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Over the weekend news broke that Glenn Beck flew from the United States to Europe in order to organize an international movement of peace and freedom. He was invited to meet with leaders of several European Tea Party groups, and separately with several key officials in the Catholic Church. The meetings are the latest in a series of discussions that Glenn has had with major political and religious figures over the past few years. Again and again, Glenn’s conversations with these leaders have focused on looking beyond politics for solutions, but rather to individuals, personal responsibility, and faith. As part of this message, Glenn has called for the faithful to remain distinct and separate in theology, but to stand together as a people of faith. These ideas will culminate at Glenn’s “Restoring Love” event in Dallas, TX on July 28th at Cowboy’s Stadium.
When Glenn signed off of radio last Wednesday he gave little indication of where he was going except that it was a “special assignment” and his audience needed to tune in on February 20th to get the details. Last night, it was revealed that he had actually travelled to Europe in order to organize an international movement of peace and freedom.
Glenn was invited to Europe to speak with leaders from Serbia, Georgia, Milan, Rome, Germany, Austria, London, and Israel. These leaders had heard of Glenn’s work in America and in Israel and were interested in bringing his message of individual freedom and personal responsibility to their own countries. The meeting, organized by FreedomWorks and Mercury One, sought to bring people on the front lines of the freedom and peace movement overseas together to learn from one another and to find ways to work together to spread the message of freedom to their own communities and beyond.
Glenn told the assembled leaders that they were not alone, but that they had friends in America and in other European countries who were all working for individual freedom and personal responsibility.
Uniting with the international community has become increasingly important over the past several months, as these groups see America headed down the same path that Europe as been on for decades. Personal freedoms are being sacrificed in order to give the government expanded power in order to take care of the people, rather than let people take care of themselves. In Europe, this decades long trend toward socialism has been an utter failure, as best represented by the chaos and financial ruin of Greece. The assembled group was looking to not only understand why America would follow a path that is known to lead to failure and economic collapse, but also were hoping to learn from Glenn and FreedomWorks about America’s Tea Party movement and what they were doing to change the dangerous slide towards socialism.
While a wide range of problems and solutions were discussed, the overarching theme of the meeting was that politics alone would not change anything. Instead, it would take individuals uniting on a national and international level to restore personal responsibility, peace, and freedom.
Restoring Love, a three-day nonpartisan and non-political event, will celebrate personal freedom and faith as thousands unite to engage in service projects in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, culminating in an evening of celebration, inspiration, and reflection at Cowboys Stadium (Get more details HERE). Separately, FreedomWorks will be kicking off their peace and freedom initiative that week as well, more details to come.
Following his meeting with leaders in Europe, Glenn travelled to The Vatican visited with several high-ranking officials including Cardinals, Monsignors and Archbishops over the course of several days. They discussed the recent attacks on freedom of expression and freedom of conscience, as well as standing against the rise of secularism and the rise of anti-Semitism.
The news of the meetings with Catholic leaders comes on the heels of Glenn announcing a movement to protect religious freedom from government intrusion, currently best represented by “We are all Catholics now” – a call to action for people to stand up against mandated coverage of contraception by Catholic institutions. The movement, of course, is not about just contraception (or just Catholics), but rather the overall loss of religious freedom in America and the world.
Before heading home, Glenn also made a stop in Greece as part of research for a “special project” that will be revealed at a later date.
While the overseas meetings this weekend were very important, they were just the most recent discussions that Glenn has had with major religious and political leaders, both from American and the international stage.
Over the past two years, Glenn has been invited to meet with Billy Graham, Dr. James Dobson, Joel Olsteen, John Hagee, and James Robison. He has also met with many of the biggest names in the evangelical community, Chief Rabbis from four continents, high-ranking officials from the Eastern Orthodox Christian community, Coptic Christians from the Middle East, and many others.
Glenn has worked with many of these leaders to find ways for people of faith to stand together in support of religious freedom while remaining distinct and separate in their own theology. He has also spoken extensively on the disturbing rise of anti-Semitism and the attacks on faith from secularism.
“Because we have a right to worship freely, let us declare: We have a responsibility to fight for the rights of others to worship freely,” Glenn said in his keynote address at “Restoring Courage” in Jerusalem, Israel.
Over the past few years, Glenn has led a serious effort to unite people of faith together and to stand up for individual and religious freedom.
The movement began on 8.28 at The Restoring Honor Rally in Washington, D.C. when Glenn called for America to unite together and “turn back to God”. Many expected a politically charged speech targeting the federal government, but Glenn ended up telling the hundreds of thousands gathered in D.C. a very different message.
“This day is a day that we can start the heart of America again. And it has nothing to do with politics. It has everything to God. Everything turning our place back to the values and principles that made us great,” Glenn said on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
The Restoring Honor event concluded with Glenn being joined on stage by a “Black Robed Regiment”, a group of rabbis, preachers, imams, and other religious leaders all locked arm and arm. The gathering represented the call for unity that Glenn was making to people of faith across the country. Regardless of what you believe in, unite with other people who believe in God.
Not long after the Restoring Honor Rally in D.C., Glenn was already planning another event in Jerusalem, Israel, that would become “Restoring Courage”. Again, Glenn said people of faith needed to come together.
When announcing the event, Glenn encouraged people to stand up and declare their support of Israel and “do it as a globe and not just one country. Do it as people of faith.”
And at that event in Israel - at the crossroads of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – Glenn again called for people of faith to unite.
“Today I propose a new path. I propose a path led by you – the individual, linked in arms with other individuals. A path where governments and so-called human rights organizations get out of the way and people come together to solve our problems. As God intended,” he said.
Glenn pointed to history for examples of significant human rights movements, such as the end of Jim Crow laws in the American South, and how the hatred at the time was overcome not by a small, powerful elite but by individuals of faith.
“In each case, the work was done by individuals who would not abide convenient lies. They saw injustice and they called it out. They saw their nation wage war against a single group and they said ‘Not in My Name.’ They didn’t wait for the conventions of society to catch up to God’s laws. They pushed. They pressed. And they were victorious,” Glenn said.
“This spirit lives within us. I believe that you will link arms with others and stand with courage, and walk behind the pillar of fire,” he added.
The event ended with Glenn calling for a global movement of human rights and responsibility.
“America corrects its course through religious institutions,” Glenn told GlennBeck.com. “From the end of slavery to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights movement. Our Judeo-Christian have always been at center of setting things right.”
On July 28th, Glenn will once again be calling for people of faith to unite together at “Restoring Love” in Dallas, Texas.
