Posted on 05/15/2010 7:58:57 AM PDT by Colofornian
Glenn Beck is a darling of Fox News viewers and a must-see for legions of religious conservatives. So given his profile and right-of-center views, it was no surprise when it was announced that Beck would be a featured speaker at this Sunday's commencement at Baptist-run Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., the brainchild of the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority.
Falwell's son, Jerry Jr., is the current president of Liberty. In a statement explaining the invitation, he called Beck "one of the few courageous voices in the national media standing up for the principles upon which this nation was founded."
Yet if conservative Christians share Beck's political and social views, many of them also remain extremely suspicious of Beck's Mormon faith. Beck became a Mormon as an adult and credits his faith with turning his life around. But evangelicals generally consider Mormonism a "cult" and not Christian.
As a result, Beck's appearance at Liberty has generated an unusual amount of public infighting among evangelicals -- and creating the kind of controversy that is often associated with Catholic colleges, such as Notre Dame experienced last year when President Obama was invited to be the commencement speaker.
Ryan Begue, a Florida pastor who is in this year's graduating class from Liberty's theological seminary, said he was "shocked and disappointed" at Falwell's invitation to Beck.
"It seems that the leadership's decision in this matter gives the impression that it is more committed to conservatism than the Gospel," Begue wrote in the Florida Baptist Witness. "I have no beef with Glenn Beck as a person, but I certainly do with his religious beliefs. Why does Liberty not invite a Christian?"
Liberty University's Facebook page also lit up with the debate, while prominent Christian conservatives also weighed in.
"Alliances such as these are not glorifying to God, in that what association has God with false religions?" wrote John Ferguson, founder of the Voice of Truth blog. "The tangential dangers when the evangelical community unites with the secular world for the sake of social or political agendas are numerous because it leads to a dilution of truths from the Word of God, opens the door to give credence to non-believers within evangelical circles and ultimately leads to the eternal destruction of lost people."
A 2007 Pew Forum survey showed 25 percent of Americans would be less likely to vote for a Mormon candidate for president, with only Muslims and atheists earning higher negatives. But among white evangelicals who attend church weekly -- the GOP base and the dominant demographic of Liberty University -- the number rises to above 40 percent. In 2008, Focus on the Family, a leading lobby of the Christian right, pulled an interview with Beck over concerns that they would appear to be sanctioning his Mormon faith.
And during his 2008 bid, Romney faced a serious pushback from evangelicals who even opposed the idea of John McCain selecting him as his running mate on the Republican ticket, one of the factors that led McCain to finally choose Sarah Palin.
(Mormons insist they are Christians because they believe in Jesus Christ and consider the Bible Holy Scripture. But most traditional Christian churches do not accept the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints -- the formal name for Mormons -- as Christian because of the religion's beliefs on the nature of God, salvation, the Trinity and their scriptures, such as the Book of Mormon, and other texts discovered by founding prophet Joseph Smith in upstate New York in the 1800s.)
Falwell seemed to anticipate the risks of the Beck invitation when he noted in his statement that Liberty University has always held two end-of-year ceremonies -- a baccalaureate ceremony to confer degrees that "always includes a gospel message brought by someone who is in complete theological alignment with the university" and a separate commencement ceremony that "has always featured leaders from all walks of life and all faiths who share the university's social values and traditional family values."
"Commencement speakers," he noted, "have included representatives from the following faiths: Roman Catholicism, Judaism, mainline Protestant denominations such as the Episcopal Church, and even some speakers with no religious affiliation at all."
Falwell's effort did not forestall the controversy, however.
"We are not to put politics first and the Lord second," wrote Steve McConkey, another prominent Christian conservative, who is upset at the Beck invitation. "If this country is to have another revival, we need to get back to the basics, just like an athlete who has to go back to the basics to learn proper skills. We join Glenn Beck in many of his viewpoints, however, we do not endorse his Mormon beliefs."
There has arguably been some softening, at least among the Southern Baptist leadership, in their view of Mormonism, perhaps influenced by the "ecumenism of the trenches" -- that in a culture war, all social conservatives must stick together. That is part of the reason that evangelicals and Roman Catholics now collaborate on fights against abortion and gay marriage despite their historical cultural divide and their ongoing doctrinal differences.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints used to be listed under "cults and sects" by the Southern Baptist Convention, but today is categorized among "newly developed religions" by the SBC's North American Mission Board. Similarly, some Southern Baptist leaders, such as Richard Land, have referred to Mormonism as the "fourth Abrahamic religion" after Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
But as the Glenn Beck commencement controversy shows, even fourth place isn't enough to overcome such long-held suspicions
Whether he "subtly pushes" his religion or not and I'm not debating one way or another, an invitation to Beck is indeed giving a certain legitimacy to mormonism.
Who's addressing this from a "rights" angle?
Any church can invite who they want as their guest speaker. That, of course, is within their purview.
The larger question is: What reflection do they place upon the Christian community at-large by inviting those who produce materials for Deseret Inc. -- like Beck has -- which Deseret Inc. says on their very Web site promoting that product as a "missionary" tool to convert the very people Beck is speaking to?
And actually, this dove tails into a comment made by TheBattman in post #53: LIberty didn’t invite Beck to preach from the pulpit...
Beck's product I am referencing: the DVD An Unlikely Mormon: The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck (2008), which http://deseretbook.com (owned by the Mormon church) describes this DVD as a "presentation" where ..."Glenn Beck tells an audience of nearly 7,000 about his conversion to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...Glenn bears his testimony about home teaching, tithing, and the transforming power of the Spirit....Glenn's story will strengthen the testimony of any Latter-day Saint. In addition, An Unlikely Mormon will be an ideal missionary tool.
You know, THeBattman, it's common when speakers come to special events for their entourage to set up a little booth off to the side offering the acquisition of their products. I wonder if Beck's people would have "An Unlikely Mormon" offered up for sale. (And if not, why not? Why keep this "tucked away?")
So it's Beck the Lds missionary, eh? (Only he sheds the white shirts, ties, backpacks & bicycles & just carts around his microphone)
You forget, TheBattman, that a person's "pulpit" -- like Beck's -- isn't always something he has to re-mount. One of his product pushers just has to pull out one of his previous pulpit engagements -- like "An Unlikely Mormon" -- and voila! -- Beck's portable pulpit!
Nice to know that Liberty is pushing people who produce "ideal Mormon missionary tools." (Meaning Liberty is a tool in and of itself)
I’ll bet you a cup of coffee that Glenn does ZERO to rpomote Mormonism or his conversion while doing this speaking gig. Glenn Beck loves America ... and he is doing something no one else including Rush Limbaugh seem able or willing to do: he’s educating the masses on the very foundational principles of this dying Republic, in the hope that it is not too late to pull our irons out of the socialist fire the obamacommie thuggery is building. I will be watching very closely the event. I’ll check back with you later on this issue.
And probably knows how to use it!
I'm not doubting your word but could you give me a reference to that?
Well, why would Glenn have to promote Mormonism directly???...Liberty already has (indirectly)!
All Liberty has to do is...
(a) provide some Web site address for Glenn as part of promoting their speaker...and allow people to independently hear Glenn's Mormon testimony...
and (b) Realize that it (Liberty) already has promoted Glenn in a broader generic way by this invite!...I mean, come on now, once one Christian-based org sets a precedent, other Christian orgs will follow, domino-effect like...
...and then once one Mormon speaker has gained such elevation and Christian-sanctioned credence, well, why stop @ Glenn? Why can't Glenn become a circuit speaker on all Christian campuses? Why could they not get a whole series of Mormon speakers coming to all their campuses? Why not Scientologist speakers? Why not Moonies who share the same "conservative values" as Christians? Why not a JW who shares the Christian vantage point against euthanasia?
If similar "conservative values" become the lone measurement for invitees, that opens up thousands of new speakers for Christian campuses.
Ooooooh. Let me get my decoder ring.
You seem a bit looney.
Lol. You never pass up an opportunity to bash a Mormon. I’m anxious to see the next to become famous. You’ll be the first to post. Your sure you’re a Christian?
You'll get plenty of that from this guy. You'll notice 99% of his posts have something to do with golden tablets, joseph smith or salt lake city. lol.
Never mind in my earlier wondering...I found the answer to my own Q in post #102...so thanks for allowing me to stress it again. Deseret Inc., in promoting its Beck product, "An Unlikely Mormon," answered this query for us:
Per Deseret, Glenn bears his testimony about home teaching, tithing,....Glenn's story will strengthen the testimony of any Latter-day Saint.
Believe me, the Lds church, which owns Deseret, isn't going to tout a lukewarm Mormon as one who inspires their grassroots' testimonies and one who sparkles and shines about Lds "home teaching" unless he was the real Mormon deal.
Uh oh. That makes you evil too don'tcha know. :-)
Well you know me. I'm thinkin' you should try spending more time learning and living up to your own profession rather than wasting your time in seeming bitterness.
Well, I sincerely thank you for the advice. It'd be good advice, too...were bitterness at all at root. (Ya gotta know, tho, I'm not ex-Mormon...just from an ex- Mormon extended family...no need to be bitter...My Lds relatives are great people whom I love...to the point I'd love to see them all in heaven forever...)
I am sorry, my FRiend, that you are having so much trouble over this incident. The obnoxious, nasty, ridiculing posts of one ‘humblegunner’ make this now such a distatseful thread that I won’t even try to discuss this openly with you. But you’ll be getting freepmail soon. FreeRepublic does have its fecal floaters don’tchaknow.
Will it be an issue if Mitt Romney runs? The Mittster may not be actively attempting to "convert" anyone, but anyone with any sense needs to take a mormon cult member's speech with a hugh grain of salt, imo. Beck is mormon; mormonism is a cult. Major chink in the armor of character, imo. Many others see it the same. Guess you don't....
Trouble is.........many know Beck can make sense.........but then they find that he's in a cult. Ooopsie. Kindof creates some immediate disbelief, I would think. Hmmm...
AMEN!
“I also doubt that Beck understands much about the theology of Mormonism, either. I suppose it is possible that he is a Bible-believing Christian who simply does not understand the cultish theology of Mormonism.”
Well, I’ve met many a “born-again” Christian who will tell you they believe the Catholic Church to be a cult too. Frankly, I’m thrilled that I’ve been relieved of the burden of needing to belong to any one organized religion. I find the self-righteousness and ‘my religion is the only true religion’ attitudes sad, offensive and narcissistic. I’ll bet God does too.
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