With all due respect to my colleagues, this focus on religion and God isn't anything new from Glenn Beck. His most recent foray has been a sustained attack this year on churches that preach "social justice," arguing just a month ago that "Social justice isn't in the Bible." Beck had to alter his message slightly for this weekend's event, both because it's easier to rally people for God than against social justice, but also because it would be kind of awkward to spend the day hating on social justice when that was pretty much at the core of Martin Luther King Jr.'s theology.
Beck's attacks on social justice have not gone over well with the millions of American Christians--including most Catholics--who consider social justice to be a key part of their religious tradition. But even the broader message of religious revival that Beck preached on Saturday is getting him in trouble with Christians across the theological spectrum. The most stinging criticism has come from Russell Moore, dean of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, who warns Christians not to fall for "vacuous talk about undefined 'revival' and 'turning America back to God' that was less about anything uniquely Christian than about, at best, a generically theistic civil religion and, at worst, some partisan political movement."
Moore's rebuke has been approvingly reprinted everywhere from the conservative journal First Things to Relevant magazine, a publication for young evangelicals. It speaks to the distrust of Christian conservatives who feel they have been taken for granted by the GOP and largely forgotten by the Tea Party movement. And in his references to "the scandalous scene at the Lincoln Memorial," Moore's critique is not terribly different from those Christian conservatives who complained during the 2008 campaign that Obama was presenting himself as a secular Messiah. The signs "IN BECK WE TRUST" carried by rally attendees still kept God out of the picture--they just replaced Him with Beck.
While some Christian conservatives are primarily upset by the too-obvious attempt to join together religious and political conservatives in a Religious Right 2.0, others chafe at a religious revival led by a Mormon. It's no secret that many evangelicals don't consider members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints to be Christians, and the Washington Post's Michelle Boorstein reports today that Christian radio has been lighting up with debates about Beck's Mormonism:
"I'm a little nervous about that kind of talk," said Janet Mefferd, a nationally syndicated Christian talk show host who said most callers Monday wanted to talk about Beck. "I know he means well and loves this country, but he doesn't know enough about theology to know what kind of effect he's having. Christians are hearing something different than what he thinks he's saying."
That kind of suspicion is also interfering with Beck's attempts to shift from his "apolitical" rally to a day-after attack on Obama's religious faith. After all, when Beck says of Obama "People aren't recognizing his version of Christianity" or characterizes Obama's theological views as "a perversion of the Gospel," he's using the exact same phrases many Christian conservatives do to describe Mormonism.
It's worth noting that Beck's criticism of Obama's faith is based not on any of the president's own comments about his theological beliefs but instead on the views of the former pastor of the church Obama left two and a half years ago. It's hard to divine Obama's views on liberation theology based on the church he used to attend, just as it would be hard to conclude that George W. Bush is a theological liberal just because the church he most frequently attended in Washington during his eight years in office was St. John's Episcopal.
If you want to see the America that Beck is urging to take back the country by embracing christianity, you need only read his followers' comments on this site http://wp.me/pNmlT-mI which is critical of Beck. They are completely blind to facts presented to them if they are contrary to their beliefs. It is scary to see the hold he has over them despite him offering so little substance or truth. Worse, many are Tea Partiers who are supposed to worship the Constitution, yet they have no problem with Beck preaching religion as a prerequisite for governing while the Founding Fathers tried to establish a permanent separation of church and state.
You are certifiably NUTS.
The only certified nut around here is you newfreedomdumbass.
newfreedomRod~.I called your bluff, and you have exposed yourself..Go away, angryman. You do far, far more to advance dysfunctional public discourse than you do to further constructive public dialogue
It's funny to see those like "E. Gray" and Amy Sullivan pretend this is about religion, when as discussed at this link the tea parties are all about the money.
It's hard to divine Obama's views on liberation theology based on the church he used to attend.Oh, no. It's actually incredibly easy..You just have to give yourself a frontal lobotomy and sit in front of Fox News for a day or two and you'll believe it fully..Rusty will be by any minute now to demonstrate.
You just have to give yourself a frontal lobotomy and sit in front of Fox News for a day or two and you'll believe it fully.
..or, you can be a bubble boy and live in your own leftist delusion.. Bubble is gonna burst in about 10 weeks btw .
RustFreep just had its surrogate do it, kev.
Conservatives didn't give up being conservatives because of defeats in 2006 and 2008. Liberals aren't going to give up being liberals if we suffer defeats in November. November isn't going to be the last election we ever have. I can say with a high degree of certainity however that liberals aren't going to turn anti-American or hope the country fails if we lose.
"I can say with a high degree of certainity however that liberals aren't going to turn anti-American or hope the country fails if we lose.".That's because the driving motive for liberals is love of country and the desire to always make it as good as it can be for all of her people. The driving motive for the right-wing base is always to defeat their (perceived) enemies. That's why they're so "motivated," i.e., "see you in November liberals." They smell the blood of their enemies and it excites them.
"That's because the driving motive for liberals is love of country"
WBAHHAHA! Is that the liberals new strategy to keep repeating this and that will make it true.
I am sure the returning Viet Vets felt all the love. The folks of AZ feel the love as do the survivors of 9/11. But of course its all wrapped in the Constitution. Something which liberals have used a a bird cage liner for years. They have attacked the institutions and traditions of this country.
The problem is it is only the delusional left who believes it. The country has had a full view of the "love" for 18 months and how the left completely disregarded the will of the people time after time, but of course the "we are smarter than those ignorant folks" just pushed ahead. The end of conservatism that Carville ranted about suddenly has come back to life.
Hey nothing but love though!
You are a typical A$$wipe liberal little boy kevie. Go eat $hit and die!!
newfreedomblog~.I called your bluff, and you have exposed yourself..Go away, angryman. You do far, far more to advance dysfunctional public discourse than you do to further constructive public dialogue
I see rustyblog is a as angry and hateful as always. Good to know you're still healthy
I do not know if Beck is being Heretical or not. To be a Heretic means one had to split from the doctrine of his own faith.>What was his beliefs to begin with?
For him to talk about things spiritual would be for him to also speak about Mormonism, which many people still feel is a slap against Christianity (or at least, if you will, a bastardized version of).Still waiting on the Bible verses, Book of Mormon quotes, etc. to which he refers as a basis for "turning back to God." Without something specific to point out our shortcomings, it's like he's telling everyone we need to turn back to bread.
Well at least he didn't promise a ten fold return on every dollar committed to him. Fact is he didn't promise anything, and he probably meant it.
"Beck had to alter his message slightly for this weekend's event "
.. smart people alter their message based on who they are talking to,
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