Jerry Falwell, Jr., chancellor and president of Liberty University, has come out in favor of Gov. Bob McDonnell's plan to privatize the state's liquor monopoly, an opposing position from many other religious organizations that have come out against the plan.
"I support Governor Bob McDonnell’s proposal to privatize Virginia’s ABC stores primarily because I believe that our founders intended a much more limited role for government than what we have today," Falwell said this morning in a statement.
"In my view, Virginia’s private sector, its families, churches and businesses will be better served and protected by eliminating government sanctioned monopolies."
That's a divergent view from the Virginia Assembly of Independent Baptists, whose executive director has concerns about privatization.
Jack Knapp, executive director of the conservative, 500-church Virginia Assembly of Independent Baptists, said his group opposes alcohol altogether. And, the Virginia Interfaith Center, a liberal group made up of 22 denominations and religious institutions, issued a report, “Off the Wagon: Why ABC Privatization is a Bad Idea.”
Knapp, who has been a political ally of McDonnell’s, has said the the governor is mistaken in believing that sales and consumption can be properly policed if the state switches to a private system.
McDonnell, who argues that the state should not be in the booze business, wants to sell the state's liquor monopoly to the private sector to pay for road improvements. Liberty, founded by Jerry Falwell Sr., is the world's largest Christian university.
The debate over privatization of the state's liquor monopoly will be the subject of discussion at the Public Square forum tonight at 7 p.m. at the downtown offices of the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
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