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Conservative radio and Fox News host Glenn Beck is no stranger to controversy, but now he's drawing the ire of religious groups for encouraging listeners to leave their churches.

BECK: "I beg you, look for the words 'social justice' or 'economic justice' on your church Web site. If you find it, run as fast as you can. Social justice and economic justice, they are code words. If you have a priest that is pushing social justice, go find another parish."

Those code words--Beck later explains--are communism and socialism. An ABC report features a Jesuit priest who takes issue with Beck's message.

 

REPORTER: "Father Jim Martin says most Christian churches believe social justice is central to their faith. The idea you shouldn't just give to the poor, but change the conditions that keep people poor."

 

FATHER MARTIN: "The ultimate defense, I think comes from a bishop in Brazil who said, 'When i feed the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why they're poor, they call me a communist.'"

But an article on CNN.com says Beck isn't alone in trying to equate a church's pursuit of social justice to communism. The article quotes Jerry Falwell, Jr.--the son of televangelist Jerry Falwell, Sr.

 

"He says that those pastors who preach economic and social justice 'are trying to twist the gospel to say the gospel supported socialism. Jesus taught that we should give to the poor and support widows, but he never said that we should elect a government that would take money from our neighbor's hand and give it to the poor.'"

Beck is, himself, a Mormon-convert--a fact that many in the media are highlighting in their coverage. The Roman Catholic journal "First Things" suggests Beck's message might have been directly aimed at the Catholic Church.

"... The term ['social justice'] is most closely associated with the social teachings of the Catholic Church. A Jesuit priest ... coined the term in the 1840s and based the concept on the teachings of Thomas Aquinas. ... Social justice is even given a section in the Catechism of the Catholic Church."

 

MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell talked with the president of a Christian advocacy group who went so far as to urge Christian viewers of Beck's program to boycott the show.

REV. WALLIS: "He actually said social justice is a perversion of the gospel. Now, I believe it's at the heart of the Gospel. So let's have a conversation to decide which is true."

 

O'DONNELL: "Well, he's jumping in as Beck is wont to do--he's plunging into a subject that he knows nothing about. In this case that is Christian theology."

So what do you think? Was Beck out of line? What exactly does "social justice" mean for a church?

Writer: Newsy Staff

Producer: Nathan Giannini