Re: Russell Moore on the Beck Rally

I used to watch Beck when he was CNN, he seemed a little less like the demented, nutty professor that he is now that he's on Fox News (which I don't really see as "news", but thats another issue). I really get worried when the masses start buying hook, line, and sinker into what one man is saying, especially in regards to God and country, and especially when that man talking about God is a mormon. I at least agree with some of what he says as far as the common sense "Hey, lets be good, decent people" ideas, since our culture is drifting away even from those simple moral standards. I only wonder what his goals are in doing all this? Needless to say, I appreciate the article you posted. I'm glad someone else is concerned with how many Christians are following and believing everything this guy says.

Re: Russell Moore on the Beck Rally

Dear Wyman and Adam,

I have linked to Dr. Moore's blog for some time now and almost always enjoy his observations. I especially appreciated his perspective on Mr. Beck and the recent events.

I am also in complete agreement with what you have both contributed here. Thanks for the comments.

Yours, Lee

PS: I gave up Rush some time ago for the radio escapism of sports talk radio. I admit it is not redemptively constructive, but neither does it make me want to puke.

Re: Russell Moore on the Beck Rally

Pastor Wyman,

"If you’d told me that ten years ago, I would have assumed it was from the pages of an evangelical apocalyptic novel about the end-times."

That line is great...perhaps it's time for Nicolae Carpathia to move aside for Glenn Beck?

Just kidding of course. I watch Glenn Beck once in a blue moon, and watched/listened to some of the footage from the rally. I think both you and Dr. Moore have hit it squarely on the head: the kind of religion being proclaimed at the rally, and one which I think has been tacitly held by some in the Religious Right for some time now, is a religion which, while pretty vague on apparently peripheral issues like the doctrine of the Trinity and the deity of Christ, is quite specific in more political and Americanized cardinal doctrines--like making sure teachers can lead their public school classes in a vague prayer to God which could just as easily be spoken by a Muslim, a Jew, a deist, or a Mormon.

I think many of the people in this movement mean well, and this is generally (though not always) the mindset I've encountered in conservative Christian circles. There's certainly good in it--I'm all for Americans putting more emphasis on family values, recognizing America's spiritual heritage, not feeling like having the Ten Commandments in courthouses is somehow a violation of American religious freedom, etc. While I would take issue with some things in this "conservative civic religion" (mainly the tendency to elevate America and its ideas to the level of the Faith itself), there is, on the whole, not much to criticize about what is said in this movement.
The key problem, I think, lies in what is _not_ said. There is generally little emphasis on important doctrines, and worst, no emphasis on the Gospel. Again, if Americans start exercising more business honesty and paying more attention to their families, then that's great, and I hope they do--but that's not the Gospel. Putting an American frame on "faith, hope, and charity" is not the Gospel. To simply proclaim the American dream, hard work, and liberty as a way of life, without pointing out our sinfulness, and without holding up the only antidote to our sinfulness, is simply to proclaim a somewhat gentler Law.

Much of what was emphasized in the Beck rally was good, but the Cross was entirely left out. And if that's left out, what do we have, really? At best, a movement to reform people's morals--and at worst, as Dr. Moore said, a partisan political movement.

Pax Christi,

Spencer