I probably would do so, but only in a university setting rather than "preaching his socialist gospel from the pulpit."
I realize that Liberty University has apparently undergone some rather dramatic changes in its style of public worship compared to what it was like when Jerry Falwell was its leader.
While I'm not necessarily "anti-change" over some matters, some people will throw a fit if they hear that a church or school has ever changed anything at all compared to what it was like 50-60 years ago. I'm not that way too much, and even I get flak sometimes for remaining in a church where I've been a member for 20+ years because it no longer has a choir and no more hymnals in the pew. Worst of all, the pastors no longer preach solely from the KJV.
When I ask these critics to show me an example of how our church has departed from its Statement of Faith on Bible Truths, I get no valid response. IOW, all they ever really say is either that it's just not the same since our founding pastor began preaching in his coat and tie back some 40 years ago.
They seem to forget that our founding pastor voluntarily stepped down from being our senior pastor some half dozen years ago do to medical and physical issues (He was diagnosed with a form of Parkinson's disease.) to pursue a different style of ministry of overseeing an umbrella foundation whose primary mission is to coordinate various domestic and foreign mission outreaches in which our church had an integral part in either forming or assisting over these 40 years of our existence.
This is a calling that takes him away somewhat from the 24/7/365 pressures of being a pastor of a medium-sized church that sponsors a pre K age 2 on up to 12th grade Christian day school and one that has at least 3 other congregations of foreign language ministries than go on simultaneously with our own English language corporate worship service + a children's church from ages 4 up to the 3rd grade level.
As only a layman, I don't see that there's anything inherently wrong with some things a local church does differently than she did some 40 years ago. As I once heard, "As long as the MESSAGE doesn't change, the way it should be delivered shouldn't matter that much."
Anyway, if I'm not mistaken, even Jerry Falwell himself was condemned for doing such things as dropping "Baptist" from Liberty University's name, and sometimes he'd also invite speakers to speak at the University who weren't exactly ultra-fundamental born-again Bible thumping conservative Republicans .
Was he therefore a heretic for having them speak to Liberty's students back then? I suppose some people would say he was, but coming from a person who probably saw some minor methodologies in a little differently from "Bro. Jerry's" way of doing things, I don't see the entire Liberty University's student body becoming idolizing fans of Sanders simply because he'll speak to them.
I'm reminded that a lot of people supported a divorced movie star for president some 35 years ago. Yes he was a divorced man who was friends with non-conservative entertainers like Frank Sinatra and who was a union president some 65 years ago who had a wife who occasionally went to see an occult fortune teller. But OTOH, I (who never voted for the GOP's candidate for president before or since) liked him as president.
There's a difference between a person's preferences and a person's convictions. Unfortunately some people tend to make their own personal preferences into convictions and impose them on everyone they meet or else to them "It's my way or the highway to you!" :BangHead: :tear:
