On August 11, Glenn Beck told Bill O’Reilly he has no problem with same-sex marriage:
O’Reilly: “Do you believe that gay marriage is a threat to the country in any way?”
Beck: “A threat to the country?”
O’Reilly: “Yeah, is it going to harm it in any way?”
Beck: (laughing) “No I don’t. Will the gays come and get us?”
O’Reilly: “No, OK, is it going to harm the country in any way?”
Beck: “I believe that Thomas Jefferson said: ‘If it neither breaks my leg nor picks my pocket what difference is it to me?'”
With a position on gay marriage such as that, it is alarming that Liberty would invite him to speak at their commencement earlier this year and confer an honorary Doctorate of Humanities degree upon him—and Ergun Caner would be giddy about it:
Ergun Caner on Twitter: “Glenn Beck at the LU Graduation! Love it! And I’m loving the snarking of the haters. LU folk: rejoice when they revile!” (Apr 23, 2010).
In his insightful article, “Why conservatives are abandoning the ‘gay’ issue,” David Kupelian provides an ominous analysis,
Very simply, most people in today’s America, including conservatives, are afraid of “the gay issue.” Although most know deep down there’s something wrong with homosexuality, they don’t want to be called “intolerant,” “bigoted,” “hateful” or “homophobic.” Even though they don’t really want open gays in the military, and disapprove of same-sex marriage, are repulsed by Obama’s appointment of notorious gay activist Kevin Jennings as the nation’s “safe schools” czar, and on and on — the “gay issue” no longer registers on their radar screen as one on which they should take a public stand.
In fact, much of “conservatism” has morphed in recent years into “libertarianism” — which is basically conservatism minus the moral, faith-based dimension.
There are many other examples, even among top conservatives. It seems most, if not all, are falling away from this jugular issue for the same reason: They’re afraid, and the convenient slide from conservatism to libertarianism — invisible when the issue at hand is government spending, taxation and regulation — comes into full view when dealing with moral issues like homosexuality.
Why are they afraid? The gay activist movement relies heavily on intimidation (or “jamming,” as their marketers label it) and no one likes to be mocked, marginalized, demonized, called ugly names, boycotted, persecuted, prosecuted for “hate crimes” (thought crimes, actually), fined or imprisoned….
The answer is: You better care, because once gay marriage is legalized in America — something for which there is virtually no precedent in the 5,000 years of Western Civilization — your schools will be required to teach your children that homosexuality is totally normal, your pastors and rabbis will fear preaching their faith’s core moral values, and gender confusion and immorality will reign supreme in America.
(In addition, Mark Lamprecht shares some comments on Liberty University, Glenn Beck and the Gospel).