Cornerstone University president Gerson Moreno-Riaño has a piece at The Washington Times titled “America has an unending lust for bloodshed. We need divine intervention.” Read it here.
Gerson Moreno-Riaño calls for an end to American “blood lust”:
James Fenimore Cooper’s classic works about the American frontier, “The Leatherstocking Tales,” begin with the last work in the series, the prequel entitled “The Deerslayer” (1841). Amidst all the praise and criticism of Mr. Cooper’s tales, it was a simple observation made about “The Deerslayer” in 1923 that most aptly describes these tales: “The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.”
The horrifying and deadly events of this past weekend’s political rally for former President Donald Trump are a terrifying reminder that our American soul is still a killer. It is in need of melting.
Amidst all the exceptional things about America, we must not delude ourselves into thinking that bloodshed is not a wicked part of the American experiment. American history is replete with bloodshed. The events in Butler, Pennsylvania are a painful reminder that We the People are a broken Union, a broken Union that needs saving and healing.
We have become all too familiar and accepting of bloodshed. The killing of our neighbors has become commonplace. We too readily expect the killing of our enemies. And given the rise of suicides and medically assisted death in America, we are becoming more accepting with the killing of ourselves.
I am convinced that American bloodlust – the hardening of the American soul into killer status – is not something that we can stop. No amount of calls for it to stop, and no therapeutic tweets or press conferences calling for civility will bring a cessation of hostilities. From the petty and divisive to our vindictive vendettas, Americans are so deeply polarized that we foster discussions filled with what Bloomberg recently called “exaggerations and lies that are then amplified via social media.” We all seem to be addicted to the destruction of others and ourselves, either via words or actions – violent or otherwise. We cannot save ourselves from our other- and self-destructiveness. We need the healing that only the Divine Almighty can give to us.
America is undergoing a spiritual crisis. We all know it. We all feel it. But we are afraid to say it because we fear public ridicule. It is time to be honest – we need a spiritual reawakening and revival to heal the deep wounds of our sins and wickedness as a people.
Read the entire piece here.
The broad sentiments of Gerson Moreno-Riaño’s article are commendable. We can agree with his call to end America’s bloodshed. “Blood lust” has been an all-too frequent occurrence in American history,. Praying for spiritual renewal is a good thing.
But does this critique of “American bloodlust” apply to how he has led Cornerstone University? For example, Gerson Moreno-Riaño’ invited conspiracy theorist Eric Metaxas to Cornerstone in Fall 2023. Metaxas has argued that “we need to fight to the death – to the last drop of blood” to secure a second Trump term. Moreno-Riaño has also endorsed the idea that one of the core moral principles to be taught in universities is “the willingness to fight on behalf of one’s country.” He has increased military events on the Cornerstone campus, including a “‘Touch a Truck Show’ (where students could view military and emergency vehicles up close!), a veteran’s’ chapel, and the granting of the “Alumnus of the Year” award to a high-ranked military general. Are these sentiments in line with his apparent despair about the normalization of blood shedding in American life?
The second half of Moreno-Riaño’s essay may reveal his agenda more clearly. “I am convinced that American bloodlust – the hardening of the American soul into killer status – is not something that we can stop,” he writes. Only prayer and revival, he argues, can bring change. This refusal to consider legislative or concrete steps to reduce violence is in line with the “thoughts and prayers” sentiment that undergirds the conservative opposition to gun control laws. This also sounds a lot like Tucker Carlson’s “America First” foreign policy proposals at Monday’s Heritage Foundation (Project 2025) “Policy Fest” in Milwaukee. Carlson, who opposes the shedding of blood in Ukraine and the Middle East, argued that most American politicians only care about war: “They want the power to kill,” he said. Carlson believes that Donald Trump has stood in the way of the killing, and when he wins in November he will “roll back this insanity.”
Given the current crisis at Cornerstone University, some of the observations are particularly ironic. In particular, notice the section where Moreno-Riaño argues that “bloodlust” extends to more everyday attitudes: “From the petty and divisive to our vindictive vendettas, Americans are so deeply polarized that we foster discussions filled with what Bloomberg recently called ‘exaggerations and lies that are then amplified via social media.’ We all seem to be addicted to the destruction of others and ourselves, either via words or actions – violent or otherwise. We cannot save ourselves from our other- and self-destructiveness. We need the healing that only the Divine Almighty can give to us.”
It is startling that Moreno-Riaño would decry “petty and divisive” actions when the University has removed and cropped articles about terminated professors from its website. It is also odd that he would so easily decry “exaggerations and lies…amplified via social media,” when there is a widespread critique of the University’s own exaggerations and misleading statements about student numbers and program elimination. It is also perplexing that Moreno-Riaño would lament the deep polarization of American society, when he has chosen to publish in a newspaper–The Washington Times–known for its strongly polarizing viewpoints, has appointed conspiracy theorists to speak to students, and has signed a document claiming that George Soros is attempting to build a global elite who will work to replace national identity with a soulless globalism through his sponsorship of radical Islamists, abortionists, and immigrants.
It seems like Moreno-Riaño is leading Cornerstone University in what might be called a “MAGA evangelical” direction. His op-ed on the assassination attempt of Trump rings hollow.
Christian Colleges have so much potential to bring hope and healing to the United States. We should all be saddened by what is happening at Cornerstone.