I have to hand it to Liberty University, the school founded by Jerry Falwell that’s dedicated to teaching the 3Hs: heterosexuality, homogeny, and holier-than-your-ass. If you haven’t see the course description for holier-than-your-ass, you’ll still recognize it - it’s visible at not just evangelical schools, but synagogues, mosques, and those vegan potlucks where someone always tarnishes the smoothies by adding honey. Oops!
Liberty University’s under fire right now because it got
caught explicitly doing something nonprofits do subtly all the time: discriminating. It won’t officially recognize a Democratic Party student club because, as Falwell spins it: “Liberty University will not lend its name or financial support to undermine marriage or to promote abortion.” Of course, baby-killing’s the main reason I’m a Democrat.
Now the usual leftist suspects are calling for the IRS to investigate Liberty’s tax-exempt status. And despite my political views, I’m tempted to side with Liberty on this one.
Here’s why: If I had a dime for every asshole comment about Republicans I’ve heard within nonprofit walls, I’d have enough for one of those $5 dollar footlong subs. And nonprofits have their own more subtle ways of discriminating, eh, screening potential employees.
A few years ago when I was interviewing for a post at a youth-focused nonprofit, one of the questions was about why some kids are inherently bad. It was a trick question, designed to figure out my worldview. And I got the job in part because my answer pegged me as a gushing-heart leftie: kids do bad things, but no kid is actually just bad. I never would have gotten the job if I’d gone with the more conservative view that some people are just screw-ups.
Liberty went wrong when it made a policy that spelled out what it believed. Nonprofits: let this be a lesson to you! Don’t put anything in writing that could bite you in the tuchas.
Labels: Democrats, discrimination, IRS, Republicans, university
