Question: Why Were Evangelical Leaders at the Glenn Beck Rally? I Believe I Have the Answer

Tuesday’s post was pretty adamant that Glenn Beck is not a credible leader for evangelicals. Today I want to focus on why were some of our evangelical leaders present at the Glenn Beck rally.

A bit of my context first. When I first heard about Beck, I thought two things: “That’s the last name of one of my favorite professors, I should give him a call”. And second, “Wow, this guy is getting a lot of attention.” A short while later, I tuned in and thought, “Well, he’s got charisma, he’s entertaining but no one is going to take this guy seriously.” There was a brief moment that I thought that his show was a spoof on the Colbert Report spoof. A spoof on a spoof – that could have actually had the potential of being somewhat cool but I soon realized that I was completely wrong. But even worse, I was even more mistaken on how seriously people were taking him.

Fast forward to this Resorting Honor rally in DC where thousands of evangelicals gathered. For me it was jaw-dropping and not in the good way. Not only were people listening to this guy, but they were evangelicals. I began realizing that there were people I appreciated and in a few instances, even admired that liked Glenn Beck! But I am not sure what could have prepared me for when I learned of the number of evangelical leaders that shared the stage with him on that day.

James Dobson, John Hagee, Jerry Falwell Jr. – it was like a mini-conference of has-been and wanna-be pastors and leaders. I guess it figures they would end up at an event that began with word, “Restoring”. Beck even had a name for them – the “Black Robe Regiment” because historically, preachers who fought for morality wore black robes or something. Oh yeah, I think I remember Jesus wearing one for the sermon on the mount. Let me look it up in Matthew 5 (insert the sound of pages turning here), yep there it is, “Then Joseph Smith asked Jesus to take the stage. He entered in with his blonde hair parted, Birkenstock sandals, and of course, his classic black robe. His thunderous voice filled the air as he shouted, “Blessed are you who are tired of these liberals taking over Israel! It’s time to fight back and reclaim what was ours from the beginning …” (I’d go on but I’m sure you have heard this story countless times).

The humor keeps me sane and I have to say this reminded me of those one day mini-concert events that had a series of one hit wonder bands and a classic old band that should really just retire opening for a current headliner but they weren’t even the same genre of music. It was like Smashmouth, Papa Roach, Chumbawamba and Chicago opening up for … Justin Bieber or something. Really – how in the world can Hagee, Dobson and Beck share the same stage?Where was Kirk Cameron? And how in the world did Albert Pujols get mixed up in this? (Has he learned nothing from Roger Clemens? Stay away from Capitol Hill Albert!)

The ironies were even more staggering. None of these men are known for their ecumenicalism. Anything that poses a threat to their narrow brand of evangelicalism is inevitably struck down. So why am I bothered that some of these men have finally have opened their minds and shared a platform with someone from another faith? For one, i expect a little consistency. But two and more importantly, because I suspect their motivation for being there was to maintain or pursue power in the evangelical world. For whatever reason, Beck is the darling of countless evangelicals and these men want a piece of the spotlight and a turn at the mic regardless of who it’s pointed at.  That is not leadership but rather the pursuit of vanity for a counterfeit kingdom with personal agendas.

Harsh – Why else would they be there? Was it because they care about the country and wanted to issue a call for Christian repentance but did not know how to organize a rally? Have they forgotten things like Promise Keepers? Or was it because they are riding Beck’s bandwagon? As always, feel free to disagree.