Liberty University, the conservative christian institution founded by the late Jerry Falwell, has ordered it's campus Democratic party club to
shut down. The group was notified by vice president of student affairs Mark Hine via email in which Hines said; "The Democratic Party platform is contrary to the mission of Liberty University and to Christian doctrine (supports abortion, federal funding of abortion, advocates repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, promotes the "LGBT" agenda, hate crimes, which include sexual orientation and gender identity, socialism, etc.)" He further stated that even though the campus group "may not support the more radical planks of the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party is still the parent organization of the club on campus."
Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. said of the decision;
"That club still has the right to exist," Falwell said, although it cannot use the university’s name in its activities.
"They still can meet on campus," in certain rooms, he said. "There is absolutely no animosity at all toward any of these kids."
"They are good, Christian kids who sit with me at ball games. I just hope they find a pro-life family organization to affiliate with so they can be endorsed by Liberty again."As one might imagine, the reaction from Virgina Democrats was swift and vitriolic.Governor Tim Kaine;
“I urge the leadership of Liberty University to reverse this attack on the liberty of its students and allow the College Democrats to have the same rights on campus as their counterparts, the College Republicans.“Creigh Deeds, a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor;
“Virginia is the home of free speech. Restricting free speech and discouraging students from participating in the political process are not what our colleges and universities should be about. I call on Liberty University to reverse their decision and reinstate the Liberty University Democratic Club.“Mike Signer, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor;
“The decision of the Liberty University administration to revoke the recognition of the students’ Democratic organization is deeply troubling. It is even more problematic that the school has decided to continue to recognize the campus Republicans. Together, we can fight this clear violation of the American tradition of the freedom of speech and political organization.”Terry McAuliffe, a Democratic candidate for governor; "Liberty means freedom. To me it means freedom of speech. As most of you know, I'm a huge advocate of freedom of speech."But where is the outrage from the Democratic party over this? At Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio this last Saturday, four members of a campus evangelism group where arrested when another student complained about their presence on the campus. So where is the outrage from Democrats in Ohio over this violation of free speech? I have not been able to find any, which, of course, is not surprising.To the Democrats, 'freedom of speech' refers to 'freedom of liberal politically correct speech', and no other. Democrats can declare our troops guilty of killing "innocent civilians in cold blood" before a trial even begins, but Republicans cannot accuse Democrats of being unpatriotic. Liberals can call Republicans racist for not supporting Obama, but conservatives cannot accuse Democrats of being socialists. And, in this case, a
publicly funded institution can violate the free speech rights of a christian group, but a
privately funded institution cannot violate the free speech rights of a Democrat group.