Tell the Truth and Turn to God, Glenn Beck Tells Hundreds of Thousands at His Restoring Honor Rally
Monday, August 30, 2010
The crowd attending the "Restoring Honor" rally, organized by Glenn Beck, is seen from the top of the Washington Monument on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010. In the foreground is the National World War II Memorial.(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Washington (CNSNews.com) – Americans may disagree on their politics, and that’s okay, Glenn Beck told a crowd numbering in the hundreds of thousands on Saturday. But for the sake of the nation, Americans must agree on their values and principles.
Change for the better begins in each one of us, Beck said, as he urged Americans to turn to God – just as the Founding Fathers did. Your country needs you, he said.
Under warm, sunny skies, Americans from across the country trooped to the National Mall for Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally.
From the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, the crowd rolled back to the World War II Memorial, and beyond that to the sloping lawn of the Washington Monument. Trying to reach the Mall from all sides, some people were too far away to clearly hear what was being said.
Near the end of the rally, a U.S. Park Police helicopter made several loops around the Mall, prompting Beck to joke that the crowd must be huge since the chopper was violating restricted air space to count it.
Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally filled up the National Mall on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010. (Photo by Penny Starr/CNSNews.com)
The crowd, as large as it was, was quiet and respectful. There was some flag-waving, but there were few, if any, signs visible on the Mall – in keeping with Beck’s request not to politicize the rally. Some people wore T-shirts with political messages, but many more people wore clothing with no message at all.
This was not a tea party event. Unlike the Al Sharpton rally, which took place Saturday afternoon at a nearby location, people did not come to the Mall to vent their frustration. Many at the Restoring Honor rally seemed to be seeking inspiration.
This was the kind of gathering where the frequent mentions of God, far from causing offense, drew applause.
Sarah Palin spoke as the mother of an Iraq war veteran at Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally on the National Mall on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010. (Photo by Penny Starr/CNSNews.com)
With its theme of faith, hope and charity, the rally resembled an old-fashioned religious revival. And certainly the message was one of reviving a nation in turmoil.
Beginning around 10 a.m. with Sarah Palin’s call to honor the troops who defend us, the rally continued with various speakers handing out medals to three unsung heroes who exemplify the kind of faith, hope and charity that inspired the rally.
The Rev. C.L. Jackson of Houston, the longtime pastor of the Pleasant Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, was honored for his faith; St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, introduced by team manager Tony La Russa, was honored for inspiring hope through his family foundation that helps children with Down Syndrome; and billionaire philanthropist Jon M. Huntsman Sr. of Utah was honored for his charitable work in funding cancer research.
While Beck honored three living heroes at his rally, he also invoked patriots long dead.
Glenn Beck speaks the "Restoring Honor" rally in front of the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, Aug. 28, 2010. (Photo by Penny Starr/CNSNews.com)
He recited Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address to make the point that what is said at the Restoring Honor rally matters little, if it produces no action afterward on the part of those listening. (“If people awaken and turn around and see that we have lost our way, and they do something about it in their own lives, not through politics but in their own lives, then it's an important day. Otherwise, it was just a nice day out in the sunshine,” Beck told Fox News Sunday after the rally.)
Beck talked about George Washington’s many personal sacrifices for the good of the country. He also expressed the hope that somewhere in the crowd there is another George Washington: “He may be 8 years old,” Beck said, but “this is the moment that he dedicates his life, that he sees giants around him.”
Beck also talked about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s message that the content of one’s character should count more than skin color. Of all the patriots he invoked, Beck said he could relate the most to Martin Luther King – “probably because we haven’t carved him in marble yet.”
The crowd applauded after one of the several large screens set up on the Mall showed clips of MLK making his “I Have a Dream” speech exactly 47 years ago – at that same place.
Interviewed after the rally, Beck told Fox News Sunday the message he tried to convey was to “be your highest self” and to “stand for those things that are right.”
“I think every American has a role in saving this country,” Beck told Fox News’s Chris Wallace. “Whether you're Democrat, Republican, independent, it doesn't matter. We all know the country's in trouble. We may disagree on how to solve it, but we all know the country's in trouble.”
Beck, responding to a question, said the size of the crowd at his rally sends two messages to politicians: First, “a good number of people are not happy with the direction we're going,” he said.
And second – “We want the truth. Americans just want the truth. And that's why I said [at the rally], demand the truth from yourself first before you demand it from someone else.”
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