I tend not to pay much attention to Glenn Beck and don't take him seriously but I am curious about the reaction he is getting to his comment to leave churches that preach social justice and comparing calls for social justice to Naziism and Communism. It sounds like this has backfired on him but on another level I am wondering about what the Christians on this board think of the subject of social justice and its role in Christianity. I particularly hope MadMax posts in this thread as I know this is an issue that he talked about a lot. http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/11/christians-urged-to-boycott-glenn-beck/?hp Christians Urged to Boycott Glenn Beck By LAURIE GOODSTEIN 4:51 p.m. | Updated Last week, the conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck called on Christians to leave their churches if they heard any preaching about social or economic justice because, he claimed, those were slogans affiliated with Nazism and Communism. This week, the Rev. Jim Wallis, a liberal evangelical leader in Washington, D.C., called on Christians to leave Glenn Beck. “What he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show,” Mr. Wallis, who heads the antipoverty group Sojourners, wrote on his “God’s Politics” blog. “His show should now be in the same category as Howard Stern.” Mr. Beck, in vilifying churches that promote “social justice,” managed to insult just about every mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, African-American, Hispanic and Asian congregation in the country — not to mention plenty of evangelical ones. Even Mormon scholars in Mr. Beck’s own church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in interviews that Mr. Beck seemed ignorant of just how central social justice teaching was to Mormonism. The controversy began when Mr. Beck said on his radio show: “I beg you, look for the words ’social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. “Am I advising people to leave their church? Yes! If I am going to Jeremiah Wright’s church,” he said, referring to the incendiary black pastor who led the church attended by the Obama family members when they lived in Chicago. “If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop and tell them, ‘Excuse me, are you down with this whole social justice thing?’ ” Religious bloggers, from the Rev. James Martin, an editor at the liberal Jesuit magazine America, to Joe Carter, at the conservative magazine First Things, took Mr. Beck’s decree as possibly an attack on Catholic teaching, and definitely an affront to Christianity. Father Martin wrote on the Huffington Post: “It is not enough simply to help the poor, one must address the structures that keep them that way. Standing up for the rights of the poor is not being a Nazi, it’s being Christian. And Communist, as Mr. Beck suggests? It’s hard not to think of the retort of the great apostle of social justice, Dom Helder Camara, archbishop of Recife, ‘When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist.’ ” Mr. Beck himself is a convert to Mormonism, a faith that identifies itself as part of the Christian family, but which is nevertheless rejected by many Christians. Two Mormon scholars said in interviews that social justice is integral to Mormon teaching too. Kent P. Jackson, associate dean of religion at Brigham Young University, said in an interview: “My own experience as a believing Latter-day Saint over the course of 60 years is that I have seen social justice in practice in every L.D.S. congregation I’ve been in. People endeavor with all of our frailties and shortcomings to love one another and to lift up other people. So if that’s Beck’s definition of social justice, he and I are definitely not on the same team.” Philip Barlow, the Arrington Professor of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University, said: “One way to read the Book of Mormon is that it’s a vast tract on social justice. It’s ubiquitous in the Book of Mormon to have the prophetic figures, much like in the Hebrew Bible, calling out those who are insensitive to injustices. “A lot of Latter-day Saints would think that Beck was asking them to leave their own church.” Mr. Barlow said that Mr. Beck’s comments were particularly ill-timed because just this year, the church’s highest authority, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, issued a new “Handbook of Instructions” to church leaders in which they revised the church’s “three-fold mission” and added a fourth mission statement: care for the poor.
Imo Beck is an abomination. I know we have some Mormon’s here and I’d be very interested in hearing from them how the Mormon church is, and perhaps how it should be, dealing with him.
I like Bill Maher. I don't like his views on religion but I like his political humor. Since he doesn't bring religion in to most of his discussions, I have no problem watching him. I think conservatives will feel the same way about Beck. They watch him because they like his political views and if he doesn't talk about religion again (which he may not after this), then I don't think they'll have a problem continuing to watch him.
The preacher handled this all wrong. He should have said, Glenn Beck has no limits. Now he is trying to make Jesus a part of his politics. There are plenty of situations where the first Christians abide by social justice in their community. Glenn Beck is calling our apostles communists, boycott him. Instead the preacher starts with, social justice is very much a part of Christianity and I want to suggest that we incorporate it more. Rather than ask for something, putting up a defense against Beck was better. And nobody would have been able to argue with that. What a wasted opportunity. HOWEVER, if someone else takes this preacher's thunder and turns the message towards a different direction, then all of a sudden, this becomes very powerful.
The guy is a LIBERAL. Most Christians have the same beliefs as Beck. Beck preaches Conservatism. The Liberal cause supports abortion and removing God from almost everything. These are things that almost all Christians are against so if a Liberal whack job calls on "Christians" to boycott Beck then he will not get much support. Some of you people ought to actually watch Glenn Beck. You might actually learn something.
Ignore these stupid labels (liberal/conservative) and answer these two questions: Does the bible teach "social justice"? YES or NO Do you agree that "social justice" = communism? YES or NO
Excuse me sir. I'm a Christian, and I can't seem to find anything in the bible that correlates with Glenn Beck's opinions. Or the Republican party's either, except for the abortion issue. I don't see anything that tells me God is a capitalist or favors capitalism, I don't see anything that teaches against taxation or paying taxes, and I don't see anything that advocates small government. I see where it teaches that homosexual activity is sinful, but I don't see where it says I should hate gay people, judge them or marginalize them. I don't see where it advocates tea parties. Actually, now that I study a bit more, I see lots of stuff where it seems clear that God hates it when the poor, downtrodden and unfortunate are treated unfairly. I see places where true social justice is defined as giving help to the fatherless and the widow. I see places where capitalist excess is frowned upon. I see Jesus telling me that I should love others, even if they're my enemy, and that I should not judge lest I myself be judged. I see Jesus teaching that people should pay their taxes. Perhaps you and a few other Christians are suffering from a severe case of cognitive dissonance?
Ignore what the title pay attention to what he's saying. <object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/CEo7EZpY0x8&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/CEo7EZpY0x8&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>
Does the bible teach "social justice"? YES or NO The Bible teaches people to help those that need our help. It does not teach us that the government should take our things to give to the underprivileged. It is our responsibility as individuals to help others. Do you agree that "social justice" = communism? YES or NO If your definition of "social justice" means that the government should take from some people and give to others through wealth redistribution then yes "social justice" is communism. If you give a man a fish he can eat a meal. If you teach him how to fish then he can feed himself. I have no problem with the government providing a safety net for people who fall on hard times but government should not take care of people forever. I can decide on my own who I want to help through charity and do not want the government taking my money and giving it to people who want to live off of the system. Communisn does not work because of human nature. There is a reason why communist regimes have to rule by the barrel of a gun to keep their citizens at bay.
First of all Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. I work very hard for a living and earn a decent salary. I have worked very hard for everything I have. The government has not had to do one thing to support me. I pay my taxes. I also give a lot of money to charity and have personally helped many people I know who that were in a bind. That is my duty as a Christian. I also do not mind if the government uses my tax dollars to temporally help people who fall on hard times to help get them back on their feet. What I do not want is the government taking more and more of my money and give it to people who want to abuse the system and get something for nothing. The more money the government takes from me the less I am personally able to use to help people who I KNOW need it. I seriously doubt you have ever listened to Glenn Beck. His main theme is that the way our country is doing things now is unsustainable. If our country starts running TRILLION + dollar deficits every year as we have under our current President then our country will collapse. We can not stay on the path we are on. If the country collapses then the government will not be able to help anyone and we will ALL be in trouble. Beck does not support any political party. He is always criticizing people of both parties. I challenge you to watch his show for a couple of weeks and see if he doesn't make sense. It amazes me that people think they know what a person stands for without ever actually listening to them.
IIRC, the only thing the Bible says about taxation is something to the effect of give unto Caesar what is Caesar's. That says to me that taxation is something that all good Christians must accept. I agree with you that it should be up to individuals to help others, but unfortunately there are many people who simply will not. Again, unfortunately, that means that it is up to Caesar to make the appropriate demands on the people in the form of taxation. No, by definition, communism is a form of socialism that abolishes private ownership or a political theory favoring collectivism in a classless society (look it up, I did). Nothing that has been proposed would either abolish private ownership or create a classless society. I agree with you. I believe that people who are laid off should have education options given to them so that they can learn a trade that will allow them to take care of themselves. I don't want people living off the government dole either, but none of that has anything to do with either Christianity or religion. And you are still free to give to whoever you please. However, the government exists and has been given the authority to tax the people to assure that society runs as smoothly as possible. If you don't want your taxes going to the government, feel free to find the Randian Xanadu you seek. It is not the United States and never will be. And again, nothing that has been proposed is, by definition, communist. Find another boogeyman word or phrase because that one is a lie.
Power hungry conservatives, insane men like Castro, and attention whores like hugo chavez, can learn a lot from those who preach social justice. The sad thing is that men with greater influence, than Beck, hold on to the belief that social justice is for the commies. It's frustrating, like watching ariza shooting threes. Then again, who doesn't know that commies believe in god. One of the best quotes of all time: "Those who surrender to the service of the poor through love of Christ, will live like the grains of wheat that dies. It only apparently dies. If it were not to die, it would remain a solitary grain. The harvest comes because of the grain that dies We know that every effort to improve society, above all when society is so full of injustice and sin, is an effort that God blesses; that God wants; that God demands of us". -Archbishop Romero-
Ironically, when Jesus said, "Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's", it was in response to a group of religious leaders in the way who were trying to incite him into taking a political stance on whether seemingly unfair taxation by an [ungodly] Roman government was acceptable. Sound familiar?
That's in several of the Gospels. Luke 20:25 and Mark 12:17. Romans 13 also says to submit to your government because it was put there by God. It also mentions taxes. Romans 13:6-7 - This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor.
JeopardE you are correct sir. Hey, we are brothers in Christ and Rockets fans. I suspect when all the "political" layers are peeled away our beliefs are very similar. God bless you brother.
