Glenn Beck

The first time I came across Glenn Beck on the radio I thought he was entertaining. After listening to him for about a week I realized that his whole schtick is built around hysteria and fear-mongering. He continuously makes outrageous claims of impending doom in order to keep his listeners titillated, knowing full well that they will forget that his previous alarmist prognostications never actually materialized.

At the time I was listening to him he was going on about an impending Islamic Jihadist attack on American elementary schools. Of course it didn't happen. I can't listen to him anymore. The calculated disingenuity is just so obvious to me.

Now Beck is attempting to divide the Christian church. Recently, he told his listeners to leave their churches if their churches teach about social justice. That's right, in Beck's view--and I quote: "Social justice and economic justice are code words." Wow. Social justice--you know, feeding the poor, speaking up for the oppressed, seeking equity--all that Jesus stuff. Code words for, according to Beck, Communism and Nazism. Run away, says Beck. Leave your churches.

Apparently Beck, a Mormon, believes that he knows better than your faith tradition.

You can here the clip here: http://patrolmag.com/mp3/beck.mp3

In the same broadcast, he went on to say, "Communists are on the left, and the Nazis are on the right. That's what people say. But they both subscribe to one philosophy, and they flew one banner. . . . But on each banner, read the words, here in America: 'social justice.' They talked about economic justice, rights of the workers, redistribution of wealth, and surprisingly, democracy." Apparently, in Beck's view these things are evil.

I'm picturing Glenn Beck 2,000 years ago in Judea. I can easily see him being one of Jesus' harshest critics. "All that love-talk that Jesus uses--it's code! He really wants to bring socialism! Giving to the poor? Bah! That's redistribution of wealth! Avoid Jesus at all cost! His teachings are dangerous!"