Beck backtracks: Social justice in which "you empower yourself to go out and help the poor" is permissible
March 12, 2010 9:36 am ET
From the March 12 edition of Premiere Radio Networks' The Glenn Beck Program:
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Glenn Beck works for FoxNews. FoxNews is owned by NewsCorp. NewsCorp owns HarperCollins. HarperCollins owns Zondervan(publisher of bibles, christian books ect).
BTW, I don't need Nostradumbass [thanks, nerzog] to tell me how to practice my faith. I follow Christ's teachings which include:
What about giving to charity? Have you approved that yet?
I'm going to wait right here until you give me permission to act like a decent human being who understands he lives in a Society.
With that in mind, will they come out and enthusiastically support Mittens Romney in 2012?
Oh, thank goodness my evangelical church now has permission from this polytheist to go do what it feels is right, as led by the teachings of the Scriptures and the example of Christ.
Pardon me while I barf.
He said what he said and even his own church is condemning the CRAP he's been saying. I know people who listened to his entire screed who have the same opinions that the rest of us have.
I'm sure you will tell us all that this was taken out of context and that he really meant, social justice by the government, but that's not what he said. He also had compared social justice, the basic tenet of Christianity, to Marxism, communism and whatever other ism he decided to use incorrectly on that particular day.
He's stupid, Mag, and so are you for blindly defending him. Stupid or sick, I can't decide which.
LOL. If you want to defend Beck, why don't you actually provide those words so that we can have a real discussion about Beck's comments.
But for the sake of moving this discussion along, I'll do your work for you and transcribe Beck's remarks from the moment he said "Yes!":
If you think he "clearly clarified" at what point he believes people should leave their church, then that point is simply when any church takes a position in favor of social justice or economic justice.
Why should I leave the Lutheran church, per you and Beck?
His example of Wright is absurd, in your mind then. Wright never had any connection to the Chicago government and pushed social justice through his church. If you can find me how Wright advocated for the poor in a "big government way," please post them.
I believe my church donated to anti-apartheid groups in the '80s. Is that advocating for social justice in a "big government way?"
Explain what you and Beck mean. If Beck meant that we should get away from churches who act like the government, explained what he meant, brought up examples (other than Wright) and distinguished them from what he sees as the right way to advocate for social justice, he might have a point.
But, he is saying that social justice is infecting all faiths. Did he provide examples? He is calling social justice a "perversion of the gospel" please show that he meant that in a "big government way."
I'll wait for your responses which should include Beck's direct quotes.
How do you know he donates to charities?
As for your other points you are reading way too much into what a guy like Beck says. I like how you essentially discount any form of rationalism and will only accept what I say if it comes from direct quotes from Beck. The fact of the matter is that Beck is a religious person. He's not going to advocate people just up and leave churches for no good reason.
Name one project that Wright has engaged in that has encouraged class warfare. Just one. When Jesus told his followers the parable about the rich man having as much chance of going to heaven as the camel has to go through the eye of the needle, is that class warfare? Was he inciting people to go against each other? If Wright came up with that parable, you would call him a Marxist.
My church takes pride in social justice works, Mag. He told me to leave them. Provide the connection to the government context and we'll talk from there.
Please provide the connection to the government that you have been insisting upon. I want quotes.
That's a pathetic excuse and one I would hope you wouldn't buy if the situation was reversed.
MagCynic now: "It's not about quotes."
When you arrive at a consistent position about what constitutes the basis for your own argument, please let me know.
Beck's own words:
I understand that you believe that Beck is only referring to churches that advocate a specific kind of government intervention that he believes leads to Communism and Nazism, but that's an inaccurate representation of social justice. If Beck didn't actually mean social justice, then perhaps he shouldn't be using the term.
Social justice has the goal of a more just society. It's not something that operates at the scale of the isolated individual. Hence the word "social". I'm glad that Beck donates to charities, but that doesn't do much to counter the fact that Beck told his listeners to subordinate their faith to their politics and abandon any church that speaks well of social justice.
That was this Monday's show. If you missed it, feel free to listen to the audio yourself.
You probably should'nt accuse people of selective quoting when you are doing the exact same thing.
Beck was very clear in his statement on Monday that he was criticizing any church -- whether it was Reverend Wright's church or Beck's own church -- that supported social justice.
By the way, since you've been asking for Beck's exact quote on this point, I find it interesting that you're now insisting that Beck's exact words don't convey his intent and that we must infer that he was actually talking about something he specifically didn't say during this passage of his show.
Beck brought in the government schtick after he got in trouble for his stupidity. His uneducated, dishonest, racist rants finally got him in trouble . . . AGAIN.
If Beck had simply said, "If your church doesn't represent your faith, you should leave it" then this wouldn't be an issue. But what Beck actually advised people to do was to subordinate their faith to their politics. Beck is arguing that to strive for a just society is to slide down a slippery slope to Nazism and Communism totalitarianism, and therefore, if your church believes in social justice it is your political responsibility to abandon it.
I used to have membership in Americans United For Separation of Church and State (still occasionally read their web site), who are probably the primary independent source for information about violations.
They will 'out' both conservative and liberal churches equally.
I recall that one of the right-wing evangelicals had a bit problem with endorsing candidates, and lost several years of tax breaks, totaling about a million plus dollars.
Funny how you're not addressing what Beck said.
He has already lost just about all his major sponsors. If this boycott holds up and his ratings plummet as well, Fox may finally have to give in and give him the axe.
Essentially, it is a Darwinian perspective which totally rejects the idea of any commonweal and substitutes, instead, a cult-like belief in salubrious laissez faire capitalism as the single most compelling organizing principle of society.
If we eliminate from our minds and hearts the idea of "social justice", and "community" and any notion of what Beck and his soul mates sneer at as "progressivism" -- then, ipso facto, you devolve and eviscerate government activism to the point where individuals either take care of themselves in all conceivable circumstances or they perish.
Naturally, the strongest (and wealthiest) will prevail -- which is precisely what Beck et al want.
Beck has identified his philosophical mentor as former FBI Special Agent W. Cleon Skousen. Like Beck, Skousen believed that "liberalism", "progressivism", "communism", "socialism", "nazism" and "fascism" were various forms of "collectivism" (i.e. government activism) -- and consequently, in their scheme of things, all forms of collectivism represent a cancer which must be excised from the body politic if genuine freedom and prosperity are to exist.
For more details about Skousen, see my report at:
http://ernie1241.googlepages.com/skousen
So in 2006 when the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was given the Mother Theresa Award honoring "the achievements of those who beautify the world, especially in the fields of religion, social justice, and the arts", Beck would argue that they were actually being honored for forwarding the cause of Nazism and communism?
At least 17,000 people have written letters to him via Sojourners . . . that doesn't include individual Christians like me who have written to him and to Fox PERSONALLY and other groups.
He's trying to cover his pasty a**.
One thing you haven't yet explained is why social justice in a non-big-government-way is great but when the government tries to help the poor that's bad. I'd love to know what you think about this.
A second thing i'd like to know is whether you think Beck would want people to leave their church if their preacher makes a sermon about how the government should lower taxes for the wealthy.
what's worse, our obsessive indignation with this clown only drives his ratings even higher
Tears of a Clown:
http://www.indyweek.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A404507
So then, churches shouldn't host AA meetings.