Glenn Beck vs. Social Justice

Did you hear the one about how Glenn Beck urged Christians to bail on churches that preach social justice? Probably.

If not, here's a quote:

"I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. Now, am I advising people to leave their church? Yes!" [there's more here]

So there's a great op-ed challenge to Glenn Beck on beliefnet today by Jana Riess ... who was one of the presenters here in Claremont at the Theology After Google Conference.

Dear Glenn Beck,

Have You Read the Book of Mormon Lately?

As you know, Glenn, during the last week, Christians of all stripes have debated your advice about exiting any churches that mentioned “social justice” or “economic justice” on their websites or preached it in their sermons. As you apparently hoped, you have dominated the airwaves. The good news for me is that, if you follow your own advice, you must soon be exiting The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which we are both members.

Read the rest here ... and check out this USA Today piece on Jana's Twible project.

[Jana Riess is the co-author of Mormonism for Dummies and the editor of Selections from The Book of Mormon Annotated and Explained. She has a Ph.D. in American religious history from Columbia University. Follow her humorous daily Bible tweets at @janariess]