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Liberty University has agreed to a $14 Million fine for under reporting and concealing sexual assaults, according to an announcement by the U.S. Department of Education announced Tuesday. The unprecedented fine is the largest ever levied under the federal Clery Act. Liberty, which benefited from $874M in student loans, was accused of failing to report crimes committed on campus, discouraging victims from reporting the crimes, failing to properly warn about threats, destroying evidence, failing to keep proper records, and ultimately not treating it as seriously as the law (and scripture) requires. In one damning example of Liberty University’s failures, we...

(RNS) — The ongoing legal battle between Liberty University and Jerry Falwell Jr. has taken yet another twist, with the disgraced former president of the school alleging misconduct by its board of directors and attempting to ban the university from using images of his late father. In an amended complaint filed in federal court last week, Falwell Jr., who resigned from his post in August 2020 in the wake of multiple scandals, alleged that several board members, including former interim Liberty President Jerry Prevo and former Southern Baptist Convention President Jerry Vines, diverted university funds to their private causes. “During...

The Rev. Franklin Graham gave a chilling warning during the keynote Monday night at the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Orlando, Florida. He warned church members of “the coming storm” headed for churches and ministries. There’s a storm coming, and we’ve all got to be prepared.” Franklin Graham serves as president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and head of Samaritan’s Purse. Rev. Graham also said that “every demon from hell” has been “turned loose” in our culture today. “The world has deteriorated so quickly. We cannot be deceived, and we can’t be fooled. We need to get ready and...

No one can take Jerry Falwell Jr.’s liberty away. Even though Liberty University, where he was president for 13 years, recently sued him and forbid employees from talking to him, Falwell popped up onstage at a student event Thursday night and invited them to his nearby 500-acre farm for “the real Liberty graduation,” several news outlets reported. “I just want to invite all the seniors to my farm on May 8. We’re going to have the real Liberty graduation,” Falwell told the roughly 200 students at the stand-up comedy event at an off-campus house, according to a video seen by...

Liberty University is suing Jerry Falwell Jr. The school is seeking millions in damages after an acrimonious breakup with its former leader last yearLiberty University has filed a civil lawsuit against its former leader, Jerry Falwell Jr., seeking tens of millions in damages after the two parted ways acrimoniously last year. The complaint, filed Thursday in Lynchburg Circuit Court, alleges Falwell crafted a “well-resourced exit strategy” from his role as president and chancellor in the form of a lucrative 2019 employment agreement while withholding damaging information from the evangelical school about a personal scandal that would explode into public view...

Denver Newsroom, Mar 19, 2021 / 03:01 am MT (CNA).- Israeli archaeologists announced this week the discovery of several new sets of Dead Sea Scrolls— ancient fragments of biblical text that have, for the past 70 years, contributed to scholars’ knowledge about the Old Testament. The new scroll fragments, which the Israeli Antiquities Authority announced March 16, include the books of Zechariah and Nahum, both minor prophets. Dr. John Bergsma, professor of theology at Franciscan University of Steubenville who has written and spoken extensively on the Dead Sea Scrolls, told CNA that an interesting feature of the scrolls recently found...

BEDFORD Co., Va. (WSET) -- A few days after resigning as Liberty University's president, Jerry Falwell Jr. was injured in a fall after drinking, according to a 911 call obtained by WSET. According to the 911 call, on Sunday, Aug. 30, Falwell was reportedly injured and his wife, Becki Falwell, called 911 to report he had fallen down the stairs and was bleeding. "It was night time and he fell from the stairs and there's a lot of blood right now," Becki told the Bedford County dispatcher. According to the call, Becki said that Falwell had been drinking but wouldn't...

The ouster of Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. over allegations of sexual misconduct and other behavior that falls short of the university's code of conduct -- not to mention Scripture -- is another in a long list of lessons each generation of Christians seems to have to learn anew. In our 1999 book, "Blinded by Might: Why the Religious Right Can't Save America," the late Dr. Edward Dobson and I -- he a former dean of students at Liberty and me for a brief time vice president of Moral Majority -- warned about the dangers we had observed when...

A former Liberty University student says Becki Falwell, the wife of the university’s then-President Jerry Falwell Jr., jumped into bed with him and performed oral sex on him while he stayed over at the Falwell home after a band practice with her eldest son in 2008. The student was 22 at the time of the encounter, near the start of Liberty’s fall semester. He said she initiated the act, and he went along with it. But despite his rejection of further advances, he said, Falwell continued pursuing him, offering him gifts and engaging in banter through Facebook messages. “She was...

Becki Falwell broke her silence Tuesday on allegations of an extramarital affair with a Miami pool attendant while denying claims that her husband, Jerry Falwell Jr., liked “to watch.” Her comments come amid her husband’s resignation as the head of Liberty University after a provocative photo and revelations of his wife's affair roiled the evangelical school. In an interview with The Washington Post, Becki admitted that she did have an affair, calling it embarrassing and humbling. “I wish Christians and people would be as forgiving as Christ was,” she said.

(RNS) —Jerry Falwell Jr. the embattled president of Liberty University and one of the biggest champions of President Donald Trump, has resigned, Religion News Service has learned. His resignation came within hours of the publication of a news story that alleged he and his wife Becki had a years-long sexual relationship with a business associate. Falwell had been placed on indefinite leave earlier this month after posting, then deleting, a provocative Instagram photo of him posing with his arm around a woman at a party with their zippers down and midriffs showing. After that post, Liberty University alumni and former...

Suspended Liberty University leader Jerry Falwell Jr. confirmed to Washington Examiner columnist Paul Bedard late Sunday that his wife, Becki Falwell, had an affair with a young man they befriended and went into business with in Florida eight years ago. In a long statement, Falwell said he and his wife "forgave each other" — he suggested he had also "important smaller things" to atone for, quoting a Bible verse about visual adultery — and had decided to come forward because his wife's former lover had been extorting them for "huge amounts of monies" to stay quiet.

Months before evangelical leader Jerry Falwell Jr.’s game-changing presidential endorsement of Donald Trump in 2016, Falwell asked Trump fixer Michael Cohen for a personal favor, Cohen said in a recorded conversation reviewed by Reuters. Falwell, president of Liberty University, one of the world’s largest Christian universities, said someone had come into possession of what Cohen described as racy “personal” photographs — the sort that would typically be kept “between husband and wife,” Cohen said in the taped conversation. According to a source familiar with Cohen’s thinking, the person who possessed the photos destroyed them after Cohen intervened on the Falwells’...

Jerry Falwell, Jr. is one of Donald Trump's most vocal evangelical supporters. He did something foolish, posting a tasteless photo on Instagram. Now he will take an indefinite leave of absence from his presidency and chancellor's position at Liberty University. The original announcement by Liberty University has been taken down, but a screen shot exists on Twitter. Controversy has mounted for over a year. On September 9, 2019, Politico published an article by gay Catholic writer Brandon Ambrosino, casting Falwell in a negative light. In the aftermath, many people, including Liberty deputies, noticed "'an attempted coup' that sought to unseat...

Giancarlo Granda says his sexual relationship with the Falwells began when he was 20. He says he had sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell Jr, head of Liberty University and a staunch supporter of President Trump, looked on.In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell’s wife and the evangelical leader. Giancarlo Granda says he was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as...

Jerry Falwell Jr., the son of late evangelical leader Jerry Falwell, revealed Sunday that his wife had an affair with a family friend that sent him into a depression he described as “like living on a roller coaster.” The admission follows Falwell Jr. being placed on indefinite leave from his post as president of Liberty University two weeks ago, after a controversy surrounding a racy Instagram photo he had posted. In a statement sent to the Washington Examiner, Falwell admitted that his wife, Becki Falwell, struck up an “inappropriate personal relationship” with a Florida pool boy who worked at one...

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. speaks during the final day of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio Jerry Falwell Jr. agreed Friday to take an “indefinite leave of absence” from his roles as president and chancellor of Liberty University at the request of the board of trustees. “The Executive Committee of Liberty University’s Board of Trustees, acting on behalf of the full Board, met today and requested that Jerry Falwell, Jr. take an indefinite leave of absence from his roles as President and Chancellor of Liberty University, to which he has agreed, effective immediately,” the university said in...

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. is taking an indefinite leave of absence, the university said on Friday. In a brief statement, the Executive Committee of Liberty’s board of trustees said met with Falwell on Friday and made its request, “to which he has agreed, effective immediately.” The one-sentence statement did not provide a reason for Falwell’s departure from the post he’s held since the death of his father, famed evangelist Jerry Falwell, more than a decade ago. Falwell has also been a close friend and spiritual adviser to President Donald Trump. His departure marks a dramatic end to a...

Virginia’s conservative Liberty University today filed a $10 million defamation suit against the embattled New York Times for a “made up” and damaging story that falsely charged that students returning from spring break became infected with the coronavirus because the school stayed open. In a 100-page suit, with exhibits, filed in Virginia’s Lynchburg Circuit Court, the 49-year-old school also charged that New York Times reporter Elizabeth Williamson and photographer Julia Rendleman ignored “No Trespassing” signs to tour the campus at a time when the school was trying to keep outsiders, who could potentially be infected with COVID-19, away. The long-threatened...

Challenger Bob Good has ousted Rep. Denver Riggleman, R-5th in a rancorous drive-thru convention for the party's nomination. Voting in the all-day convention at a church in Campbell County concluded at 7 p.m., but party officials did not announce the results until after 1 a.m. Fifth District GOP chairman Melvin Adams said 2,537 delegates voted Saturday. Good said he received 58% of the tally. On Twitter Riggleman asserted that "voting irregularities and ballot stuffing has been reported in multiple counties" in the district. He added: "We are evaluating all our options at this time." As for Riggleman's allegations, Good said:...