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TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY POLICY

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Glenn's Show Prep

Pulpit Freedom Sunday

September 27, 2012
Wilson

Writer

On Thursday's radio show, Glenn invited Pastor Jim Garlow onto the show to discuss Pulpit Freedom Sunday.The event is designed to raise awareness about the fact that pastors are not allowed to speak up about political issues from the pulpit without losing their tax-exempt status. Garlow and other pastors want to fight back against the idea that politics have no place in discussions within the church. You can catch the whole interview in the clip above from radio. Read more on these issues at TheBlaze.

 

Read a Rush transcript of the interview below:

GLENN:  Pastor Jim Garlowe is a church in San Diego.  This is a church that has stood in California and has stood against all odds and the attacks on this church are just staggering.  They have tried to put this church out of business, and  they're not going to step down. He is here because he is seeing over and sheparding a program.  How many years have you been doing this?  

 

           VOICE:  This is only my second year. 

 

GLENN:  What the government is telling you that you can't get involved in politics that is an out‑and‑out unconstitutional lie.  They want it to be challenged in court because they know it's unconstitutional. 

 

VOICE:  Years ago Lyndon Baines Johnson returned from Texas angry at two businessmen.  They opposed him through 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.  He was going through the Senate was an overhaul of the tax code.  He asserted a few words called the Johnson Amendment.  They didn't have churches in mind.  They had just had these two guys he was mad at. Even the Internal Revenue Service doesn't know.  So the result over all of these years pastors have backed away from fear, and people in the pew have bought into the cultural myth of separation of church and state.  So pastors aren't speaking out on issues. They bought into a cultural myth thinking as pastors we wouldn't speak politically if we got the tax exemption.  The tax exemption comes from our founding fathers.  Knowing if the government can tax and they can control and the government can destroy.  Based upon that separation, there have been no taxation of churches.  There should be no government intrusion into the pulpit and so an entire movement has developed. 

 

GLENN:  This is really important because of everything that we're facing now with the President, this week coming out and laying the groundwork for no blasphemy laws for Islam or any religion. Uh‑huh.  The way we are moving and the press and freedom of speech is overrated, and the rest of the world doesn't agree with it.  And America needs to grow up, and starts moving the way of the rest of the world.  It is if we control the speech of pulpits.  The pulpits are the most important thing.  Jim I know when we first met it was right before Restoring Honor in Washington D.C..  you were one of the few that stood up, and you were bold at the time, and I hadn't seen a lot of the bold preachers or priests or rabbis.  They were being quiet.  Now a lot of them are standing up, and they're not being quiet.  Because they know it's over if they don't. 

 

VOICE:  It is over.  It's changed dramatically even the last few years.  I'm amazed what has happened in the area of religious liberty.  Those that are discerning know you can have religious liberty and have radicalists coming at the same time in the nation.   That line is sliding very rapidly. 

 

GLENN:  I know.  That's what a church is for to tell you what the parameters are.  I don't need somebody to tell how to vote.  To tell me the standard God's standard that he holds.  And then I can Judge myself.  But you can't even talk about the standard.  We're moving to a place where you can't talk about that standard because it's political or racist or sexist. 

 

VOICE:  The Internal Revenue Service would say that we can.  Now that the people in the pew oftentimes have this wrong understanding pastor if you're going to speak that way I'll find myself another church.  Consequently alliance of religious liberty, and hand selected 33 pastors in 2008 to intentionally challenge the Johnson Amendment.  The Johnson Amendment says we cannot oppose or endorse a candidate directly or indirectly.  So pastors are afraid of it.  They don't want to lose their tax exemption.  They recorded their sermons, and sent them to the court.  There's a Damocles sword threatening pastors if you do this.  They sent in their sermon nothing happened.  In 2009 84 pastors exercised their constitutional rights but violated the Johnson Amendment which we believe is unconstitutional.  And they sent their sermons. Nothing happened.  The next year 2010 100 pastors did it.  Last year 539 pastors did it, this year around 1,100 have signed up.  We anticipate it will be around 1,500 or more masters. 

 

GLENN:  If you're a pastor.  You go to a parish and you want your priest to be involved in this what do. 

 

VOICE:  They go to pulpitfreedom.org.  And October 7th is pulpit freedom Sunday.  Most of us are doing it in solidarity October 7th.  They can sign up at pulpitfreedom.org. This applies to a liberal left wing church.  It was replies to everybody.  We say there should be no governmental intrusion.  They monitor our speech to see what we're saying.  We encourage people to go to pulpitfreedom.org. 

 

           GLENN:  If they do this, and the Internal Revenue Service decides to go after them. 

 

VOICE:  There are 2200 attorneys prepared to defend us pro bono. It used to be the church would roll over and play dead.  If a church lawyers up, the Internal Revenue Service strings it along for a couple of years and then say we're going to close your case, and just don't do it.  The alliance defending freedom is this group of attorneys saying this is unconstitutional based on the First Amendment.  We're absolutely making it nationwide very open posting our names and sending in our sermons saying sue us, so we get this to court, and get this defined and taken care of. 

 

GLENN:  You don't have to worry as a church you won't have to worry about being strung along.  The attorneys will do it. 

 

VOICE:  There are attorneys all across America. 

 

GLENN:  Are you going to be saying to vote for one person. 

 

VOICE:  I will walk through the biblical principles, and where the candidates stand on the issues. 

 

GLENN:  There's nothing wrong with that. 

 

VOICE:  Any follower of Jesus Christ would not want to vote for a candidate that is defying biblical principles. 

 

GLENN:  I don't have a problem.  I do have a problem vote Mitt Romney or Barack Obama.  Not a legal problem.  I don't want my pastor saying that. 

 

VOICE:  If somebody doesn't wan tto hear it that they can go to another church.  We don't want the ‑‑ the issue is who decides what a pastor says? Is it going to be the state ultimately or that pastor and the church.  We're contending ‑‑ we're not even saying a pastor has to endorse or condemn a candidate. 

 

GLENN:  The problem is that our churches have stopped saying if you believe the Bible, I mean ‑‑ my daughter she went with a friend to a Catholic Church that's run by a priest who is ex communicated by the Catholics.  And I said did he start his own church.  That's not a Catholic Church.  That's not a Catholic Church.  I don't have a problem with you disagreeing.  You want to do stuff.  When you go to church I don't understand the people that don't buy into it.  Why are you there? What are getting out of it if you can't get somebody standing up there here's the principle, and here's how we apply it, and live your life according to these rules.  Otherwise what are you doing? How many people do you think go to church who're just are going there because I don't know ‑‑ I don't even know. 

 

VOICE:  We're told only 9% of the people in the pew of a church know how to apply the scripture to life.  And in other words have a biblical world view.  9 out of 10 do not.  Are any of our communities more righteous or less righteous.  We had this privilege in America for 166 years until it was taken away in 1954, and it was working very good at that time. 

 

GLENN:  Look at our world.  Some things have gotten better, but a lot of things have gotten worse. 

 

VOICE:  Think what would happen if 350,000 churches would have been saying to the electorate we should be choosing the people to represent us in Washington D.C. thou shalt not steal from future generations.  That's a moral biblical issue.  Our nation is in economic suicide because of a failure to follow scriptural principles.

 

GLENN:  Go to pulpitfreedom.org. It has to be reversed.  It has to be put to rest.  Pulpit freedom.org. Sunday October 7th.  Make sure that your church is participation.  Quickly how is your wife. 

 

VOICE:  She's doing well.  We're moving on this cancer journey.  It's come back seven times in five years.  It's been a long walk here.  We're moving forward.  She's having some good days recently. That's why I'm able to be here. 

 

GLENN:  You want a good pastor or good church it's the Garlowes in San Diego. 

Civics isn’t optional—America's survival depends on it

JEFF KOWALSKY / Contributor | Getty Images

Every vote, jury duty, and act of engagement is civics in action, not theory. The republic survives only when citizens embrace responsibility.

I slept through high school civics class. I memorized the three branches of government, promptly forgot them, and never thought of that word again. Civics seemed abstract, disconnected from real life. And yet, it is critical to maintaining our republic.

Civics is not a class. It is a responsibility. A set of habits, disciplines, and values that make a country possible. Without it, no country survives.

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Civics happens every time you speak freely, worship openly, question your government, serve on a jury, or cast a ballot. It’s not a theory or just another entry in a textbook. It’s action — the acts we perform every day to be a positive force in society.

Many of us recoil at “civic responsibility.” “I pay my taxes. I follow the law. I do my civic duty.” That’s not civics. That’s a scam, in my opinion.

Taking up the torch

The founders knew a republic could never run on autopilot. And yet, that’s exactly what we do now. We assume it will work, then complain when it doesn’t. Meanwhile, the people steering the country are driving it straight into a mountain — and they know it.

Our founders gave us tools: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism, elections. But they also warned us: It won’t work unless we are educated, engaged, and moral.

Are we educated, engaged, and moral? Most Americans cannot even define a republic, never mind “keep one,” as Benjamin Franklin urged us to do after the Constitutional Convention.

We fought and died for the republic. Gaining it was the easy part. Keeping it is hard. And keeping it is done through civics.

Start small and local

In our homes, civics means teaching our children the Constitution, our history, and that liberty is not license — it is the space to do what is right. In our communities, civics means volunteering, showing up, knowing your sheriff, attending school board meetings, and understanding the laws you live under. When necessary, it means challenging them.

How involved are you in your local community? Most people would admit: not really.

Civics is learned in practice. And it starts small. Be honest in your business dealings. Speak respectfully in disagreement. Vote in every election, not just the presidential ones. Model citizenship for your children. Liberty is passed down by teaching and example.

Samuel Corum / Stringer | Getty Images

We assume America will survive automatically, but every generation must learn to carry the weight of freedom.

Start with yourself. Study the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and state laws. Study, act, serve, question, and teach. Only then can we hope to save the republic. The next election will not fix us. The nation will rise or fall based on how each of us lives civics every day.

Civics isn’t a class. It’s the way we protect freedom, empower our communities, and pass down liberty to the next generation.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

'Rage against the dying of the light': Charlie Kirk lived that mandate

PHILL MAGAKOE / Contributor | Getty Images

Kirk’s tragic death challenges us to rise above fear and anger, to rebuild bridges where others build walls, and to fight for the America he believed in.

I’ve only felt this weight once before. It was 2001, just as my radio show was about to begin. The World Trade Center fell, and I was called to speak immediately. I spent the day and night by my bedside, praying for words that could meet the moment.

Yesterday, I found myself in the same position. September 11, 2025. The assassination of Charlie Kirk. A friend. A warrior for truth.

Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins.

Moments like this make words feel inadequate. Yet sometimes, words from another time speak directly to our own. In 1947, Dylan Thomas, watching his father slip toward death, penned lines that now resonate far beyond his own grief:

Do not go gentle into that good night. / Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thomas was pleading for his father to resist the impending darkness of death. But those words have become a mandate for all of us: Do not surrender. Do not bow to shadows. Even when the battle feels unwinnable.

Charlie Kirk lived that mandate. He knew the cost of speaking unpopular truths. He knew the fury of those who sought to silence him. And yet he pressed on. In his life, he embodied a defiance rooted not in anger, but in principle.

Picking up his torch

Washington, Jefferson, Adams — our history was started by men who raged against an empire, knowing the gallows might await. Lincoln raged against slavery. Martin Luther King Jr. raged against segregation. Every generation faces a call to resist surrender.

It is our turn. Charlie’s violent death feels like a knockout punch. Yet if his life meant anything, it means this: Silence in the face of darkness is not an option.

He did not go gently. He spoke. He challenged. He stood. And now, the mantle falls to us. To me. To you. To every American.

We cannot drift into the shadows. We cannot sit quietly while freedom fades. This is our moment to rage — not with hatred, not with vengeance, but with courage. Rage against lies, against apathy, against the despair that tells us to do nothing. Because there is always something you can do.

Even small acts — defiance, faith, kindness — are light in the darkness. Reaching out to those who mourn. Speaking truth in a world drowning in deceit. These are the flames that hold back the night. Charlie carried that torch. He laid it down yesterday. It is ours to pick up.

The light may dim, but it always does before dawn. Commit today: I will not sleep as freedom fades. I will not retreat as darkness encroaches. I will not be silent as evil forces claim dominion. I have no king but Christ. And I know whom I serve, as did Charlie.

Two turning points, decades apart

On Wednesday, the world changed again. Two tragedies, separated by decades, bound by the same question: Who are we? Is this worth saving? What kind of people will we choose to be?

Imagine a world where more of us choose to be peacemakers. Not passive, not silent, but builders of bridges where others erect walls. Respect and listening transform even the bitterest of foes. Charlie Kirk embodied this principle.

He did not strike the weak; he challenged the powerful. He reached across divides of politics, culture, and faith. He changed hearts. He sparked healing. And healing is what our nation needs.

At the center of all this is one truth: Every person is a child of God, deserving of dignity. Change will not happen in Washington or on social media. It begins at home, where loneliness and isolation threaten our souls. Family is the antidote. Imperfect, yes — but still the strongest source of stability and meaning.

Mark Wilson / Staff | Getty Images

Forgiveness, fidelity, faithfulness, and honor are not dusty words. They are the foundation of civilization. Strong families produce strong citizens. And today, Charlie’s family mourns. They must become our family too. We must stand as guardians of his legacy, shining examples of the courage he lived by.

A time for courage

I knew Charlie. I know how he would want us to respond: Multiply his courage. Out of this tragedy, the tyrant dies, but the martyr’s influence begins. Out of darkness, great and glorious things will sprout — but we must be worthy of them.

Charlie Kirk lived defiantly. He stood in truth. He changed the world. And now, his torch is in our hands. Rage, not in violence, but in unwavering pursuit of truth and goodness. Rage against the dying of the light.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

Glenn Beck resurrects the 9-12 Project to support Charlie Kirk's family

Glenn Beck is once again calling on his loyal listeners and viewers to come together and channel the same unity and purpose that defined the historic 9-12 Project. That movement, born in the wake of national challenges, brought millions together to revive core values of faith, hope, and charity.

Glenn created the original 9-12 Project in early 2009 to bring Americans back to where they were in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. In those moments, we weren't Democrats and Republicans, conservative or liberal, Red States or Blue States, we were united as one, as America. The original 9-12 Project aimed to root America back in the founding principles of this country that united us during those darkest of days.

This new initiative draws directly from that legacy, focusing on supporting the family of Charlie Kirk in these dark days following his tragic murder.

The revival of the 9-12 Project aims to secure the long-term well-being of Charlie Kirk's wife and children. All donations will go straight to meeting their immediate and future needs. If the family deems the funds surplus to their requirements, Charlie's wife has the option to redirect them toward the vital work of Turning Point USA.

This campaign is more than just financial support—it's a profound gesture of appreciation for Kirk's tireless dedication to the cause of liberty. It embodies the unbreakable bond of our community, proving that when we stand united, we can make a real difference.
Glenn Beck invites you to join this effort. Show your solidarity by donating today and honoring Charlie Kirk and his family in this meaningful way.

You can learn more about the 9-12 Project and donate HERE

The critical difference: Rights from the Creator, not the state

Bloomberg / Contributor | Getty Images

When politicians claim that rights flow from the state, they pave the way for tyranny.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) recently delivered a lecture that should alarm every American. During a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he argued that believing rights come from a Creator rather than government is the same belief held by Iran’s theocratic regime.

Kaine claimed that the principles underpinning Iran’s dictatorship — the same regime that persecutes Sunnis, Jews, Christians, and other minorities — are also the principles enshrined in our Declaration of Independence.

In America, rights belong to the individual. In Iran, rights serve the state.

That claim exposes either a profound misunderstanding or a reckless indifference to America’s founding. Rights do not come from government. They never did. They come from the Creator, as the Declaration of Independence proclaims without qualification. Jefferson didn’t hedge. Rights are unalienable — built into every human being.

This foundation stands worlds apart from Iran. Its leaders invoke God but grant rights only through clerical interpretation. Freedom of speech, property, religion, and even life itself depend on obedience to the ruling clerics. Step outside their dictates, and those so-called rights vanish.

This is not a trivial difference. It is the essence of liberty versus tyranny. In America, rights belong to the individual. The government’s role is to secure them, not define them. In Iran, rights serve the state. They empower rulers, not the people.

From Muhammad to Marx

The same confusion applies to Marxist regimes. The Soviet Union’s constitutions promised citizens rights — work, health care, education, freedom of speech — but always with fine print. If you spoke out against the party, those rights evaporated. If you practiced religion openly, you were charged with treason. Property and voting were allowed as long as they were filtered and controlled by the state — and could be revoked at any moment. Rights were conditional, granted through obedience.

Kaine seems to be advocating a similar approach — whether consciously or not. By claiming that natural rights are somehow comparable to sharia law, he ignores the critical distinction between inherent rights and conditional privileges. He dismisses the very principle that made America a beacon of freedom.

Jefferson and the founders understood this clearly. “We are endowed by our Creator with certain unalienable rights,” they wrote. No government, no cleric, no king can revoke them. They exist by virtue of humanity itself. The government exists to protect them, not ration them.

This is not a theological quibble. It is the entire basis of our government. Confuse the source of rights, and tyranny hides behind piety or ideology. The people are disempowered. Clerics, bureaucrats, or politicians become arbiters of what rights citizens may enjoy.

John Greim / Contributor | Getty Images

Gifts from God, not the state

Kaine’s statement reflects either a profound ignorance of this principle or an ideological bias that favors state power over individual liberty. Either way, Americans must recognize the danger. Understanding the origin of rights is not academic — it is the difference between freedom and submission, between the American experiment and theocratic or totalitarian rule.

Rights are not gifts from the state. They are gifts from God, secured by reason, protected by law, and defended by the people. Every American must understand this. Because when rights come from government instead of the Creator, freedom disappears.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.