Is Liberty University a cult?

[ralphc1]

Liberty University was founded by disgraced minister and right wing extremist Jerry Falwell and is very influential in Republican politics, the Trump administration, the NFL and NASCAR.

The university, where creationism is a required subject, is mostly religion based. It has on campus and online classes that seem to be aimed more at indoctrination than education.

In 2005 Liberty University opened a School of Aeronautics that claims to be "the largest faith-based aviation program in North America."[14] It is now entirely possible that the person flying your commercial flight actually believes the Earth is 6,000 years old. Also LU offers an Osteopathic Medical school, startup grant provided by the Virginia Tobacco Commission,[15] so it is also possible for your doctor to believe the bible is a literal history book. Thankfully that is very unlikely as they are currently ranked 825th in the nation for a medical education[16] and 508th for research.[17] US News and World Reports ranked it #80 for the Southern region in 2014.[18] This doesn't seem bad until you realize the list ends at 93.[19]

It is often hard to find data on the university since it has traditionally been very secretive. However, according to some detailed data in Smartclass rankings it drastically underperforms the average in retention of students (69%), graduation rates (24%), and post graduation salary (bottom 10% of surveyed). Liberty University's law school ranks among the worst ten in the USA with a quarter of its graduates unemployed.[20] Despite all this, Liberty University is very strict about acceptance (~20% of applying students) and students often rank average in standardized testing scores.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Liberty_University

 

[EZShrimpn]

"Faith Based Aviation"

 

[ski lo]

You could argue that all religions are cults, with that being said I don't see how someone's beliefs on how old the universe is would effect that persons ability to fly a plane (or to be qualified for most jobs that require a college degree).

 

[HunterSdVa29]

is BYU then a cult? SMU? TCU? GCU?

as all schools w/ religious affiliations, it's thus private. it is Not for Profit and Regionally Accredited though

 

[curryjunkie]

i would class it as more scam than cult, and have a hard time thinking evangelical places like that and tv stations are anything more than a way to seperate fools from their money

 

[nostradumbass]

Don't kid yourself. Most majors at most universities are aimed at indoctrination rather than education. That line has been blurry as fuck for like 50 years. I used to work with a chick who went to liberty university and she was the farthest thing from religious as you can get and just went there cause they offered her a full ride. As far as I know, it's just a school that doesn't harp on nihilism.

 

[Headkicktoleg]

I played for App state against them in lacrosse. The most beautiful campus I've ever been to.

 

[tonni]

Does it check the marks for a cult? Not every indoctrination institute is a cult.

 

[ultramanhyata]

Liberty University was founded by disgraced minister and right wing extremist Jerry Falwell and is very influential in Republican politics, the Trump administration, the NFL and NASCAR.

The university, where creationism is a required subject, is mostly religion based. It has on campus and online classes that seem to be aimed more at indoctrination than education.



https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Liberty_University

Liberty is the Harvard of fundy diploma mills. Show some respect.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

CERN should open up a black hole over Liberty University and do us all a favor.

 

[Quipling]

Liberty University was founded by disgraced minister and right wing extremist Jerry Falwell and is very influential in Republican politics, the Trump administration, the NFL and NASCAR.

The university, where creationism is a required subject, is mostly religion based. It has on campus and online classes that seem to be aimed more at indoctrination than education.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Liberty_University

It's not a cult.

It's just a bad place to go for an education, and it's code of conduct and curriculum are excessively influenced by religion

 

[wonderbread]

Liberty University was founded by disgraced minister and right wing extremist Jerry Falwell and is very influential in Republican politics, the Trump administration, the NFL and NASCAR.

The university, where creationism is a required subject, is mostly religion based. It has on campus and online classes that seem to be aimed more at indoctrination than education.



https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Liberty_University

It’s religion. Of course it’s a cult.

 

[hillelslovak87]

More of a scam. Jerry Falwell and his ethos was not of a cult leader. It was of a shameless, scumbag con artist. This was a guy who blamed 9/11 on gays. There is certainly indoctrination in that school, I mean, it promotes the bible as a useful source of knowledge in the 21st century, and utilizes it within an educational setting. But a cult? nah. People can freely leave the "school".

 

[peytonlucy]

The seminary portion of Liberty University doesn't even insist that students interpret that Genesis dictates that the Earth is 6,000 years old. In fact, the required curriculum of the seminary, with its required texts for the classes, does not even present Genesis in the manner that you suggest. This is the seminary, let alone the general majors.

 

[peytonlucy]

Liberty is by no means a cult; however, most people do not realize that Sun Myung Moon provided an emergency loan to bailout Liberty a few decades ago. At the time, the faculty of Liberty had been, and continued, calling Moon a false messiah, interesting bedfellows.

 

[JohnnySagebrush]

It's not a cult.

It's just a bad place to go for an education, and it's code of conduct and curriculum are excessively influenced by religion

Yup. Agree with other posters. More of a scam and a poor place to get an education, not a “cult.”

BYU is much more credible and legitimate.

 

[peytonlucy]

If the average Baptist in America, who donates to Liberty, had any idea of the content that is presented at the seminary at Liberty, not the general school, but the seminary, they would be shocked and never donate another dime because it is far more liberal than the average Baptist supporter.

 

[peytonlucy]

Yup. Agree with other posters. More of a scam and a poor place to get an education, not a “cult.”

BYU is much more credible and legitimate.

Wheaton and BYU are more respected academically.

 

[ralphc1]

More of a scam. Jerry Falwell and his ethos was not of a cult leader. It was of a shameless, scumbag con artist. This was a guy who blamed 9/11 on gays. There is certainly indoctrination in that school, I mean, it promotes the bible as a useful source of knowledge in the 21st century, and utilizes it within an educational setting. But a cult? nah. People can freely leave the "school".

I recall when Falwell was selling plots of land on Liberty mountain. Some of the relatively small plots differed in elevation by as much as 100 feet over the area of the plot. I suppose Liberty gets government backed financial aid for their students.

 

[Trotsky]

is BYU then a cult? SMU? TCU? GCU?

as all schools w/ religious affiliations, it's thus private. it is Not for Profit and Regionally Accredited though

None of those schools, even BYU, is anywhere as disgraceful as Liberty.

I would straight up throw away any resume with Liberty on it. Meanwhile, I happen to know very intelligent and successful people from both BYU and TCU.