Liberty

The sun shines on Liberty University’s graduation ceremony, the pledge of allegiance is recited and the national anthem sang. Everyone lays their right hand on their chest, just over their heart, and watches the flag. The Falwell’s and Chuck Norris make their speeches which are laden with exclusive language, and interchange the terms “American values” and “Christian values” frequently as if they are synonymous. The Falwell’s repeatedly refer to the students as “Champions for Christ,” and I squirm in my seat. I feel funny inside when Chuck Norris talks about how he is “hot for the Lord.” The school’s tagline is 2 Corinthians 3:17, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” but I feel a heavy spirit of oppression over the campus, this campus where LGBTQ folk gather yearly to argue their worth and their equality and their beloved-ness; this campus where people are guided through the ministry program only to be granted or denied ordination within their denomination depending on their genitalia; this campus where the blood of the leaders runs red, white, and blue. It is a strange world and I have mixed feelings. I feel like I would not be welcome were I not a voiceless face in the crowd. At the same time, I am jolted back to my childhood and forced to remember my slightly more fundamentalist roots and to assess the journey I’ve taken since leaving home seven years ago.