Jerry Falwell Jr. and Charlie Kirk started a think tank and called it 'Falkirk'
A new center at Liberty University is opening to combat the idea that, among other things, Jesus was a socialist.
The think tank, called the Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty, was announced Saturday by its founders Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, and Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative student group Turning Point USA.
The goal of the new organization, Kirk told the Washington Examiner Saturday, is to “play offense” against both leftists and the dilution of Judeo-Christian principles in the Bible and Constitution in their quest to build support for a larger government.
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“The fastest-growing religion in America is atheism and secularism and with that is the rise of leftism and statism and, as people veer away from the church and veer away from the Judeo Christian values that built our country, people are more likely to embrace statism,” he said in an interview with the outlet.
“We’re in a culture battle right now where you have to fight and play offense, and part of this effort is to try and play offense against the secular Left.”
Kirk, 26, explained that the center hopes to respond to the question of whether or not Jesus Christ was a socialist, a question he is often asked.
Falwell explained in a Fox & Friends interview Monday, Kirk came to him with the idea months ago.
"It's sort of sad that we have to do something like this. It's a free service to the public. But it's just to provide basic education to the public on American history because so many universities have become liberal indoctrination camps, the public schools have not taught U.S. history in so long," he said.
"Young people don't understand it, the whole idea of the American experiment was based on the Judeo-Christian ethic, was based on the idea of free enterprise, limited government, and the idea that all of our rights come from our Creator, not from government, not from a church."
Contrary to the assertions of politicians such as U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and presidential candidate and South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg that Jesus was charitable and thus we should all be socialists, Falwell continued, "that's not what Jesus taught."
"It's basic history 101 that has not been taught in recent decades," he said.
Kirk added that young Christians are confused about how to make choices in the civic arena. Thus, the partnership with Falwell and the new organization will serve to explain the link between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and America's founding freedom.
The Falkirk Center for Faith and Liberty is being launched amid a documented decline in identification with the Christian faith among the young alongside a concurrent rise in affinity for socialism. Recent data also shows a notable dislike for church involvement in the political sphere.
In a Pew survey published in November, 63 percent of respondents said they wanted religious groups to “keep out of political matters” and 76 percent opposed churches endorsing political candidates.
An October YouGov-Victims of Communism poll found that 70 percent of millennials — who range in age from 23 to 38 — said they were either somewhat or extremely likely to vote for a socialist candidate. Fifty-seven percent of millennial respondents also said they believe the Declaration of Independence better guarantees freedom and inequality over the Communist Manifesto, compared to 94 percent of the silent generation, the eldest generation of Americans.
