What the hell is wrong with you? Seriously... what is it? Why is my opinion about a socio-political pundit who has the "third most listened to show in America" such a big deal with you? I thought he was just another commentator to you... but any possible criticism (actual or otherwise) and you are rabid as the dog shot by Atticus Finch. What the hell is up with that? Honestly, I want to know...
""Further afield" as compared to what or who exactly? I mean that, please answer."
What I mean is, more "further afield" than I... a paying subscriber to satellite radio who is tuned into the "conservative talk" channel on my dial... prefers, that's who. I'm driving in as he is getting full-bore into his monologue rant, and lately (since June, anyway) that rant has centered around his call for America to "rediscover" its Christian roots... and I usually can't frigging wait for his rant to end, so he can move into the "second hour" and do the commentary on the latest news with Pat and Stu... which is by FAR the best part of his program, bar none.
I'm a Catholic, and as poor as I am at practicing that faith, I still try and practice it... so I appreciate anyone that can make that kind of call to personal holiness in their daily life, and Beck does it better than most lay people I know. None the less, if I wanted to listen to "personal calls to holiness"... I'd listen to the Catholic Channel (Sirius 159), not Sirius Patriot (Sirius 144).
Now, you can say that I am able to change the channel any time I want... and often I do, when he is really turning it on... but I like his political commentary far more than I like his theological commentary. I'm not saying he's WRONG, either... Mormon or not, he obviously has some Catholic in him somewhere, because his "theology" is founded in Catholicism, there is no question there... I'm saying it isn't what I want to listen to all the time. If he can lose my attention, imagine what the rest of America must think...
Clear enough? I'm paying to listen to his political commentary on Sirius Patriot... so more with the politics and less with the theology. If everyone else is fine with the theology, then I'll tune out and his ratings will climb even higher without me. My loss, no one elses.
"Now this is where you really start to hack me off..."
When I said "...having his faith mocked by the Left...", I meant his personal faith, not his denomination. The only person that has mentioned his Mormonism less than Beck is ME! I didn't bring it up in the last post (or any other, that I recall) because it doesn't matter a lick to me what the sign says outside his church, temple, synagogue, or mosque... I simply don't want to hear the call to personal holiness from a political pundit!!! I want someone that is going to connect to the average Joe in America and show them the folly of liberal ideals and the fundamental truth in traditional conservative values and views. I want to hear someone confront the liberal bias, attack the lies, defy the hypocrisy... that's what I want.
"Furthermore, he DOES NOT "mock" or otherwise make fun of other religions, or the lack thereof, not even the President's. "
To quote Dwight Schrute (my son's favorite TV character): FALSE!!!!!!
On at least two occasions in the last two weeks, Beck, Pat and Stu have all had some SERIOUSLY funny dialogue at the President's expense... specifically because he has gone "back to church" over this last month (presumably to combat the fact that more than 25% of America actually thinks he's a Muslim) and has injected so much "Jesus" in his language over the last two to three weeks. They were mocking the man mercilessly... but not spitefully or hatefully. They were sarcastically demonstrating the hypocrisy of the Left (and the Obama White House) through their own words and actions, and were doing a very good job of it.
He hasn't "made fun of" other religions that I am aware of, no... but he typically derides both "liberation theology" and "Islam" as false religions fairly often. I have done the same thing, no doubt about it... but I'm not talking on live radio to the third largest listening audience in the US, either. Beck is the one that brings "theology" to the table, and that is his prerogative (although I'm not supposed to say that anymore... I forgot)... but when he does, he makes ME (no one else that I know of, though... I'm alone in the car) want to ask him to defend HIS faith as strongly as he is asking others to defend theirs. THIS is a slippery slope if ever there was one... I've never met a Mormon that could adequately explain the questions I have about the LDS faith, but I have always put my concerns to the side in light of the traditional, family-centered, very charitable nature of 99.99% of all Mormons that I have ever met (including Ryan). Still, if he can put someone else's faith under the microscope, then I'd love to talk to him about HIS faith... AND his denomination, in depth and with no limits.
"For the love of Pete, he has never even COME CLOSE to expressing "fears" that a practicing Muslim, Christian (of any sect), Jew, or atheist would assume the Oval Office."
Again... FALSE!!!!
He has REPEATEDLY said that the thought of a "liberation theology" adherent in the White House is (paraphrasing here) "terrifying" to him. He does not only POINT OUT his "liberation theology" outlook found in Obama's own words... he shows where he thinks that outlook will lead Obama, and the country, should the chance ever arise. Again, my friend, you are not READING what I have written, you are READING what you THINK I AM SAYING. No, Beck did not refer to fears of Muslims or Jews or Atheists in the White House... he expressed fears and concerns based on Obama's association with and twenty year history in a "liberation theology" church by critiquing the "creed" of that church. Again, my friend... I'm not saying its wrong for him to do this... only that I don't want to hear it on a political talk program that I am paying $24 a month to hear.
"He never, EVER EVER EVER, "sanctions" his faith above others ... EVER. "
Once more... FALSE.
You have, again, read what you wanted to read into what I wrote, rather than reading what I actually said. "His faith" translates into rational, adult language as "Glenn Beck's personal faith" and NOT as "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints"... that would be the translation into juvenile assumptions based on irrational emotions.
Not a single show goes by... EVER EVER EVER... that Beck does not call on his listeners to follow his (Beck's) example and get down on their knees to pray to God, to trust in God to provide the wisdom and fortitude to know where your place is in the world, to look to the same sources of guidance and inspiration that he (Beck) looks to... and that, my dear friend, constitutes "sanction" in every classical sense of the word. He is "advocating, authorizing, encouraging, allowing or approving" HIS experiences in the realm of faith and spirituality... and that is the textbook definition of "sanctioning". Sanction stems from the Latin sanctus... and that means to LITERALLY "make holy and binding". Associated terms are "sanctify", "sanctimonious" (that one you are very aware of... you call me that all the time), and "sanctuary".
I can't fault Beck for using his own "witness to the Lord" as an example for others... it is exactly what Christ called on all of us to do, from the moment of our baptism. He has no other course of action to follow, really... faith is like other aspect of our personal development: it is based on personal experience and nothing more. I simply pointed out my own, personal view that listening to HIS personal experiences in the realm of faith and spirituality is beginning to wear on me a bit. Just a bit.
The truly sad thing here is...
This is all so mindlessly MEANINGLESS! I agree with Beck on ALL THESE ISSUES... I just don't want to hear them on a political talk radio show... I want to hear political talk! I want to hear his witty dialogue with Pat and Stu... I want to hear his rips on liberal losers that are talking out of there asses at every turn. I want to hear WHY "conservatives" are right and "liberals and progressives" are wrong... and very little of that reasoning stems from THEOLOGY.
Is that so wrong? Am I still the bad guy here? Because the quote here is what got me mad:
"It's as if you're reading snippets about the way he implements his faith into his show from of the Huffington Post rather then commenting on your own first hand listening."
That's tacky, and I am really afraid that this shows WHY you have such a problem with my "opinions"... because they are not the same as yours. My opinions are not always RIGHT, but they are mine... arrived at and considered by my own mind from my own experiences or perceptions. In saying the above, it makes me ask... again... if you can say that all of YOUR opinions and perceptions are arrived at without the "rabid, radical emotion" that you have accused me of so often in the past.
But I won't ask it.. because this is more than a stupid thing to talk about, it is meaningless and does a real disservice to what Beck is actually trying to accomplish.
Can this be over now?
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