On Friday, I noted how Glenn Beck has been increasingly employing overtly religious rhetoric to discuss the current political situation in the country. Beck clearly believes (or at least claims to) that he is fighting on behalf of God against the forces of Satan. Last week, Beck announced a new event on the eve of his 8-28 rally, humbly titled “Glenn Beck's Divine Destiny.” The event, scheduled to take place at the Kennedy Center, will bring together people from “all faiths” and “help heal your soul.”
Continuing his transition from demagogue to televangelist -- while simultaneously portraying himself as doing the direct work of God -- Beck announced on his website last night that there will be a daily morning prayer on his website, titled “Glenn Beck Morning Prayer.”
Gathering for a morning prayer is certainly all well and good. However, the prayer quickly (and predictably) transforms into yet another way to inflate Glenn Beck's brand while suggesting that he is working on behalf of God.
After some technical difficulties and a few minutes of silence, Beck and conservative activist David Barton engage in some small talk. Barton then starts the prayer, during which he states that God “conceived,” “planned,” and “called” for Beck's 8-28 rally:
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BARTON: Father, we thank you for a great morning you've given us and a great night of rest, and we thanks for all the things that are happening leading between now and 8-28, 8-27, Father, Divine Destiny and Restoring Honor. Thanks for all the things that you've conceived and you've planned for that. And thanks for bringing the whole nation together around that concept, Father. Thank you in advance for those that are going to be there. Thank you for your protection over those that are coming - all the buses, all the individuals. And Father, even as we come, and as Glenn was just saying he was reading Isaiah. Isaiah says that you whistle and your people come running. And Father, we pray that you would whistle, and just bring people from across the nation to this event. Let it be a time, Father, that does, indeed restore honor back into our lives, back into our families' lives, back in the national life, back in everything we think and do, Father. We acknowledge this to be a time given by you, at an event called by you, conceived in your mind and your heart, Father - and executed here. So we pray your blessing upon it and your blessing upon us as we go through the day. Let us think about honor through the rest of this day, we ask in your name Father. Amen.
BECK: Amen.
Barton's suggestion that Beck is working directly on behalf of God with the 8-28 rally follows Beck attributing the scheduling of the rally on the anniversary of MLK Jr.'s “I Have a Dream” speech to “divine providence.”