The Restoring America Rally: Calling us back to God and Country

Glenn Beck's gathering at the Lincoln Memorial also honors our armed forces past and present

Forty-seven years ago thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to hear Martin Luther Kings now-immortal speech, "I Have a Dream" during a civil rights rally. This Saturday Glenn Beck was able to gather thousands for another rally - calling for a return to the heart of America.

WASHINGTON, DC (Catholic Online) - Washington weather cooperated with the Restoring Honor Rally on Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial, where a massive crowd had gathered to hear Fox News news host Glenn Beck. Other speakers included former Alaska Governor and Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, Dr. Alveda King and St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa and first baseman Albert Pujols.

Crowd estimates have ranged from 100,000 to 300,000 people. Beck told the media he had heard reports up to 500,000. Numbers were hard to estimate as people had assembled around the memorial, along both sides of the reflecting pool and all the way to the Washington monument. During his early remarks, Beck told gathering that he was humbled by the numbers of people who had come.

Billed as a non-political event, Beck's theme for the rally was "restoring honor," calling America back to her greatness. It was described as a rally that "will honor the troops, unite the American people under the principles of integrity and truth, and make a pledge to restore honor within ourselves and our country."

The message topics covered a breadth of material concerning God and Country, including the honoring of our military - past and present, a review of the countries founding principles and our commitment to faith in God.

In opening the rally, he stated, "Something beyond imagination is happening," he said. "America today begins to turn back to God."

 "For too long, this country has wandered in darkness," adding that it was time to "concentrate on the good things in America, the things we have accomplished and the things we can do tomorrow."

"We have had moments of brilliance and moments of darkness. But this country has spent far too long worried about scars and thinking about the scars and concentrating on the scars. Today, we are going to concentrate on the good things in America, the things that we have accomplished - and the things that we can do tomorrow. The story of America is the story of humankind."

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin was greeted with a resounding ovation.

"It is so humbling to get to be here today with you patriots, you who are motivated and engaged and concerned, knowing never to retreat. I must assume that you too, knowing that we must not fundamentally transform America as some would want, we must restore America and restore her honor.

"Now I've been asked to speak today not as a politician, but something much more," she told the crowd.

"I've been asked to speak as the mother of a soldier and I am proud of that distinction. Say what you want to say about me but I raised a combat vet and you can't take that away from me. No woman gives birth thinking that she will hand over her child to her country but that is what women have done since ancient days."

In her remarks, Palin invoked some great names from history in declaring "We must not fundamentally transform America, as some would want. We must restore America and restore her honor. Here today, at the crossroads of our history, may this day be the change point.

"Look around you. You're not alone. You are Americans! You have the same steel spine and the moral courage of Washington and Lincoln and Martin Luther King. It is in you. It will sustain you as it sustained them."

On the 47th anniversary of King's famed speech, uttered at that same location, a video of the address was shown to the rally on huge TV screen spread throughout the western half of the mall. After this, his niece, Dr. Alveda King, came forward to address the tens of thousands gathered around the reflecting pool.

Like Beck, Alveda King linked the rally to her uncle's speech. "If Uncle Martin were here today, he would surely commend us for giving honor where honor is due," she said.

She stated that America still suffers from racism, which was the one check from his speech that her uncle wanted to have cashed but hasn't yet.

King talked about that check also including the need for prayer in schools and the public square as well as hope for unborn.

For many years Dr. King has been traveling the country, reminding people that her uncle was committed to an America's restoration in more ways than just racism. He was also a strong proponent for the rights of the unborn and the infirm.

Echoing her uncle's immortal words, she talked of her own dreams for the nation's future where "white privilege will become human privilege" and for an America that will "repent of the sin of racism and return to honor."

Glenn Beck's speech, delivered with deep passion and times of emotion was the keynote of the event, called upon Americans to decide "who we are and what it is we believe." 

Referring to King and the rally almost a half-century ago, Beck asked the crowd, "Are we so pessimistic that we no longer believe in the individual, and the power of the individual? Do we no longer believe in dreams?"

One man can change the world!" he declared, challenging the crowd to take up the charge.

Much of his presentation focused on the need to restore what Beck called the key American principles, as well key religious principles, of faith, hope and charity. Awards were presented to individuals for each of the three principles.

He told those in attendance that we have to get rid of anger and reject hatred, adding that "there is a lot we can disagree on, but our values and principles can unite us."

He also appealed for a higher degree of commitment on the part of those present concerning their time, talent and even their tithe, as they intensified involvement in their churches, synagogues, mosques or other houses of worship.

The rally also had an online and on-location fund-raising dimension, with more than $5-million dollars contributed for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. The foundation provides full scholarship grants and educational and family counseling to the surviving children of special operations personnel who die in operational or training missions and immediate financial assistance to severely wounded special operations personnel and their families.

Glenn Beck's rally had come under a firestorm of criticism, particularly from Democrats and the mainstream media.

On the day before the event, Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, told a gathering at the National Press Club in Washington that the rally would be "blatantly political."

"I mean, come on," Van Hollen quipped during an event concerning the House midterm elections, saying that Americans will be turned off by the "outrageous rhetoric on the right."

"Conspiracy theories, rants -- there's certainly an element of the electorate that's charged up by that," Van Hollen said. "But, again, I think it's a turnoff to the sensible center and the people who constitute the key independent voters in the swing districts."

Reverend Al Sharpton, who organized a counter-event on Saturday as well, stated, "When Dr. King and others came here in '63 to ask the government to protect the civil rights of people and the economic rights of people, they came to ask government to protect them from local states that were robbing them of economic and civil rights,"

"...Glenn Beck is coming here to ask government to leave us alone, so he's trying to reverse what King did and there are those of us who are not going to allow that to happen."

At the Sharpton rally, Eleanor Holmes Norton, the District of Columbia's non-voting member of the House, derieded Beck, saying,  "You can't blame Glenn Beck for his March-on-Washington envy. Too bad he doesn't have a message to match the place."

One comment I found seemed to sum up what supporters of the Rally we saying after the event. "Hubby and I watched the entire rally. Not one word of hate, vitriol, racism, or snarkiness. Truly uplifting and inspiring. Kudos, Glenn Beck!"

On her blog, conservative columnist Michelle Malkin wrote, "A while back, Bill O'Reilly reportedly told Glenn Beck that if he got over 100,000 people at today's event, Beck needs to anchor his 8 p.m. time slot. Judging from (a) picture taken at 7:30 this morning I'd say Bill can go ahead and start sliding out of the way."

Cynically, she added, "A friend just emailed to say there are probably a couple hundred thousand people there already - which, after we run it through the MSM Tea Party Crowd Size Re-Estimator, comes to about 12,000."

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Randy Sly is the Associate Editor of Catholic Online and the CEO/Associate Publisher for the Northern Virginia Local Edition of Catholic Online (http://virginia.catholic.org). He is a former Archbishop of the Charismatic Episcopal Church who laid aside that ministry to enter into the full communion of the Catholic Church.
 

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