About my Title
My title is derived from a best selling 1951 book by conservative icon William F. Buckley. Wikipedia describes it as follows:
God and Man at Yale: The Superstitions of "Academic Freedom" is a 1951 book by William F. Buckley Jr., based on his undergraduate experiences at Yale University. Buckley criticized Yale for forcing collectivist, Keynesian, and secularist ideology on students, criticizing several professors by name, arguing that they tried to break down students' religious beliefs through their hostility to religion and that Yale was denying its students any sense of individualism by making them embrace the ideas of liberalism. Buckley argued that the Yale charter assigns oversight authority of the university to the alumni, and that because most alumni of Yale believed in God, Yale was failing to serve its "masters" by teaching course content in a matter inconsistent with alumni beliefs. Buckley eventually became a leading voice in the American conservative movement in the latter half of the twentieth century.
On a totally unrelated personal matter, my father was a Buckley conservative and as a Westchester County custom upholsterer made furniture for the rich and famous and Buckley was a customer. I was in his palatial house several times helping with deliveries. I never met him but I did meet his wife.
Now getting to my point...
I really don't have much else to say about this news which many of you have already heard about since it has been reported on several websites and TV shows. For those one, two, or none of you who follow his tweets here’s what may have started this all:
I want to share reporting and commentary from a source, Friendly Atheist, which you may not have seen it in, along with my snarky illustrations.
There are some articles with perspective of the author Hemant Mehta. His profile describes him as follows:
He is “the editor of Friendly Atheist, appears on the Atheist Voice channel on YouTube, and co-hosts the uniquely-named Friendly Atheist Podcast. He is a former National Board Certified high school math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago, where he taught for seven years.
Hemant has appeared on CNN and FOX News (really). He has served on the board of directors for Foundation Beyond Belief (a charity organization targeting non-theistic donors) and the Secular Student Alliance (which creates and supports college atheist groups nationwide).
He is the author of I Sold My Soul on eBay and The Young Atheist's Survival Guide. He also edited the book Queer Disbelief.
:
Excerpts:
Falwell wasn’t clear on exactly how the COVID-19 experience is being affected by Trump’s enemies. Are they responsible for the actual virus or just the heightened media coverage around it? But as for who’s responsible, he’s got a theory:
“The owner of a restaurant asked me last night, he said: do you remember the North Korean leader promised a Christmas present for America back in December? Could it be they got together with China, and this is that present? I don’t know, but it really is something strange going on.”
More than 3,000 people have died as a result of the spread of COVID-19 in China. Extraordinary evidence would be required to support the extremely serious allegation that the virus is a deliberate biological warfare tactic.
But, you know, Falwell talked to a guy in a restaurant.
The article ends:
Unfortunately, the ones who aren’t (taking courses online) will come back from Spring Break with a tough decision to make: self-isolate and jeopardize their education, or attend classes and pray they don’t come into contact with the virus.
and
.Here’s the Falwell tweet calling a student a dummy. Click and you can read the replies to it.
The (not always so) Friendly Atheist responded:
He must be quoting Jesus.
Jeff Brittain has since updated his Twitter profile to say “Husband, dad to three awesome sons, insurance exec, firearms dealer and now, ‘dummy.’ Just ask @jerryfalwelljr.”
Funny. A little weird, maybe, considering Falwell’s always been this insane and yet Brittain sent his kids to Liberty anyway… but it shows how Falwell doesn’t give a damn about his students or the people who likely pay tuition.
His allegiance is to Trump. He uses Jesus as a cover. And everyone must suffer because of that.
By the way, Falwell’s answer (slur aside) isn’t even good. If those students are carriers of the virus, then sending them to internships or summer jobs only puts those communities more at risk.
It’s bad enough they have degrees from Liberty. Somehow, this situation makes everything even worse.
and proving that God spares the righteous
Excerpts:
Thomas Road Baptist Church brought together thousands of people — including speaker Tim Tebow — on Saturday morning for the “Ignite Men’s Impact Weekend” event.
Some conference goers, like Randy Stackpole, from Loudoun County, said though he recognizes the potential for exposure, he is not in the high-risk group.
What he stands to gain from a conference like Ignite, he said, is worth a few weeks of sickness.
In other words, I don’t care if I’m a disease vector and old people die, because JESUS JESUS JESUS. The selfishness inherent in these Christians is just staggering.
.
Some attendees suggested to a local reporter they thought this was just media hype if not a hoax.
“Everywhere you look, on your phone, on the news, it’s all bombarded. It’s overrated. It’s over-exaggerated. It’s bad news, so the media loves it. But it doesn’t concern me,” [Steve] Treadway said. “It’s blown out of proportion.”
…
“I had already registered,” [Robert] Payton said. “And I’m not going to let the enemy keep me in the house in fear.”
Who’s the enemy? It’s not liberals. It’s not the media. It’s the virus. And Payton, along with everyone else, did exactly what the enemy wanted. They gathered together in a close area, potentially allowing the disease to spread like wildfire.
Christian arrogance mixed with Christian ignorance is going to kill us all.
Bonus Friendly Atheist story, some Trumpian mockery form another Trumper pastor.
It’s bad enough that some Christian pastors, despite the threat of COVID-19, held large services over the weekend.
In the case of Trump-supporting pastor Guillermo Maldonado, who founded the King Jesus International Ministry (in Florida) and hosted an event for Trump’s re-election campaign earlier in the year, he did more than just hold a Sunday service.
He mocked everyone who chose not to attend.
In “Evangelicals for Trump Host Says God Raised Up Trump as Part of Plan for End Times, Second Coming” Right Wing watch describes this god-sent messenger (in his own mind of course) as follows:
Maldonado is associated with dominionist “prophets” and “apostles” like Lou Engle, Ché Ahn, and Cindy Jacobs. Pro-Trump “prophet” Lance Wallnau promoted the Evangelicals for Trump launch during a “2020 Prophecy” video livestream on New Year’s Day, portraying the 2020 election as a spiritual battle and repeatedly urging his supporters to attend the Friday night rally.
Like other pro-Trump “prophets,” Maldonado believes that God has raised up President Donald Trump as part of his plan for the End Times and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Speaking at the 2019 Global Prophetic Summit hosted by Jacobs’ Generals International in November, Maldonado said God told him, “America, I have prepared this time, I have raised somebody in office to open the doors for my gospels.”
I think this is him pictured praying with (or for) Donald Trump.
One can only speculate what Trump actually thinks at times like this. I can speculate depending on whether he’s had lunch yet it might be a Big Mac. Maybe two, and a large fries and giant Coke.