I always take a deep breath in posting something about the conservative wing of the political spectrum in the United States. I am unabashedly not an adherent of the conservative worldview, by and large, and so I know that any critique I make of those who are is clouded by my own bias.

That being said, I cannot keep quiet on Fox News personality’s Glenn Beck’s comments that it is President Obama’s adherence to Liberation Theology that forms the basis of Beck’s mistrust and apparent hostility toward the President and his chosen courses of action to try and address the ills that afflict all Americans.

It seems to me that with the voice to make public comment regarding the state of affairs comes a responsibility to refrain from inflammatory and factually inaccurate rhetoric in order to make a point.  This responsibility applies to Keith Olbermann as well as Mr. Beck.  (Frankly I find Mr. Olbermann’s posture to be disturbing as well from time to time.)

Now that I’ve spent a few minutes on my soapbox, let me offer something that, in my view, paints a more nuanced and faithful picture to the Jesus and the Scripture upon which Liberation Theology is built.

The link here is to a piece called Glenn Beck vs. Christ the Liberator that appeared in the Huffington Post on Monday and is penned (can we really call it that in the digital age?) by Fr. James Martin, S.J.  Fr. Martin is a regular contributor to Huffington (I know, not the most balanced view of things and a bit ‘leftist’) and author of The Jesuits Guide to (Almost) Everything.

I urge you to read it, not necessarily to convince you that I’m right and Glenn Beck is wrong, (though that is what I believe) but chiefly to provide background to Mr. Beck’s claim that Liberation Theology is the basis for the fundamental difference of opinion and view of what’s wrong with our country and how to fix it.