Fox News hate-talk show host and practicing Mormon Glenn Beck told his listeners to “run as fast as you can” if they find their church preaching “social justice,” claiming it is a “perversion of the Gospel.” In 1967, Michigan Gov. George Romney — father of Mitt — was the most prominent Mormon politician in the land, seeking the Republican nomination for president. Unlike Beck, Romney considered social justice a core tenet of his faith. In 1967, Jet reported that Romney was willing to choose social justice over the Church of Latter-Day Saints, which then barred blacks from becoming priests:
Michigan Gov. George Romney said he would leave his church if it ever tried to prevent him from working for the elimination of social injustices and racial discrimination.
Beck’s attack on social justice has been challenged by Christian leaders of all denominations, from progressive Jim Wallis to arch-conservative Southern Baptist theologian Albert Mohler. Religious scholars of Beck’s adopted faith, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, have explained that social justice is essential to Mormonism.
Read more in today’s Progress Report.
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