[Vision2020] Evangelical leader takes on Beck for assailing social justice churches

[Joe Campbell]

I read this too. Thank God some conservatives and Christians are  
responding to Beck's crackpot comments. Joe



On Mar 14, 2010, at 9:32 PM, "Art Deco" <deco at moscow.com> wrote:

>
> When he gets time maybe the Rev. Jim Wallis can try to educate the  
> very minor, but crackpot evangelists like Cultmaster Douglas  
> Wilson.  Maybe he could also educate him about the prohibition of  
> self enrichment by lying about the message of Christ.
>
> W.
>
>
>
> Evangelical leader takes on Beck for assailing social justice churches
>
> By John Blake, CNN
> March 12, 2010 5:27 p.m. EST
>
> The Wantagh Memorial Congregational Church in New York posted this  
> sign, Christopher Hofer wrote on CNN iReport.
> STORY HIGHLIGHTS
> Evangelical leader calls for boycott of Fox personality Glenn Beck
> Beck said Christians should leave churches that preach social justice
> Minister says Beck perverts Jesus' message
> The Rev. Jerry Falwell Jr: Pastors who preach economic justice are  
> preaching socialism
> (CNN) -- An evangelical leader is calling for a boycott of Glenn  
> Beck's television show and challenging the Fox News personality to a  
> public debate after Beck vilified churches that preach economic and  
> social justice.
>
> The Rev. Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, a network of  
> progressive Christians, says Beck perverted Jesus' message when he  
> urged Christians last week to leave churches that preach social and  
> economic justice.
>
> Wallis says Beck compared those churches to Communists and Nazis.
>
> Wallis says at least 20,000 people have already responded to his  
> call to boycott Beck. He says Beck is confusing his personal  
> philosophy with the Bible.
>
> "He wants us to leave our churches, but we should leave him," Wallis  
> says of Beck. "When your political philosophy is to consistently  
> favor the rich over the poor, you don't want to hear about economic  
> justice."
>
> Wallis says he wants to go on Beck's show to challenge the  
> contention that churches shouldn't preach economic and social justice.
>
> Social and economic justice is at the heart of Jesus' message,  
> Wallis says.
>
> "He's afraid of being challenged on his silly caricatures," Wallis  
> says. "Glenn Beck talks a lot when he doesn't have someone to  
> dialogue with. Is he willing to talk with someone who he doesn't  
> agree with?"
>
> Beck did not answer numerous requests for an interview.
>
> Glenn Beck talks a lot when he doesn't have someone to dialogue with
> --The Rev. Jim Wallis
> But a prominent evangelical leader says he, too, is suspicious of  
> churches that preach economic and social justice.
>
> Jerry Falwell Jr., president of Liberty University, a Christian  
> college in Virginia, says Jesus wasn't interested in politics. He  
> says that those pastors who preach economic and social justice "are  
> trying to twist the gospel to say the gospel supported socialism."
>
> "Jesus taught that we should give to the poor and support widows,  
> but he never said that we should elect a government that would take  
> money from our neighbor's hand and give it to the poor," Falwell says.
>
> Falwell says that Jesus believed that individuals, not governments,  
> should help the poor.
>
> "If we all did as Jesus did when he helped the poor, we wouldn't  
> need the government," says Falwell, the son of the late evangelical  
> leader, the Rev. Jerry Falwell.
>
> What is economic and social justice?
>
> The term "economic and social justice" is not easy to define. It has  
> different meanings for different people.
>
> If we all did as Jesus did when he helped the poor, we wouldn't need  
> the government
> --Jerry Falwell Jr.
> RELATED TOPICS
> Christianity
> Martin Luther King Jr.
> For some Christians, practicing economic and social justice means  
> that churches should practice charity: setting up soup kitchens,  
> assisting victims of natural disasters, and helping people find jobs.
>
> For other Christians, practicing economic and social justice also  
> means trying to change the conditions that cause people to be poor  
> or unemployed. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. subscribed to this  
> definition of biblical justice.
>
> Marty Duren, a Southern Baptist Convention pastor, says some  
> conservative Christians have traditionally thought churches  
> shouldn't get involved in economic or social justice.
>
> "For a long time, Southern Baptists and evangelicals were so focused  
> on the return of Christ that what was happening in the real world  
> was almost incidental," says Duren, who blogs at martyduren.com.
>
> But within the last two decades, Duren says, more evangelical  
> Christians have come to believe that the Bible calls for economic  
> and social justice.
>
> William Wilberforce, for example, is a 19th century British  
> politician who helped abolish the slave trade in his country. He is  
> now regarded as a hero for some evangelicals because he applied his  
> faith to the economic and social justice issues of his day, Duren  
> says.
>
> Did Jesus preach about social and economic justice?
>
> The Bible cares about social and economic justice, Duren says.
>
> "The Old Testament is replete with examples of God threatening to  
> judge a nation because of a lack of justice or carrying out that  
> threat of judgment against a nation,'' Duren says.
>
> He believes Beck was wrong to tell Christians that they shouldn't  
> belong to churches that seek justice.
>
> "If I had any authority at Fox News right now, Glenn Beck would be  
> seeking economic justice," Duren says.
>
>
> The Rev. Jim Wallis is the president of Sojourners, a network of  
> Christians.
> That concern for justice is what helped convert him, says Wallis,  
> president of Sojourners. Wallis, who counts King as one of his faith  
> role models, says the Bible isn't just concerned with feeding the  
> poor -- it's concerned about the conditions that create the poor.
>
> Wallis also evoked the Christians who fought against slavery as well  
> as civil rights activists.
>
> "The Bible just didn't say take care of the victim -- it talks about  
> justice," says Wallis, who is the author of "Rediscovering Values:  
> On Wall Street, Main Street and Your Street."
>
> Meanwhile, Wallis says he's waiting for that public debate with Beck.
>
> "I'll have it," Wallis says, "anywhere he wants."
>
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