LYNCHBURG, Va. — Two prominent conservative voices in the nation’s culture wars — Fox News commentator Glenn Beck and seminary president Paige Patterson — will speak at Liberty University’s commencement exercises May 15, the school has announced.
Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said in a statement posted April 23 on the conservative school’s web site that Patterson also will speak at Liberty’s baccalaureate service May 14.
“Liberty University is blessed to have two national conservative leaders speak at our 2010 commencement ceremony,” said Falwell, son of the late evangelist Jerry Falwell Sr., who founded the school.
Glenn Beck
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Beck’s lively syndicated programs on television and radio and his bestselling books have made him wildly popular among conservatives. In March he drew the ire of many Christians when he urged people to leave churches that preach social justice, which he said was a code word for communism and Nazism.
Paige Patterson
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Patterson, president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, launched a successful drive in 1979 to shift the Southern Baptist Convention to the theological right. His name became synonymous with the movement, which largely accomplished its goals by 1990.
“Dr. Patterson is one of the patriarchs of Christian higher education and Beck is one of the few courageous voices in the national media standing up for the principles upon which this nation was founded,” said Falwell in his web statement. “Both speakers continue Liberty’s long tradition of commencement speakers who are making a positive impact on society in all walks of life.”
Beck’s selection as speaker sparked mixed reactions on Liberty’s Facebook page, the Lynchburg News & Advance reported April 29. The paper said most of the comments came from people who identified themselves as students and alumni, and while many praised Beck, other called him too polarizing or questioned the choice of a Mormon to speak.
Falwell appeared to anticipate those criticisms in his web statement.
“The baccalaureate ceremony always includes a gospel message brought by someone who is in complete theological alignment with the university,” he said. “Commencement, however, has always featured leaders from all walks of life and all faiths who share the university’s social values and traditional family values. Commencement speakers have included representatives from the following faiths: Roman Catholicism, Judaism, mainline Protestant denominations such as the Episcopal Church, and even some speakers with no religious affiliation at all.”
Liberty University was founded in 1971 by the elder Falwell. When he died in 2007, his son assumed leadership of the school. With almost 12,000 students, Liberty claims to be the largest private university in Virginia.
Robert Dilday is managing editor of the Religious Herald.