facilities, excellence in athletics, all of the things so that not one Christian student, not one young person would ever have to sacrifice to go to a Christian school, sacrifice the experience of being able to get the best, but they get the best from a Christian worldview,” he said.
Pointing to the example of Liberty, Falwell advocated for Christian schools and homeschool co-ops to offer an alternative to secular public education.
“My prayer is that there are churches all across the country that will start, as they did back in the '60s and '70s, Christian schools in their churches,” Falwell said.
“Many church buildings are full on a Sunday, on a Wednesday, maybe, but throughout the week, they're not as full, and I would love to see schools, whether it's a homeschool co-op or whether it's a church-sponsored-school, where we can actually prepare students and provide an alternative to some of the craziness that is taking place in the public schools.”
Falwell’s comments come at a time when Americans across the political spectrum, and especially conservatives, have lost faith in higher education, according to a 2023 Gallup poll.
In recent weeks, the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas has heightened tensions on some elite college campuses throughout the U.S., notably Columbia, Yale and Cornell.
Many pro-Palestinian protesters are calling for their colleges to divest from Israel, while some Jewish students and elected officials say the protests are antisemitic and that they're being barred from walking on campus and fear for their safety. Hundreds of students and faculty have been arrested nationwide, and some violent incidents have been reported.
In an interview with CP, Coral Ridge Ministries CEO Robert J. Pacienza, whose organization recently released a documentary highlighting how public schools are pushing "left-wing politics" in the classroom, warned that parents and the church have "lost the vision for the family."
He said family was the first institution in the Bible and that God's design for a "flourishing society is built around healthy families."
"Parents have lost the vision and have abdicated their responsibility to disciple their children and to shepherd their souls," the senior pastor said, urging parents to teach their children how to be Christians in private and public.
"I think there are some practical ways in which Christian parents can say, 'No, it really begins with me. It's not just shaking my fist at the culture, shaking a fist at Washington, D.C., and shaking a fist at secularism,'" Pacienza said.
"It's saying, what can I do as a parent to model this for my children and actually practice what we preach and take more ownership of the discipleship and the shepherding of my child?"
Pacienza said pastors and churches "need to come alongside parents to make them aware of what's going on in the culture, but also give parents the proper tools and the proper resources to develop their children with a biblical worldview. So that when they graduate from high school, and they leave home, and they go on to these secular college campuses, and they go out into the world, instead of them walking away from the faith, they are standing firm for the faith because they have been grounded and rooted in the firm foundation of God's Word so that they not only know the Scripture, but they know how to apply it to all of life."
Leah M. Klett is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: leah.klett@christianpost.com
