On his daily radio and television shows last week, Fox News personality Glenn Beck set out to convince his audience that “social justice,” the term many Christian churches use to describe their efforts to address poverty and human rights, is a “code word” for communism and Nazism. Beck urged Christians to discuss the term with their priests and to leave their churches if leaders would not reconsider their emphasis on social justice.
In Beck’s words:
“I’m begging you, your right to religion and freedom to exercise religion and read all of the passages of the Bible as you want to read them and as your church wants to preach them . . . are going to come under the ropes in the next year. If it lasts that long it will be the next year. I beg you, look for the words ‘social justice’ or ‘economic justice’ on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!”
And to drive the point home:
Later, Beck held up cards, one with a hammer and sickle and other with a swastika. “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.”
Discuss
8 Comments . Comments are closed.Beck's the one who needs to reread the Bible.
There are countless chapters and verses about all sorts of things which fall in the category of social justice. The absence of such is the primary thing the prophets railed against and kings lost standing over in the sight of God. In contrast there are precious few verses about the things the Christian Right obsesses about, and even they are subject to interpretation. Jesus said loving God and neighbor were the greatest commandments, upon which the whole of the Law and the Prophets were based. Somehow gulags and the Holocaust don't strike me as manifestations of social justice.
I wonder if Beck will start selling redacted versions of the Gospels
for his followers, blacking out passages such as "Give away all your possesions and follow me" and "it's easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter heaven", as well as the suspiciously socialist-sounding Beatitudes, the parable of the starving beggar and the rich man who wouldn't help him, and a whole lot more.
Screw Glenn Beck
He is Limbaugh and Father Coughlin rolled into one, except with 1/4 of the brains and the fundie side of the Mormon Church whispering in his ear. In a decade, his legacy will be one of disgrace.
Glenn Beck is a Mormon?
Wow, somehow I missed that:
I wonder how he feels about Mormons for Social Justice?
oy
"When fascism comes to America, it will be draped in the flag and carrying the cross."
--Sinclair Lewis
Even us
The Sinclair Lewis quote is so striking because American exceptionalism is deeply ingrained: Of course fascism in those other countries would be bedecked with their puny, inferior forms of nationalism and religiosity.
Exactly
Nobody, especially an American hero of the skies, would ever curry their favor, especially nearly simultaneously with an attempted coup planned by reactionary oligarchs.
Not here...that's for other countries that would torture people, spy on citizens without warning, and invade other nations unprovoked.
Insane Reactionary
This is beyond politics, it has to do with change and the universe.
Each of us, as well as the entire universe, is CONSTANTLY changing. From a human viewpoint, these changes may be good, bad, technology (constantly changing) or "trend" type things such as men's haircuts.
Nothing is "standing still", so each person must adapt to a changing universe.
Social and Economic justice MUST be fought for because the extreme wealthy are so far beyond rich that it is unimaginable, and people who are not that rich need to have resources to live off of. If there was no measure of Social and Economic Justice, 98% of use would live in caves or crude huts, and live off scavenging, while everything would be owned by the 2%. In addition, the more evenly income is distributed, the more demand there is for products and services. This stimulates the economy.
I am not religious, but I say thank God for these churches who speak out for Social Justice for people in need. They are doing what is morally right.
« Blue Mass Group Front Page
Wed 8 Feb 2:26 PM