Did you guys know Glenn Beck is a Morman (2 articles)

Why Syzygy

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Oct-08-09 06:53 PM
Original message

Did you guys know Glenn Beck is a Morman (2 articles)

I didn't.

Latter day taint: How Glenn Beck is driven by Mormonism -- and why his fellow faithful (including Mitt Romney) should be worried, by Adam Reilly appears in The Boston Phoenix.

Beck, Romney & The Future of the Religious Right
By Frederick Clarkson Wed Oct 07, 2009 at 06:20:47 PM EST

(...)
Given the ease with which this discussion could degenerate into Mormon-bashing, this reticence may be understandable. To fully get Beck, though, it's necessary to understand just how many of his beliefs have specifically Mormon roots, or are conveyed in uniquely Mormon ways -- from his embrace of former Mormon leader Ezra Taft Benson's insatiable anti-communism to his Mormon-bred suspicion that the government is the agent of Satan. For some of Beck's co-religionists, these links are obvious. Back in March, for example, writing at the Mormon-history blog the Juvenile Instructor, Christopher Jones -- a doctoral student in history at William & Mary -- noted that Beck seemed to be plumbing the disturbing depths of Mormon millenarianism, and marveled at the press's seeming disinterest.

Once the link between Beck's faith and politics gets made, intriguing questions emerge. Without his unsettling brand of Mormonism, would Glenn Beck still be Glenn Beck? Should members of the LDS Church be cheering or lamenting Beck's protracted moment in the spotlight? Could Beck's forays into stealth Mormon sermonizing make his conservative evangelical fans rethink their loyalty? And if Beck's religiosity finally becomes a story, what might that mean for the lingering presidential hopes of 2012 Republican contender Mitt Romney? (...)

How Mormonism Built Glenn Beck by Joanna Brooks, at Religion Dispatches.

Beck, who was raised Catholic in Washington state, has produced, with the help of Mormon Church-owned Deseret Book Company, the DVD An Unlikely Mormon: The Conversion Story of Glenn Beck (2008); Mormon fansites invite visitors to learn more about Beck's beliefs by clicking through to the official Web site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. But what these fansites don't reveal is the extent to which Mormonism has given Beck key elements of his on-air personality and messaging.

It's true that his Mormonism sometimes gets Beck into trouble with evangelical Christians, who have long antagonized Mormons by denying the authenticity of their belief in Jesus Christ and deriding the Mormon Church as a cult. Last December, James Dobson's Focus on the Family Web site pulled a Beck column, citing concerns about his Mormon ties. Still, Beck's spectacular rise suggests that evangelical conservatives (especially those under 40 who may not remember the anti-Mormon cult crusades of the 1980s) are increasingly willing to set aside their reservations about Mormons when it suits their pragmatic and political interests. (...)

http://www.talk2action.org/story/2009/10/7/182047/627