After noting much of the media coverage of the huge gathering on Saturday at the Lincoln Monument which characterized it as a Tea Party rally, as hate filled, as a usurpation of Martin Luther King's Dream, etc., I watched Glenn Beck's show this afternoon. He didn't come on with his usual levity and with a humble attitude to explain the true nature of this gathering, which was a call to return to the faith in God that has characterized the United States in the past. He presented images and reports to demonstrate number of people who attended, the order and peacefulness of the gathering and generally to refute reports in the media that it was a political rally. I had seen references to a Black Robed Regiment, but when he explained that this group comprised ministers, priests, rabbis and clergy of various religions and denominations, community leaders and mothers, I realized that comparisons to the KKK or some kind of quasi- military group were mischaracterizations.

Now, Glenn Beck could just be a clever manipulator, a wolf in sheep's clothing, pretending to care about honor, faith, hope and charity and God while in secret plotting to gain political power, but he has never struck me that way. In his serious moments, he comes across as a sincere man concerned about his country and the divisions occurring among us and about a return to the vision of our founders. He's a man with a message, but it seems to be an exhortation to a return to individual responsibility, caring for others and to respect for faith and prayer, to "firm reliance on divine providence," and to personal probity and the universal values taught by religion. He is, in Mormon terms, offering his testimony. The theme of the the gathering was "Restore honor" referring to the last line of the Declaration of Independence, "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."

I've read and heard the criticisms of Beck and tone of his attackers. The answer to such vitriol shouldn't be in the same spirit, and I think that is what Beck is trying to do, to present a message of a return to the values that built this nation. His critics sound bitter, angry, cynical and full of sound and fury and, yes, lies.

Beck called upon us to volunteer to serve our country, our God and our fellow men, to tithe, and reaffirm your sacred honor, to stand for truth without fear for the results. He challenged his listeners to make this commitment in the next 40 Days and 40 nights. Men have given their lives for their honor. Who does that today? Only terrorists. But that is not what martyrdom is about. The emphasis of martyrdom is on standing by your principles, defending one another, even to death, not to killing innocents.

If you still don't get it, re-read the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus instructed his disciples on how they should represent him in the world. It wasn't a discourse on foreign policy or politics. His kingdom is not of this world. That is the key to understanding his Sermon. His kingdom and its representatives turn the other cheek. Political leaders have to obey other rules, the rules of this harsh world. Christ's representatives must rely on his inspiration and spiritual protection.