So much of the “Restoring Honor” rally Saturday was good. So much of it was focused on things that are good — challenging people to be good, to seek the good, sacrifice for the good, and pray for the good. Glenn Beck talked about, yes, honor, and redemption.
It was a bit of a mix — religious revival, country-music concert, Independence Day celebration — and its end goal was to rally people to become and stay more engaged in politics, but to not get lost in it, as Beck put it. There was a clear balancing of the importance of politics on one hand and never losing sight of our real citizenship on the other.
God and Caesar were very much appropriately represented on the National Mall on Saturday. It was a testament to so much that is good about our country. It was held at a time when there are real threats to our nation’s freedom and sustainability, fruits of messes in our personal lives and decisions and messes of bad policy. The rally recognized all of that, and it did it in a way that was not explicitly partisan or political. I think it accurately reflected that fact that for so many attracted to the event, politics isn’t everything in their lives. That was a healthy thing to see. And it was done in a realistically positive way — acknowledging differences in politics and theology — but seeking a unified focus on why we’re here, as individuals, as families, as churches, as communities, as a country. There was a prudence and humility to that.
Glenn Beck has done some good things with his voice, focused on foundational things, deconstructing some conventional manipulations. It’s to be encouraged. And not as a celebrity thing. We needn’t put him on a pedestal or run him for anything. These things he talked about and the rally focused on are to be encouraged because they are things we’re all called to do here, together.