{"id":2362,"date":"2010-08-29T07:10:23","date_gmt":"2010-08-29T11:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nicholsclan.com\/tinblog\/?p=2362"},"modified":"2010-11-24T09:43:03","modified_gmt":"2010-11-24T14:43:03","slug":"beck-advocates-for-christian-theocracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timscogitorium.com\/tinblog\/2010\/08\/beck-advocates-for-christian-theocracy.html","title":{"rendered":"Beck advocates for Christian theocracy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Beck<\/a>Glenn Beck hosted his non-political rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial yesterday.\u00a0 The event came off more like a religious revival meeting.\u00a0 He even had Gospel singers.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the rhetoric was full of references to God and biblical tales and allusions.\u00a0 At one point he likened the plight of Americans to the Jewish slaves in ancient Egypt, and there were repeated uses of the number 40.<\/p>\n

Beck made frequent tie ins between God and politics.\u00a0 So while this wasn’t a political rally per se, he certainly made every effort to encourage people to take back the country for God.\u00a0 To keep it on God’s path.\u00a0 To vote for people who will govern with God in their hearts and on their minds.\u00a0 There were no specifics given of how all that was supposed to work.\u00a0 It seemed mostly based on the Transitive Law.\u00a0 God is Good.\u00a0 America is good.\u00a0 Therefore, God = America.<\/p>\n

From a sufficient altitude, it’s hard to disagree with the basic sentiment.\u00a0 If Jesus were President, we’d be in way better shape.\u00a0 Although I expect His philosophies about healing the sick, clothing the poor, paying your taxes, and turning the other cheek would leave the current crop of Conservative Christians in a bit of an ideological bind.\u00a0 But Jesus isn’t here, and historical attempts to have mortal stand-ins haven’t worked out so well.<\/p>\n

The Protestant Reformation was a people’s uprising against the Papal theocracy of Rome.\u00a0 The 18th century French theocracy ended with the French Revolution.\u00a0 Perhaps somewhat ironically, the American revolution was a people’s revolt to get out from under the thumb of the British theocracy of that period.\u00a0 And do we really even need to discuss the shortcomings of current Islamic theocracies?<\/p>\n

Perhaps a more curious element of Beck’s speech was the several minutes he devoted to explaining the importance of tithing 10% of your income to the church.\u00a0 The churches no doubt appreciated the shout out, but it’s difficult to see how that helps the situation Beck lives in fear of.\u00a0 The right is repeatedly warning how higher taxes right now will cripple the struggling economy.\u00a0 Businesses won’t invest and people won’t be able to afford to live.\u00a0 It’s pretty clear the vast majority of Americans are giving well below the 10% guideline.\u00a0 Therefore, relative to the money available to spend on groceries and new employees, won’t the charitable donations hurt even more than say allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire?\u00a0 And what would churches do with this money?\u00a0 Will they build roads, bridges, and schools?\u00a0 Will they start businesses to hire people and reduce unemployment and boost GDP?\u00a0 Will they provide health care or senior care?\u00a0 Will they start inspecting egg farms for salmonella?\u00a0 In other words, how does that money help the current government deficit, reduce the need for government, or increase freedom and liberty?\u00a0 That seems a rather important point Beck left out of his talk.<\/p>\n

No doubt, many found Beck’s rally inspiring.\u00a0 Yet as a call to action, it was woefully short on any specifics.\u00a0 If you’ve just won a beauty pageant, it’s pretty reasonable to dedicate your reign to creating world peace, ending hunger, and building a world where we all just get along.\u00a0 But if you’re trying to incite an actual movement to make a difference in people’s lives, you need to bring a little more of a plan to the party.\u00a0 God may be good and all, but it seems Beck finds the Devil is in the details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Glenn Beck hosted his non-political rally on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial yesterday.\u00a0 The event came off more like<\/p>\n

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