Glenn Beck Should Open Up About Organized Religion

I recently wrote a piece about the reluctance of religious leaders to talk about controversial beliefs held by their followers. Basically I was wondering why, since he's so gung-ho to promote Scientology, Mr. Tom Cruise isn't out there happily telling anyone and everyone the story of Xenu. According to Scientologists, Xenu, dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy", 75 million years ago, brought billions of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs. Official Scientology dogma holds that the essences of these many people remained, and that they form around people in modern times, causing them spiritual harm.

Obviously the reason Mr. Cruise isn't regularly on Good Morning America talking about such things is because everyone would recognize the fact that he, and his fellow followers of Scientology, are a tad loco.

The fact that Scientologists have a few loose screws is not exactly breaking news.

And besides, Mr. Cruise isn't out there slamming people for their unwillingness to discuss uncomfortable topics.

Glenn Beck is.

"All I want is for the White House to tell America why they hired admitted communist Van Jones as Green Jobs Czar," Mr. Beck told his audience.

Because he claims to only desire openness, why isn't he in favor of controversial portions of his own religion being widely discussed with great regularity?

Like most followers of organized religion, Mr. Beck will only talk about the good parts. Don’t harm your fellow man, reject vices, if you believe, you are looking at an eternity of perfection, etc.

Though Mr. Beck never claimed President Obama is a Muslim, during his discussion of the topic, he played a clip of Mr. Obama saying, about the Bible, "Which passages of scripture should guide our public policy? Should we go with Leviticus, which suggests slavery is OK and that eating shellfish is an abomination? Or we could go with Deuteronomy, which suggests stoning your child if he strays from the faith?"

While the clip was being played, Mr. Beck only shook his head in disgust. He was absolutely sickened by the fact that President Obama would point out such disturbing truths.

But Mr. Beck never explained why such passages should be so easily dismissed.

Was Mr. Beck implying that Jesus came in and rectified all the really bad stuff in the Old Testament - that, because of Jesus, every evil act supported in the Old Testament should be forgotten? Instead of shaking your head because the topic was discussed, why not further the discussion, Mr. Beck?

Were I considering a conversion to Christianity, I would want to know how the church justified the stoning of a child. What, did Jesus change god's mind? Hasn't god always been perfect - how could he go from suggesting such a thing to condemning the act?

But Mr. Beck left the uncomfortable topic untouched, just as he criticizes the Obama Administration for doing when matters such as communists in the White House arise.

Mr. Beck, who is calling for the entire country to return to god, is a Mormon. I would love to get his take on Kolob, which Mormons believe is the star closest to god.

What rational reason does he have for believing an angel visited Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith in the 1820's and delivered, in an unknown language, what would later become the Book of Mormon?

Why doesn't Mr. Beck reject the claims of Mr. Smith as he likely rejected the claims of former Waco cult leader David Koresh? What about Joseph Smith makes his very unusual story believable? Mr. Smith also claimed god and Jesus paid him a visit. Why does Mr. Beck believe the claim of Mr. Smith over the claim of every other person over the past 200-years who has told a similar story?

I'm not talking about discussing these topics with Glenn Beck while making faces that suggest he's crazy. Regardless of what you think about Mr. Beck, you must admit that his IQ is rather high. And, as an atheist, I find it enjoyable attempting to understand why intelligent individuals believe so deeply in books I consider far-fetched, written by prophets I don't consider trustworthy.

I assume Mr. Beck doesn't discuss such topics because, like Mr. Obama (and every other politician) has a difficult time convincing America that all decisions made within the walls of his domain are spot-on, Mr. Beck would be unable to simultaneously sound rational and reasonable while explaining the controversial topics pertaining to Mormonism and Christianity.

So, to keep the conversion rate high, he chooses to ignore beliefs about which he doesn't want you to know specifics; which is the exact reason he so often criticizes the Obama Administration.