I understand there is a lot of negative reputation based on the religious background and teachings of the school but I have been unable to find any unbiased opinions of Liberty based on their academic and professional reputation.   I am active duty military looking for a flexible Masters program in International Relations or a similar field, and liberty fits the bill. The program would be a MA in Public Policy for interest in a state department job some other governmental capacity once I retire from the military.

I would like to hear from professionals and employers of the Liberty reputation in professional circles. Is is possible to acknowledge a Liberty degree without the religious connotations?

ETA: I am not some ultra conservative Christian. I am drawn to Liberty solely for the program, scheduling, and Tuition Assistance benefits for military.

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1567033_Do_employers_take_degrees_from_Liberty_University_seriously_.html

I graduated from Liberty (online) a year ago and had no issues finding a job. Also FWIW...the actual diplomas make no reference it's an online degree....it just says Liberty University.

I recommend it based of the convenience and price, and if you agree/are ok with their views....

Completely depends on what you plan on doing with your degree/what kind of degree you got.

After reading this http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/05/02/liberty-university-offers-scholarship-to-n-c-high-school-student-arrested-for-accidentally-leaving-gun-in-his-truck/ about Liberty U, I'm impressed!

About a year ago I was looking at switching jobs and had an interview with a recruiter from a different company. I mentioned that I knew not having my BA/BS was a short coming on my resume and that I was strongly considering completing my degree via Liberty but I had reservations of their mandatory religion class. He told me that Liberty had an excellent reputation in my field and that I should pursue it.

I ended up staying at my job until this fall and I am a full time student at another institution.

Ask professionals in your field or in the field you will be switching to in order to see how a degree from Liberty is viewed by those professionals.

This is the biggest thing that makes Liberty kosher for their online program.  Online students make up the vast majority of their student base, but the fact that they have a well established physical campus & are fully accredited gives them credibility.

I will say that the quiet consensus on their online religion program is that it adequately prepares one for ministry, but leaves one at a disadvantage if they decide to pursue a higher level degree at another school.  I don't know if that same view is held by academics in other fields.

I was at this past commencement at Liberty and they had that young man in attendance, and they made it a point to mention him and his story and their stance during the commencement. I was proud to be graduating from a university with that stance to say the least.

In my opinion, getting an online degree from LU would be more impressive to a potential employer than most of the other online programs that I have seen. I work in Lynchburg as a structural engineer and have worked on several projects at LU in the last few years. The university is growing at a remarkable rate probably due to the massive amount of people that are in their online programs, and there are numerous buildings under construction.

I had to do some work down around Lynchburg VA and was put up in a hotel right off the campus.
I did some jogging around the campus, they have a nice place.

I ended up meeting a few nice young ladies during my stay. They were fun.

Unimpressed. But my sample size is 1.

Did Ravi Zacharias speak at that commencement?

eta: n/m it appears to have been a semester earlier: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN8pQPbxHD4

I am not really concerned with the online stigma as it is really my only option while in the military. I am worried about a future employer associating a Liberty masters with me being some kind of crazy uber-religious conservative and possibly disqualifying me from employment based on personal or religious opinions. like I said, every review of the quality of a Liberty degree always brings up the religious side of it and hardly touches on the academic or professional quality. I want to gauge if that is the perception of the average employer or just the libtards that feel the need to blog about shit like that.

Well, if it come to that you will get well paid since employers can't do that.

The only reason I mentioned their religion program is because I did a Higher Ed Admin seminar as a part of my PHD & it was discussed during a conversation about online programs.

Honestly, my experience with employers is that they'd likely be more concerned about how much coursework was done online as opposed to the religion aspect.

ETA - if you're that concerned, ask their admission dept for their graduate placement numbers.  Those numbers don't give a crystal clear picture of whats going on after graduation, but it will show a general trend.