On The “Surrender” of Glenn Beck—And of Us

WorldNetDaily ran a story that created some buzz with Glenn Beck saying that Beck had lost faith in everything in Washington and quotes Beck,

Surrender. You’re powerless over it. And you are. We’re powerless over anything that happens in Washington. And so what do you do? You try to make amends for the things that you’ve done wrong. You try to live differently. Take an inventory, and then you take control of the things you can and you work hardest on those.”

Now, the WND article manages to make news of Beck’s use of the phrase “surrender” but it’s really not clear what he makes. If you take a look at Glenn Beck’s Homepage, it’s still very political and he’s still selling a, “Never Surrender” t-shirt. Whatever Beck means, it’s clearly not what was some quick on the draw pundits mean by surrender. He’s not giving in on any of his issues, even though he knows Washington isn’t responsive.

Ironically, his call for surrender included a call to action that many Christians and Conservative would consider extreme:

“I’m telling you to get your kids out of these schools. They’re indoctrination camps. They’re turning our kids against us. They’re turning our kids against all of the values that we ever held, they’re wounding them even further. There’s nothing more important than our kids.”

Don’t expect a wave of parents pulling their kids out of public schools though. Public schools are easy and that brings me to the problem.   I’ve received outraged emails complaining about the interpretation that Beck has somehow called for people to stop fighting unjust government action.

Yet, there have been worse surrenders. We’ve surrendered the entertainment industry, we’ve surrendered academia, we’ve surrendered the public  education system. And a great many churches, to be politically correct and inclusive,  are surrendering,or at least retreating on sexual integrity and the sanctity of human life. And we’re being urged to retreat more and surrender more  in our culture in order to “win.”

We shouldn’t surrender, but perhaps to consider what we’re fighting for. If the only thing we’re willing to fight for is a political position, we’re doomed to lose.