BECK'S WAR AGAINST SOCIAL JUSTICE

Glenn Beck has gone to war against social justice. But I think that the right in general has been engaged in this war for as long as I can remember.

RADICAL RIGHT
Beck's War Against Social Justice

Fox News' radical host Glenn Beck recently told his listeners to "run as fast as you can" if they find their church preaching "social justice," claiming it is a "perversion of the Gospel." "Social justice was the rallying cry," he argued, "on both the communist front and the fascist front. This is not an American idea." Beck even told his listeners to report preachers of social justice to the authorities: "If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish. Go alert your bishop." Christian leaders of all denominations -- from progressive Jim Wallis to arch-conservative Southern Baptist theologian Albert Mohler -- have challenged Beck's attack on social justice. Religious scholars of Beck's adopted faith, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, have explained that social justice is essential to Mormonism. Bread for the World is asking Beck to "[q]uit using [his] bully pulpit to spread misinformation and fear." Wallis has initiated a petition at Sojourners, his social justice organization, for people to let Glenn Beck know they are social justice Christians. In response, Beck has announced that the "hammer is coming" down on Sojourners and Wallis, whom he claims is a "Marxist." Despite Beck's threats, Wallis has repeated his invitation to sit down and have "an open and public discussion on what social justice really means."

WHAT IS 'SOCIAL JUSTICE'?: The concept of social justice runs throughout the Old and New Testaments and includes such virtues as "caring the for the poor and speaking about human rights," explains Pastor Michael Hidalgo. Social justice, the Center for Social and Economic Justice defines, "is the virtue which guides us in creating those organized human interactions we call institutions." "The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation," writes the Catholic Office for Social Justice. Social justice necessarily involves the government and the economy. As Peg Chamberlain, President of the National Council of Churches, explains, "one cannot claim to be following the teachings of Scripture while also saying that Jesus and the prophets cared nothing for economic justice and that a discussion of such principles has no place in the Church." The ideas of economic justice, workers' rights, and redistribution of wealth are "in no way foreign to the biblical text." There are certainly disputes among progressive and conservative religious traditions about the proper application of social justice, particularly between the role of material needs and faith. However, to reject the concept entirely is to reject the church -- not one parish or priest, but all.

ECONOMIC JUSTICE: Economic justice is central to communities of faith, who warn against economic systems unconstrained by social justice. The global financial meltdown was not just an economic failure, writes Center for American Progress Senior Policy Adviser for Faith and Progressive Policy Sally Steenland, but also a "moral crisis that exposes the fatal flaws of unfettered capitalism and rebukes the worship of free-market forces whose excesses are having brutal consequences for everyday Americans." "What is really broken in our economy," writes Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, "is that it no longer works for all the people." Churches and synagogues are on the front lines of providing financial advice to those abused by the mortgage industry. More than 40 different religious denominations and faith traditions are part of PICO, "a national network of faith-based community organiza tions" working "to increase access to health care, improve public schools, make neighborhoods safer, build affordable housing, redevelop communities and revitalize democracy." President Obama was once a community organizer as part of the Gamaliel Network, a "multi-faith, multi-ethnic, multi-political, multi-cultural" non-partisan group that works for comprehensive immigration reform, health care for all, and economic opportunities for low-income people.

FAITH IN PUBLIC LIFE: Glenn Beck claims his attacks on social justice are based on his support for the "separation of church and state," even though he is simultaneously promoting David Barton, a radical pseudo-historian who wants to eliminate those walls. Beck does not distinguish the difference between imposing one's religious views on others and acts of civic and public engagement motivated by faith. However, millions of Americans working for a more just society without requiring everyone else's allegiance to their own private faith. Instead they recognize the universal messages of healing the sick, caring for creation, and providing refuge to immigrants. Faith in Public Life is a multi-faith group that works for "advancing the common good in the public square," including the Forty Days for Health Reform project. Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good is promoting initiatives like Go Green for Lent, following the Vatican's lead as the world's first carbon-neutral state. "Now is the time for followers of Christ to help solve the global warming crisis," says the Evangelical Climate Initiative. Galen Carey of the National Association of Evangelicals has called for Congress to "pass meaningful immigration reform this year." Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform are planning a march on Washington on March 21, unwilling to stand by "as our broken immigration system rips families apart, and anger, frustration, and misunderstanding divide our nation."

-- americanprogressaction.org