Does it matter that Glenn Beck is a Mormon?

Glenn Beck surprised some commentators by making his 8/28 "Restoring Honor" rally in Washington more of a "religious revival" meeting than a political event. And although Beck was careful to say people should turn to God (rather than Jesus Christ), he and his speakers delivered an "explicitly Christian message." The only problem, say several conservatives, is that Beck, as a Mormon convert, makes for an unlikely Christian leader. Does Beck's Mormonism matter? (Watch Beck discuss his Mormon beliefs)

Beck should stick to politics: Glenn Beck's "political ideas can help America," says Steve McConkey at Christian NewsWire. And he's right that America needs "a spiritual revival based on the truth of the Bible," or else we're "doomed." But as a member of the non-Christian Mormon "cult," Beck "promotes a false gospel."

"Glenn Beck's Mormonism will not lead to revival"

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Actually, this was all about politics: Beck may be a Mormon, but he speaks evangelical Protestant fluently, says D. Michael Lindsay in The Huffington Post. And those who don't think he was calling for Evangelicals to reunite with "economic conservatives" under the GOP/Tea Party umbrella just "don't recognized the signals."

"Glenn Beck, the faithful, and the Second Coming"

Beck and the Tea Party share the same theology: Here's the problem with the "Tea Party God" promoted by Mormon Glenn Beck, Protestant Sarah Palin, and all the other Tea Party faithful, says Daniel Schultz in Religion Dispatches. It's a static, "minor deity" committed to returning America to a fictional "virtuous past," not leading it out of the desert. The God that I and many Christians know is urging us toward creating a new, better world.

"Glenn Beck’s political theology"

Why does Beck's religion matter? All this talk about who's a "real Christian" — both from Beck and about Beck — is "sad stuff, for politics, for religion, for Christianity," says Jay Bookman in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Debates about what policies we as a nation should pursue turn into exercises in pious name-calling. "But that’s what happens once you inject religion into politics."

"Who's the real Christian? Beck? Obama? You? Me?"