S3: Jerry Falwell Jr. and Liberty University | Ep 8: Playing With Fire

July 7, 2021·1 hr 6 min·6 clips

A prayer from the January 6th Capitol riot reveals how conservative evangelical militancy fueled the insurrection.

January 6th is the hinge. The episode starts with prayer from the floor of the U.S. Senate after the Capitol had been breached by people trying to overturn the presidential election. The host treats the riot as shocking, but not out of nowhere, given the conservative Christian imagery and language around it. Kristen Dume names the pattern: the Christian flag carried through the halls of Congress, the Proud Boys kneeling in prayer before heading toward Congress, and the talk of fighting for God and Christian America. Then the story turns to Liberty as an institution. Its tax-exempt status matters because the transcript says its 501c3 status bars the school from engaging in politics. Politico reported Facebook ads. According to the excerpt, Falkirk bought at least $50,000 in political ads for Donald Trump and other Republican candidates before the 2020 election. One ad showed Trump in prayer. The episode puts that image beside a larger charge: religious devotion and partisan organizing were being mixed under Liberty's nonprofit limits. Constance Schneider makes the moral case. She asks why a Christian school would keep putting political partisanship ahead of the Christian values it names as its mission. She calls it spiritual manipulation. Her point lands because political identity was treated not as one view among many, but as proof of faithful Christianity. Addison Garner brings it back to campus. She describes convocation, Liberty's mandatory twice-weekly gathering of thousands of students, as a source of what she calls spiritual gaslighting. The episode moves from national politics back into student life, where religious teaching and partisan messaging shared the same stage.

As heard by us

A measured account of how Christian nationalism, Liberty University, and January 6 converged.

The episode tracks January 6 through Liberty University and the broader Christian nationalist current around it, connecting the Capitol attack to institutions, symbols, and political language that were already in circulation.

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Why you'd press play

If you want the Liberty University story tied directly to January 6 and Christian nationalism.

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