So, Glenn Beck says:
“Something that is beyond man is happening. America today begins to turn back to God. For too long, this country has wandered in darkness.”
I don’t understand this. There’s very little content to this statement. Will we be scrapping our nuclear arsenal anytime soon? The content of the “turning back” is important. Ten thousand people getting together to “turn back to God” can be a great thing or a terrifying thing, depending on what the ethical content of the god’s tenets are. For example, both of these mass gatherings were claiming the imprimatur of God:
Gandhi talking satyagraha
Hitler addresses a bunch of Nazis
Spouting this kind of “turning back to God” rhetoric doesn’t tell us much. What matters are the ethical admonitions inherent in the turning. Is Glenn Beck asserting the United States is suddenly becoming comfortable with turning the other cheek, with taking up the cross (literally being willing to face the death penalty rather than use violence when opposing the injustice of the powerful), etc.?
I feel that I’m either missing a trend, or making an assumption that he’s referring to the same god I’m thinking of.
I think you know what Beck means. Don’t take him seriously in that way. The only aspect to take seriously is that he may lead (unlikely) or inspire some Christian soldiers to do violence in the name of an outdated notion of the “way things are supposed to be”. This “way” has no cheek turning content and never has or will.