Glenn
Beck has responded to accusations his recent comments
to be anti-poor and anti-church. At the same time Mormons have been responding to Beck saying he doesn't get the gospel.
The New York Times wrote about the comments and reaction.
ABC News also picked up the story with this clarification:
"Stu
Burguiere, executive producer at 'The Glenn Beck Radio Program,' sought
to clarify Beck's comments today. 'Like most Americans, Glenn strongly
supports and believes in 'social justice' when it is defined as 'good
Christian charity,' he said. 'Glenn strongly opposes when Rev. Wright
and other leaders use 'social justice' as a euphemism for their real
intention — redistribution of wealth."
LDS Blogger Jana Reiss took on Beck this week in a Beliefnet column. Reiss wrote:
"You
may have missed it, but social justice is a dominant feature of all
four of our key sacred texts, including the Bible and the Book of
Mormon. We could look at hundreds of relevant scriptures, since poverty
was the thing Jesus preached about most often, but let me turn your
attention to a scripture you might have missed: King Benjamin's sermon
in the Book of Mormon."
In another post on Ask a Mormon Girl blog, Joanna Brooks distances herself from Beck and
from the assertions that Mormonism has something to do with Beck's opinion.
"The
fact is that while Mormons may not use the exact words 'social justice'
(the phrase has Catholic origins), humanitarian service and social
welfare programs, including, yes, experiments in wealth redistribution,
have a profound place in Mormon history, life, and values. And although
we are the most conservative religion in America, 49 percent of Mormons
polled by the Pew Foundation recently said the government should do
more for the needy; 42 percent disagreed."
Beck has responded on his program and on his Web site to the New York Times article.
He says he's not anti-church, just against churches that preach what he
defines as Marxist-inspired social justice and church's that mix
politics and religion. He said:
"Now,
I wasn't aware that God had politics. I would like to again join all of
the liberals in suggesting we have a separation of church and state,
that maybe there's a problem when your preacher stands up and starts
telling you who to vote for, how to vote, and what the government
should look like. Now, I know there are churches that do that. I don't
attend them. I don't like them. You can do that if you want, but if you
want to make sure that God's politics aren't America's politics, you
know, that would probably be a good thing to check into those words of
those churches. Because I don't think God has politics. I think he has
the truth."
Beck goes on:
"Your
church is there and that's why I said I don't care what church you go
to. I don't care. As long as that church is telling you and helping you
be a better person, be more honorable, be more honest, be more giving.
But once that church starts to preach social and economic justice,
especially through the structure of a giant government, well, now
that's something totally different. Now, now you are talking about a
church that is getting involved in government itself. We don't do that.
We don't do that. "