While Jesus Christ hung out with tax collectors, prostitutes, and sinners of all stripes, the son of God never invited the unrepentant to minister to the impressionable. The clergy at the helm of Liberty University are not so cautious.
The evangelical college aims at educating new Christian disciples. Apparently, that task requires bringing a wife beater and a pro-abortion narcissist on campus. The Liberty Office of Spiritual Development announced Monday that former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice and current firebrand Tomi Lahren will speak at convocation.
Though certainly objects of curiosity, it’s not obvious what the pair offers impressionable minds and it’s not at all clear what lessons, if any, would coincide with the university’s stringent code of conduct, let alone the Holy Scriptures.
While Liberty forbids all alcohol and gambling, Rice got liquored up a couple of years ago then beat his fiancée into an unconscious stupor at an Atlantic City casino. Video surveillance later showed the 212-lb football player pulling her out of an elevator and dragging her limp body along the tile floor like a big rag doll.
Indicted by a grand jury on charges of aggravated assault, temporarily suspended by the NFL, and permanently cut by the Baltimore Ravens, Rice has remained an unsigned free agent ever since. Of course, Liberty didn’t mind. He will speak Dec. 6
Recent reports indicate a repentant Rice. Apparently, he lays off of the hard stuff these days and he also lays off of his fiancée-turned-wife. Maybe there’s something redeeming to that redemption narrative.
It’s hard to make the same case for Lahren. Setting aside the fact that she doesn’t bother with books and has no business at a place of higher learning, the johnny-come-lately right-leaning pundit exemplifies craven moral opportunism.
She didn’t just flip-flop during an interview with “The View” — Lahren dismissed anyone who believes in limited government and opposes abortion as a “hypocrite.” Basking in newfound liberal praise, Lahren famously bellowed “stay out of my guns, and you can stay out of my body as well.” Never mind all the times she had voiced opposition to abortion earlier.
.@TomiLahren explains why she’s pro-choice: “Stay out of my guns and you can stay out of my body, as well.” pic.twitter.com/0kFXJ7oL9L
— The View (@TheView) March 17, 2017
There’s nothing wrong with differing opinions, of course. Colleges shouldn’t indoctrinate ideology (religious, political, or otherwise). But what’s painfully ironic about Lahren’s invitation to a Christian university like Liberty, is that she actively champions the opposite of their beliefs.
“A lot of our values are rooted in the Christian faith and I’m proud to be a Christian but I think that also in recent years we’ve deviated from that somewhat,” Lahren word-vomited to the Daily Caller earlier this year, offering no argument and little context. “I don’t think that’s entirely a bad thing.”
The opposite of a disciple, Lahren seems to have used the Christian faith to help build her following, all the while picking and choosing which principles to embrace and which to abandon based on the audience and whatever kind of monologue plays best in the moment. It’s sophistry and it’s a shame. She will speak Dec. 4.
About half a century ago, Liberty’s trustees envisioned a world-class institution with an otherworldly focus, an evangelical college on par with what the Mormons had created at Brigham Young and the Catholics at Notre Dame. It was a unique idea of a university. To show that they value the truth over celebrity and sensationalism, they should disinvite Rice and Lahren.
