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It’s a what called what, founded by who?

I see what you did there.

A new center at Liberty University is opening to combat the idea that, among other things, Jesus was a socialist.

The think tank, called the Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty, was announced Saturday by its founders Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, and Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA.

The funniest thing about it isn’t the name, or that they are combating the ahistorical notion that Jesus was a socialist (really, they just hate charity and humanity), but that anything founded by the dim loon Kirk and venal pervert Falwell could be called a “think tank”. Unfortunately, that phrase is well on it’s way to evolving to mean “right-wing propaganda institute”, so maybe it’s OK.

Say hello to my little friend » « That a zygote is human does not imply that it is a person

Comments

  1. slithey tove (twas brillig (stevem)) says

    we (who are reading this) all know that Jesus character was not what the Far Right Conservapoid Evangelicals call “socialist”, thus the punctuation question mark is correct, which is not their implication.
    We know that the formal definition of Socialism is exemplified by the actions the fictional Jesus performed in that novel revered as the New Testament.
    Isn’t it funny how this character they revere so much is always being distorted by them to make fallacious arguments

  2. birgerjohansson says

    They hate charity and humanity and love fake news so they are really going to be pissed when they learn of class traitor Björn Ulvaeus, formerly of Abba…From their perspective, he will be yet another proof pop Music comes from the devil
    -He has provided a book titled “Alternativa Fakta” (about bogus news stories and internet memes and how to recognise them) to every Swedish third-grade high school student (ages 17-18) for christmas, -all 110 000 of them-, free of charge.
    I wish some Mercan rock star could do something similar, we are talking about ca 30 times more students, but it would be doable.
    Ulvaeus is not a religious figure, but he is a darn better human being than mebbe 80% of all “christians”.

  5. birgerjohansson says

    BTW, since the book is a Xmas present it is not technically off topic, but my point is, using Christmas presents to teach people to look through charlatans… the irony will go far over the heads of Falwell Jr. and his huckster friends.

  6. birgerjohansson says

    Falkirk: local religion is dominated by Church of Scotland with a big dose of atheists. Baptists would probably regard the whole town as satanists

  7. birgerjohansson says

    Reginald Selkirk @3:….and considering the lifestyles of televangelists, I suggest the name change Libertine University. We have all heard the song by Phil Collins.

  8. stroppy says

    Huh. From the picture, I’d say that Jesus was a hippie.

    If they’re so interested in what Jesus was, maybe they should start with a more likely portrayal consistent with the place and times in which he lived, swarthy, shorter curly hair, and clean shaven.

    Maybe give him whip for smiting money changers…

  10. Akira MacKenzie says

    You know something. They’re right.

    Jesus, if he existed at all, wasn’t a socialist. However, he WAS the leader of a doomsday cult that preached extreme asceticism as a form of repentance in the face of his god’s Imminent wrath over the “Chosen People” losing their “Promised Land” to foreign invaders. The early Christians didn’t care so much about the poor as they wanted to bash the traditionalist upper class Jews who capitulated with the Romans. The poor who were not members of the cult—and this was before Paul do it was a Jews only club–were also going to face Yahweh’s punishment on the last day which was coming any day now…

    Proto-Marxist ”Hippie” Jesus is a relatively modern creation of progressive Christian to whitewash centuries of faith-based atrocity and authoritarianism. If anything, the fundies version of Christian theology is more in line with what real Jesus would have wanted.

    All the more reason to abandon this filthy religion.

  11. Rob Grigjanis says

    Wonder what the think tank makes of Matthew 25:35-46

    35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
    37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
    40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
    41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
    44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
    45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
    46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

  12. unclefrogy says

    @10
    something old in me was stirred up by what you wrote and I began to feel the desire to dispute it when I realized
    “why am I thinking of arguing over what a character in a novel is or is thought of as, when I know the that argument has been ongoing from the 1st century?”
    to coin a phrase Malarkey
    uncle frogy

  13. says

    I’m reminded of the scene in The Name of the Rose (based on a real religious controversy) when a bunch of high-ranking Catholic prelates, gorgeously robed and bejewelled, solemnly proclaim, declare and define that Jesus and his Apostles were not poor and to say so is heresy…

  14. says

    <sarcasm> And here I thought the name was an inadvertent reference to the Battle of Falkirk, with all of the antiestablishment implications left out of the EB article. Not even any Mel Gibson references. </sarcasm>

  16. llyris says

    @ Dunc – I thought they were trying to ride the Falkirk wheel into assumptions of innovation, strength, and reliability, by association. It’s not just the township that should feel insulted.

  17. says

    “Better meddle wi’ the Deil than wi the Bairns o’ Falkirk” – Falkirk’s town motto.
    Translation – Better mess with the Devil than with the children of Falkirk.
    Does he know what he is taking on here?