A Christian writer and pastor claims that authorities banned him from Liberty University Campus for criticizing the university president’s support for President Donald Trump.
Jonathan Martin claimed in a twitter thread that campus police escorted him off campus Monday night during a Johnnyswim concert and served him notice that he was permanently banned from campus, according to NPR. The ban followed a previous Twitter thread from Martin in which he called for a prayer circle and protest to be held on campus over Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s support for President Donald Trump and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Tonight after the @JOHNNYSWIM show, 3 armed @LibertyU police officers (& I think 2 not in uniform)came & escorted me out of their green room pic.twitter.com/eigyE1LjaG
— Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 31, 2017
This was evidently in response to my strong criticism of @JerryFallwellJr’s alignment not only with the darkest contours of Trumpism, but
— Jonathan Martin (@theboyonthebike) October 31, 2017
Martin claimed police threatened to arrest him if he ever set foot on Liberty’s campus. Falwell addressed the university’s ban of Martin in a statement published on Twitter, saying that while the university welcomes civil debate they viewed Martin’s prayer circle as a thinly-veiled protest that would open the door for the likes of white supremacists and Antifa to demonstrate on campus, according to ABC 13.
— Jerry Falwell (@JerryFalwellJr) November 1, 2017
“We do not believe [Martin] is a violent man but, if Liberty began allowing uninvited groups to protest on campus, the next group might be the KKK, the Nazis, white supremacists or Antifah,” Falwell added.
Martin told NPR that his ban from campus would only serve to draw more attention and support to his protests.
“If the desire of the Falwell administration was to somehow quash me and my involvement with the students, this just backfired in a severe way,” Martin told NPR. “Because to me it only underscores how urgent this work is, and how long-term it’s gonna be.”
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