A brief background if you are new to the scandal at Oral Roberts University. Near the start of the school year, three former professors filed suit against Oral Roberts University and its President, Mr. Richard Roberts, alleging improper use of Univeristy resources by Mr. & Mrs. Richard Roberts, improper participation by a charitable entity and its employees in an election campaign, and various other imporprieties. All have been denied of course, and the lawyers are busy.
Since the last post, the tenured faculty at ORU have voted to ask Mr. Richard Roberts not to return, the Provost let it be known yesterday that he would resign if Mr. Roberts returned, and Mr. Oral Roberts has returned to try to redeem a wayward son and protect his own legacy. But all is not well.
I have a great deal of compassion for the elder Mr. Roberts. While not agreeing with him on much, he is now 89, has recently lost his wife of many years (and remarkably for these days his only wife) and has been in poor health. To have to return now and take up the burdens of scandal cannot be a welcome chore. He may not be up to it, because, as was noted in prior posts, the Board of Regents is composed of such types as Benny Hinn, Creflo Dollar, and John Hagee. Mr. Richard Roberts has pled with the Board of Regents to reinstate hime, saying that otherwise he would look guilty if not reinstated. Others may make comments about this.
But the question arises why does one small religious university in one mid sized city in one small state matter on the national level? It seems that ORU has had an outsized influence on the national discourse for some time, though perhaps quietly. Most of the the far right religious leaders have or have had ties to this university. Ted Haggard is an alum. Pat Robertson and the late Jerry Falwell were associates of the elder Mr. Roberts. The threee muskateers of the prosperity gospel who are on the Board of Regents are mentioned in the previous paragraph. You would be hard pressed to find a single influential, far right pastor who had not passed through this school, or who was not affected by it in some way. Thus we have the epicenter of pride, hubris, greed, and arrogance cloaking itself in (so called) Christian values and reaching its tentacles to the very heights of power. It indeed matters.
That all Americans, including those of faith, are entitled to participate in the politcal process should go without saying. But to allow a tax exempt charity to use tax exempt funds to futher their political and religious agenda is improper. It threatens our democracy. This school has been the center of pushing for far right principles. This activity must be stopped.
P.S: To my fellow Okies, happy statehood day!