EDITOR’S NOTE: We at BCNN1.com love Liberty University because of their biblical stand for traditional marriage, being pro-life, and defending religious freedom down through the years. We also have grown to love and appreciate Liberty for their absolute integrity, excellence, and their doing things decently and in order regarding every aspect of the University. Of course, we also thank God for the legacy of Jerry Falwell, Sr., who stood for God, the Gospel, and righteousness. Liberty University, Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, and Liberty Law School have been great supporters by way of advertising on BCNN1 and all of our other sites. If I know the spirit of the leaders of Liberty University, such men as Jerry Falwell, Jr., Elmer Towns, Jonathan Falwell, Johnnie Moore, and Mat Staver, I am sure nobody in leadership or in the administration knew about the Theater Arts Department’s hiring of an openly homosexual man before it happened, and they are probably just as shocked as we are. At this point, they are probably wisely trying to avoid a major lawsuit that could blow up in their faces because of the actions of one individual.
Liberty University is a huge operation and, sadly, the demonic spirit of homosexuality has seeped into the church and into Christian organizations. The leaders may not be for it, but strangely, we have people in our Bible-believing Christian ranks who are sympathetic to the homosexual agenda because they do not understand the dangers of embracing it. Some of these good souls have the gifts of mercy, helps, and compassion, and some just have the “gift” of feeble-mindedness.
The editor of this publication is a proud three-time graduate of Liberty University. Some of the people on our staff here are either graduates of, or are currently attending, Liberty University. With that said, just as someone in authority at Liberty University quickly addressed and denied any partnership with Benny Hinn, someone in authority at Liberty University needs to quickly address this issue of an openly homosexual man temporarily working in their Department of Theater Arts to help choreograph a play. If all procedures were not followed or due diligence was not done, someone needs to state that and apologize to the dear parents who have trusted them and sent their children to Liberty University to avoid this kind of foolishness. If this issue is not handled properly and not corrected swiftly, the seeds will be planted for people to start slowly but surely pulling support from Liberty University, and everything that Jerry Falwell, Sr., and the wise sons he left behind, Jerry Falwell, Jr., and Jonathan Falwell, built could come crashing down.
We have taken the liberty to gather and put in sequence all of the articles that are running rampant across the internet for you to read for yourself. As many of you know, we addressed the homosexual issue at both World Vision and Morehouse College, and it would be unfair to World Vision and to Morehouse College for us at BCNN1 to not address this issue at Liberty University just because we receive advertisement dollars from Liberty University and because we are graduates and students of Liberty University.
**One special note: we took the liberty to look at the Patheos site a little more closely, and found out that the writer of the “Formerly Fundie” blog which is hosted by Patheos is connected with the Mennonite faith. We love all good Mennonite people, but we were somewhat taken aback at how hard this author was toward Mark Driscoll and how sympathetic he was to the homosexual incident at World Vision. However, we were reminded that homosexuality is running rampant in the Mennonite church today. His comparison of the situation at World Vision to Liberty University, in our opinion, is ludicrous.
Please pray for the Liberty University leadership and Liberty nation.
Liberty University Hires Open Homosexual Advocate to Choreograph ‘Mary Poppins’ Production
Liberty University, which is considered the world’s largest Christian university and whose motto is ‘training champions for Christ,’ has hired an open homosexual advocate to choreograph its upcoming Broadway-style presentation of Mary Poppins.
The university recently published an article regarding the production, which it celebrates as being the school’s “largest to date.” The article notes that Alluvion Stage Company, an arm of the university’s Department of Theater Arts, “has hired a guest music director, a flight director, and a Broadway choreographer” to assist with the presentation.
“We are very excited to have all of these guest artists join us … They bring a whole new level of excellence,” stated artistic director Linda Nell Cooper. “Our goal with Alluvion is for every show to raise the bar somehow; they have helped us to do that.”
The selected choreographer is Geoffrey Goldberg, a New York City-based artist who has been involved with professional theater for over a decade, and traveled the country for five years assisting with the production of Mary Poppins, among others.
Goldberg’s bio on his website outlines that in addition to being involved with productions such as Grease, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Yankee Doodle, Goldberg also recently directed and choreographed a new musical entitled Bradley Cole. An online review of the musical explains that “Bradley Cole is enriched with contemporary issues such as … shame and confusion over same-sex attraction.” It outlines the plot, where “Ian is secretly, repressively, in love with Ben,” although one of his female friends expresses interest in him.
Christian News Network
Liberty University Hires Openly Gay Employee: World Doesn’t Freak Out
Last week I pretty much secluded myself from the world and the internet after the entire World Vision mess had left me feeling emotionally spent. When I left, word was that 2,000 impoverished children had been abandoned by their American sponsors who refused to donate to a Christian charity who hired Christians who were gay and married. Now, that number has climbed to 10,000 children. I can still hardly wrap my mind around it all and while I wish the whole thing would go away, it is still heavy on my heart– because the kids are heavy on my heart.
During the fiasco, many conservative Evangelicals expressed that it was against their conscience to associate with a Christian organization who hired gays and that such a hiring practice was a deal breaker as far as charitable giving goes. The question becomes: will they apply that principle consistently, or hypocritically? How strongly do they really believe that Christian organizations/institutions should refrain from employing gays?
Enter Liberty University, the largest Christian university in the world, who just hired an openly gay employee without barely a peep from the folks who exploded over the World Vision nightmare.
In preparation for Liberty’s Alluvion Stage Company’s presentation of Mary Poppins, they’ve hired a high-caliber choreographer to help make the show a success. And, turns out that he happens to be openly gay and an LGBT advocate. According to the Christian News Network, when Liberty was asked about this they basically shrugged their shoulders and said they hire people on the basis of their ability to do a job, not on the basis of their sexual orientation– which is the correct answer.
Liberty’s official response to the Christian News Network:
“Director Linda Nell Cooper told Christian News Network that Alluvian/Liberty University was not aware of Goldberg’s beliefs about homosexuality, but stated that one’s “personal life” is not a factor in the hiring process.
“He was hired based on his professionalism and his talent like everyone else,” Cooper explained. “It never came up in the conversation, nor would it have. … We do not ask about their personal life.”
“We work under professional guidelines. No one knows anything about anyone’s personal lives,” she reiterated.”
According to Broadway World this has “outraged” Evangelicals, but I haven’t seen any evidence of that. In the days after the World Vision announcement their Facebook page was saturated with negative comments and promises to stop sponsoring children. However, Liberty’s Facebook page is just filled with students complaining that their having technical difficulties with the student internet.
The Edge is also reporting a nonexistent outrage:
“The decision to hire an openly gay choreographer that Christian News has labeled “an open homosexual advocate” for his support of marriage equality on his social media accounts has some on the religious right kicking their heels up in frustration.”
However, I’m not seeing any of that.
No mass outrage.
Doubtful that their phones are ringing with folks cursing them out, as many did with World Vision.
No threats to pull their kids from Liberty.
No churches saying they’ll have their staff immediately withdraw from online courses.
Doesn’t seem that Christianity Today is calling Liberty and bullying them into making national headlines over the issue.
All is quiet, as it should be.
Here’s why you’re not going to see conservative Evangelicals take the same stance against Liberty as they did World Vision:
Taking a stand would come at too high a price.
Have your kids withdraw from school? Well, that would mean finding a new school and likely repeating a lot of course work in order to graduate– a considerable sacrifice.
Insisting that people no longer attend Liberty? That’s hard– what Liberty does online they do on a massive scale. If conservative Evangelicals were to boycott them, there’s not an equally large online school to fill the gaps such a boycott would create.
Taking a stand would simply be too expensive and too inconvenient. Withdrawing child sponsorships from World Vision? Well, that’s easier. One doesn’t have to look in the face of hungry children a world away from the suburbs, and taking a stand didn’t cost anything. In fact, if one didn’t immediately transfer those monetary donations, taking a stand actually resulted in a net increase in personal cash flow.
Source: Patheos
‘Gay’ activist working on campus? Liberty Univ. responds
Liberty University is responding to a report that the chair of its Theatre Arts Department hired a homosexual rights advocate as a choreographer for an upcoming theatrical production.
The chair, Linda Nell Cooper, hired Geoffrey Goldberg to do the choreography for an upcoming production of Mary Poppins. Christian News Network reports that Goldberg’s social media pages also “indicate his support and advocacy for the homosexual agenda, posting ‘Happy pride, everyone’ in June of last year, which was designated as Homosexual Pride Month by Barack Obama.” According to that same report, Goldberg is also a member of the Facebook group Marriage Equality New York.
Regarding Goldberg’s hiring, Christian News Network quotes Cooper as saying: “He [Goldberg] was hired based on his professionalism and his talent like everyone else. It never came up in the conversation, nor would it have …. We do not ask about their personal life.”
Liberty University logoAn official statement from Liberty University confirms Cooper’s statement regarding independent contractors is correct. It says: “For example, Liberty has hundreds of construction workers on campus right now and has no idea whether any of them share the same faith.”
Source: One News Now
Liberty University Hires Choreographer Geoffrey Goldberg, Causes Stir
According to Edge On The Net, evangelicals are outraged by Liberty University’s decision to hire Geoffrey Goldberg- the reason being that he is openly gay. Liberty University is the considered the world’s largest Christian university and many are upset by the decision to hire someone Christian News labeled a “homosexual advocate.” Goldberg was hired to choreograph the production of Mary Poppins.
Click here to read the article.
Libery University is considered the world’s largest Christian university. Linda Nell Cooper, Artistic Director, told Christian News, “He was hired based on his professionalism and his talent like everyone else. It never came up in the conversation, nor would it have…We do not ask about their personal life. We work under professional guidelines. No one knows anything about anyone’s personal lives.”
Source: Broadway World
Liberty University ‘Shrugs Off’ Concerns Over Openly Gay Choreographer Assisting in Campus Production?
Liberty University, the country’s largest private nonprofit university, has issued a statement clarifying its hiring practices after a viral news report revealed that the conservative Christian school’s stage company had sought the services of an “open homosexual advocate” for its production of “Mary Poppins.”
“For decades, Liberty University has hired only faculty members who affirm the university’s doctrinal statement,” reads a statement from the Lynchburg, Va., school sent to Patheos blogger Benjamin L. Corey. “The choreographer in question is an independent contractor supplied to the university through a third party association and has never applied for employment at Liberty University and has never been an employee of Liberty. Liberty has never required vendors who provide goods and services to the university to adhere to the university’s doctrinal beliefs.”
Corey, suggesting that Liberty’s hiring of “someone who is openly gay and is a marriage equality advocate” could serve as an example for other Christian organizations, such as World Vision, pointed to a Christian News Network report in which the Southern Baptist-affiliated university “basically shrugged their shoulders and said they hire people on the basis of their ability to do a job, not on the basis of their sexual orientation.”
When questioned by the Christian News Network about the hiring of Geoffrey Goldberg to help choreograph its production of “Mary Poppins,” Linda Nell Cooper, director of Liberty University’s Alluvion Stage Company, told the publication that Goldberg was hired “based on his professionalism and his talent like everyone else.”
In its statement to Patheos, Liberty University confirmed Cooper’s remarks on its policies regarding independent contractors and insisted that it “has no plans to ever deviate from any of its longstanding policies and procedures for hiring,” which include questioning prospective faculty and staff about their doctrinal beliefs and practices.
Some comments from online readers reflected a concern that the presence of an openly gay man on the Lynchburg, Va., campus would “expose” students to “adamant advocacy of homosexuality.”
One commenter appeared appalled at suggestions that Christians and LGBT persons should not work together.
“Shunning gay people, forbidding them to interact with Christians by cutting them off is somehow honoring God?” wrote Eric Mccoy, an online student at the university.
Source: Christian Post
Liberty Hired Homosexual Advocate to Choreograph ‘Mary Poppins’ Production?
Liberty University recently hired an openly homosexual advocate to choreograph its upcoming Broadway-style production of “Mary Poppins,” according to a Christian news service.
The Christian News Network reported that Alluvion Stage Company, an organization partnered with Liberty University and their Department of Theater Arts, hired New York City-based director and choreographer Geoffrey Goldberg to assist with the production.
Goldberg is reportedly an “openly homosexual activist.”
Theatre Arts Department Chair Linda Nell Cooper told the Christian News Network that she was not aware of Goldberg’s position on homosexuality but added that his “personal life” was not a factor in the hiring process.
Source: Flames Daily
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