Olson had agreed to go on the record with me. In doing so, he was not simply stepping outside the cultlike cave of secrecy that had come to envelop the institution he once cherished. He was also throwing away his job; he was risking his future in academia, his family’s financial security, and some of his closest relationships. When I asked him why—was blowing the whistle on Liberty worth such personal suffering?—Olson sat in silence for a long time. “There’s this apocalyptic feeling in American Christianity right now,” he finally said. “And I’ve been thinking, maybe that’s a good thing.
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