Beck: Obama's not a racist, he just believes in an "evil" theology
August 31, 2010 10:31 am ET by Todd Gregory
Glenn Beck has recently begun to backtrack on his statement that President Obama is a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture" -- a statement he previously defended. As Think Progress reported, Beck is now claiming that he said what he did because he "misunderstood" Obama's "philosophy and his theology, which is liberation theology." Similarly, he told Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday that he "didn't understand, really, his theology. He's -- his viewpoints come from liberation theology. That's what I think as in -- at the gut level I was sensing. And I miscast it as racism. And really, what it is, is liberation theology."
Beck's latest explanation only makes matters worse.
It's important to understand what Beck means when he talks about liberation theology, the philosophy that he has distorted beyond all recognition.
On Fox News Sunday, Wallace asked Beck about his comments that Obama's faith is "a perversion of the gospel." In his answer, Beck said, "The pope even said -- this is Pope Benedict -- that it is demonic, not divine, when theology crosses into the line of doing that which only the divine can do. He was speaking specifically about liberation theology." Beck went on to describe liberation theology as "Marxism disguised as religion" and connected liberation theology to "collective salvation" -- a theological concept Beck has repeatedly criticized Obama for invoking: "Four different speeches since he's been president, he has told -- and mainly students -- that your salvation is directly tied to the collective salvation. ... I don't -- I'm not demonizing it. I disagree with it. The pope has said -- I mean, he's actually demonized it."
Beck's claims on Fox News Sunday notwithstanding, he has demonized liberation theology virulently, even going so far as to connect it to the now-infamous video of a New Black Panther Party member raving about how black people should kill white babies if they want freedom. On the July 13 edition of his Fox News show, Beck said, "[I]t is critical that you understand how people like the Black Panthers are not just an isolated group, and how they arrived at the conclusion that it's reasonable to kill white babies. It's called liberation theology. And when you couple it with progressivism, it can be deadly."
Watch:
Beck's attacks on liberation theology are part of his campaign against the notions of collective salvation -- which he has said is "evil" and can "lead to genocide" -- and social justice -- which he has described as "Marxism" and a "disease." Later in his July 13 show, Beck said, "The Black Panthers and anyone who subscribes to liberation theology are perverting the message of Christianity, and it goes straight to evil. It is the same way radical Islamicists pervert the message of Islam. But at this instance, they are perverting an already perverted message. The message of social justice and redemption through redistribution and collective redemption. There's no such thing as that." On his July 29 Fox show, Beck elaborated further: "Liberation theology is less of a religion than anti-capitalist political philosophy."
Another revealing statement from Beck about his view of liberation theology came on his June 15 radio show. After airing a cropped quote from Obama, Beck said:
BECK: This isn't about race. Race plays a role. But so does Marxism. More importantly, it is social justice, the social justice of black liberation theology that was drilled into his head with Jeremiah Wright. This is not just Marxism, it's not just racism, it is black liberation theology. All of the things that you see the president do and say, it is black liberation theology.
It is the white, evil CEO. It is the white corporation that are exploiting minorities of any color. It is the evil Jew. It is the man keeping you down. It is take it from them and give it. That's black liberation theology.
His policies, what he says. And you have -- this isn't theory anymore, he's doing it.
When Beck responds to criticism of his comment that the president is a racist by saying that he misunderstood Obama's theology, which is liberation theology, he's not actually softening his statement. Beck thinks that liberation theology is part of a belief system that "can lead to genocide."
In Beck's hallucinatory world view, it seems that embracing liberation theology is as bad as, if not worse than, hating white people.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chase-whiteside/new-left-media-interviews_b_699897.html?ir=Media
Sorry, your spin on religion isn't going to fly as long as you belong to a religion which your target audience believes is Satanic.
Me, personally? I think that salvation is between the individual and one's God.
Not going over as planned.
By the way, you ring the mormonism bell ALOT. Do you hear Beck preaching Mormonism? I dont. I hear him urging people to return to God and have heard express many opinions that sound down right Christian. Where are these expressions of evil theology?
I'm not the one ringing the "Mormonism bell," MM. I've simply been posting what I've been hearing evangelical fundamentalists saying. They are the ones who are hearing Mormonism and they are the ones who are saying that he is preaching false doctrine. I might add, that his attacks on social justice are direct attacks on the teachings of Christ.
Here's one article from the conservative "Christian Newswire" site entitled: "Glenn Beck Promotes a False Jesus"
and
Another which is entitled: Glenn Beck's Mormonism will Not Lead to Revival
and
An article called "Mormon-obsessed Christians add their hate to Beck rally.
and
An article reporting Bill Keller's attacks on Beck's Mormonism.
Now, back to what I was saying. Many evangelical Christians who are Beck's target audience are not happy with Beck's preaching on Saturday. They see Mormonism as a Satanic cult. THEY are "ringing the Mormonism bell."
As I said, I don't care . . . salvation is between the individual and his/her God.
Ask the evangelicals who wrote the pieces to tell you were you're wrong. I repeat, I don't give a rip . . . THEY DO! A lot. They think Beck is a Satanist. I didn't write any of those pieces. As for what he said Saturday, I've only seen bits and pieces of it and thought it was typical, offensive Glenn Beck schtick. I had better things to do on Saturday, like the overwhelming majority of Americans, than to sit and listen to this narcissistic sociopath promote himself. I had to buy dog food.
I will say, though, that Beck does NOT preach mainstream Christianity on his show, either. I'm a lifelong mainstream protestant, and I can say that I have never attended a church which didn't teach the social justice teachings of Jesus Christ. His attacks on social justice are, in my opinion, not Biblical in nature, but are simply the rantings of an uninformed, uneducated, dishonest, self-admitted con man.
Have a good one, MM. [Awfully invested in defending this charlatan, aren't you?]
Obama wasn't referring to religious salvation, which Beck would know if he paid any g-ddamn attention. All Obama means when he says "collective salvation" is "we're in this together". I eagerly await Beck talking about how "High School Musical" leads to genocide.
No, and that's part of the problem. Beck is definitely preaching something, and yet he's not displaying his own actual beliefs, i.e., he's being hypocritical.
I hear him urging people to return to God
Which god? The one of Mormonism, who was once a human being who lived on another planet, and today's Mormons are guaranteed that after their deaths they will each become a god with their own planet to rule? Do you really want people to "return" to that?
The more you know about Mormonism, the less it impresses you when he urges you to "return to God."
and have heard express many opinions that sound down right [sic] Christian.
Apparently your own religious knowledge is pretty shallow. But then again, so is Beck's:
Beck falls into the common error among non-Christians (Muslims do this, too) that the Pope speaks for all Christians. No Protestant, including Obama, bows the knee to Pope Benedict, so Beck's observation wouldn't make a good argument even if it were accurate.
Its development had nothing to do with Africa or black people or African-Americans. Although its origins date back to the earliest times of Christianity, its modern form came out of the post colonial experiences of Latin America - an experience wherein indigenous peoples where not only still being oppressed by the descendants of Spanish colonists, but by the U.S. business and political interests as well - an inglorious element of U.S. history of recent times and even to today.
The latter half of the 20th century saw these people fight back and their priests give witness to the second of Jesus' Two Commandments.
Glenn Beck is the living embodiment of the old adage that "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing".
Not calling you out, soze, because I see this a lot. But imagining "what if the tables were turned...?" is weak IMO.
Stop wondering, and just turn the damn tables.