May 12, 2019

Mike Pence Warned Liberty University Grads to “Be Ready” to be Persecuted for Being Christian

“Throughout most of American history, it’s been pretty easy to call yourself Christian… But things are different now.”

Liberty University/YouTube

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Vice President Mike Pence, in a commencement speech on Saturday, told the graduating class at Liberty University that they were about to enter a world where they “need to be prepared to meet opposition” for being Christian. 

“Some of the loudest voices for tolerance today have little tolerance for traditional Christian beliefs,” Pence said, calling himself “a brother in Christ.” “As you go about your daily life, be ready.”

According USA Today, during his address in Lynchburg, Virginia, the vice president cautioned students that they’d be asked to not just tolerate things that violate their faith, but to endorse them. 

“Throughout most of American history, it’s been pretty easy to call yourself Christian,” Pence said. “It didn’t even occur to people that you might be shunned or ridiculed for defending the teachings of the Bible. But things are different now.”

Pence spoke about how it’s become “fashionable” to attack people of faith—referencing recent criticism of his wife, Karen, for returning to teach at a private Christian school, saying they “faced harsh attacks by the media and the secular left.” The school does not allow gay students and requires employees to affirm that marriage should only be between a man and a woman. He also hit on the abortion ban signed into law this week in Georgia, lamenting that “a bevy of Hollywood liberals said they would boycott the entire state.”

The speech comes after a long week for Liberty University president Jerry Falwell Jr. Just a few days ago, Reuters revealed that before Falwell endorsed then-candidate Donald Trump, the president’s former lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, helped Falwell prevent “racy” photos from becoming public. (For more, in light of the report, my colleague Abigail Weinberg reviewed all the times Falwell served as a booster for Trump on Twitter and in interviews during the 2016 campaign.)

USA Today also reports that Pence has been invited to give another commencement speech at Taylor University, a Christian school, but the students there seem to have more mixed feelings than Liberty’s. More than 12,000 people have signed a petition to cancel Pence’s appearance, including students, staff, and alumni. 

Watch the whole speech here:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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