Losing My Religion
Fox News icon Glenn Beck is comparing congregations that work for social justice to bastions of communism, and he is telling viewers who attend those churches to leave. Holding up a swastika and a soviet flag, Beck recently ranted on Fox News that houses of faith preaching justice are like Nazis.
I don’t know Glenn Beck personally, and I only occasionally hear him on AM radio, but I am saddened that he wants to split congregations along the lines of those who care for the poor and those who think helping others is really not their job. Of course he has no theological or scriptural basis for his position, choosing instead to characterize everyone who uses the phrase “economic justice” as anti-American. I could not disagree more.
I have traveled throughout the world participating in humanitarian aid and development projects and the one common theme that I have heard is that Americans are the most generous and caring people on Earth. This absolute truth may be linked to the way that families in the beginning at Jamestown had to care for one another to survive the treacherous New World. Maybe we learned it from the Virginia tribes who helped families survive those first winters. Maybe it is because the place of compassion is found in every major religion practiced by the vast majority of Americans. The origin is not nearly as important as recognizing that we are a kind people who still believe that just communities are far greater than those split by differences. Justice still has a place in my America and I hope it does in yours.
Neither Westboro Baptist Church, nor Glenn Beck, nor even our own Attorney General can take away from the fact that we — that is Americans — are a compassionate people who believe that loving our neighbors, who are cast in the same sacred image of the Divine as are we, is second only to “Loving the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind, and all our soul,” whether you say it in a mosque, church, synagogue or while you gaze up at the stars. In fact, I would say that you cannot possibly do one without the other.
This article is a reprint from LegisLink, a weekly newsletter during the Virginia General Assembly for member of the Virginia Interfaith Center.
“he wants to split congregations along the lines of those who care for the poor and those who think helping others is really not their job”
That is, of course, nonsense, a false dichotomy which implies that “car[ing] for the poor” requires support for big government. Forget that one about “bear[ing] false witness?”
What Beck clearly understands — whether you do or not determines whether you are a liar, or merely ignorant — is that the Christian charitable imperative has no government component, since government handouts, paid for with tax dollars coerced from citizens, are not “charity,” by hypothesis. Moreover, he understands those who cite “economic justice” or “social justice” to justify big government and confiscatory tax rates are not relying upon Christ’s teaching, but upon their one true religion: socialism.
Of course, socialism is neither economically rational, nor very just.
Welcome back, James.
After your refusal to answer my questions on earlier posts I thought that you might have given up on us. It is good to know that you are still willing to join us at the LearnPrayBlog.org site.
I can certainly understand why you think that I may be fabricating this story about Glenn Beck. That is why I posted links to the video and other news accounts. It is really surprising to me too that someone would have such a false sense of understanding as to think that social justice is not part of the Christian message. Maybe Glenn Beck just doesn’t know his Bible. I’m not sure.
No one can serve two masters, according to scripture. Who is the master of Glenn Beck?
Once again, Doug, remember that one about “bear[ing] false witness”? Nowhere do I say or even imply that you “may be fabricating this story about Glenn Beck.”
What I said is that you’re making “a false dichotomy which implies that ‘car[ing] for the poor’ requires support for big government. ”
Now you’re not only misrepresenting Beck; you’re misrepresenting what was said on your own site.
Subscribe to socialism if you will. You can even try to dress it up as Christianity (or Judaism, or Islam), if you choose. And, of course, since the Big Lie is inherent in socialism, tell all the tales you want.
Just don’t be surprised when someone calls you a liar, for you surely are.