Mitt Romney to address graduates
GOP presidential candidate, former Mass. gov. announced as commencement speaker
Liberty University announced April 19 that Mitt Romney will be addressing Liberty graduates at the 2012 Commencement, May 12.
For 40 years Liberty has been training “Champions for Christ.” This commencement will mark the 39th send-off of graduates from the school.
Romney is currently the front-running Republican candidate for the 2012 Presidential elections.
“We are delighted that Governor Romney will join us to celebrate Commencement with Liberty’s 2012 graduates,” Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said in an official press statement. “This will be a historic event for Liberty University reminiscent of the visits of Governor, and then presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan to Liberty’s campus in 1980 and of President George H.W. Bush who spoke at Liberty’s 1990 Commencement ceremony.”
According to his website, Romney was born in Detroit on March 12, 1947.
Although Romney is now classified as a politician, he spent most of his life working in the private sector before he was elected Governor of Massachusetts in 2002, according to his website.
Romney, like many, has encountered hardship in his life, according to his website. His wife Ann was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1998. She also recently “fought a battle with breast cancer,” according to his website.
However, Romney has maintained strength in his hardship through his religion, as he advanced towards the 2012 Presidential elections, according to his website.
Religion has played a role in Romney’s life and political career, according to his speech on Dec. 6, 2007, given at the George Bush Presidential Library.
“Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running for president. Like him, I am an American running for president…A person should not be elected because of his faith, nor should he be rejected because of his faith … I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it.”
He continued, “My church’s beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths. Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. ”
Romney has yet to comment as to what it is he will be speaking about May 12.
Commencement will be Romney’s first appearance at Liberty.
This could be some pretty good antiseptic. It could just be the time for some open-mindedness. It could happen.
What with the customary evangeile antagonism toward the man’s faith, who knows but what _this_time_, the Christian world view will be showing.
That tired habit of the ‘Liberals’ to shun any posers that don’t actually toe the party line re: killing of infant offspring, feminism at all costs, buying their way out of a floundering economy, etc. It all goes in direct opposition to the Mirriam Webster meaning for liberal.
There may just be an opportunity for the Jesus dining with the publicans kind of episode. Whaddaya ‘spose?
Letter to the Editor:
Dear Ashley Bollinger & Editorial Team,
I’m concerned about the university’s choice of a recent speaker, Mitt Romney.
In my opinion, he is not an exemplary role model for students at Liberty University.
A student who led a group of his peers in an assault on a fellow classmate, pinned him down & cut his hair, is not someone who’s behavior I imagine you want to emulate.
I would imagine that, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, is a precept that we all try to follow.
Mr. Romney seems strangely lacking in this arena.
When questioned, his response was that he did not remember this incident.
Is this early Alzheimer’s or a problem with veracity ?
I would be very hesitant to have him as our country’s next leader.
I would be very interested in your thoughts as well as your fellow readers of The Champion,
Victoria
Victoria,
If the “bullying incident” is your only reason to question Romney’s visit to Liberty, perhaps you should reconsider. The “incident” in question appears to be a seriously flawed account. Read this rebuttal of the story by the alleged victim’s family here: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/05/sister-of-alleged-romney-target-has-no-knowledge-of-any-bullying-incident/ and here: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/47390916/, for example.
Bringing up a story from high school 50 years ago to attack someone is absurd, anyway.
Finally, the Washington Post (which announced the supposed bullying story) is being questioned as well, based on its dismal financial position and attempts to boost readership: http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/the_washington_post_cos_self-d.php.
Perhaps you are right about Romney, but sensational, defamatory claims ought to be based on sound research.
Now that the speech has come and gone what I am amazed by was the lack of questions surrounding Mr. Romneys beliefs. Are students of Christianity so blinded by political outcomes that they forget who they owe everything to? Mormonism – Jesus and Satan brothers; Angel Moroni words given precedence over what Jesus said; Jesus visits America. I am sorry, but as a Christian how can one scripturally justify voting for a whited sepulcher? Sure looks good on the outside, but… So where is the outrage, or do we subdue our Christian ethics/beliefs for political expediency?
Romney is running for political office, not a position in your church. His religious beliefs are not the issue, and we should exercise the rare gift we have been given and vote in any election we can. Doing anything else is throwing away the gift we have been given by God and the blood of our ancestors. It’s like the man in the Biblical parable who buried his money in the ground instead of investing it wisely. It is an appalling display of ignorance and arrogance.