Everybody does this–you seek confirmation of your beliefs in whatever cultural trimmings you happen to have at hand.

I’d go so far as to say that this is the exact function of religions–to function as repositories of crackpot ideas that survive longer than they should because religious belief is exempt from logical scrutiny. (You believe in reincarnation? Or the transubstantiation of the eucharist? Or that the Angel Moroni guided you to a set of plates that… What are you f*ing nuts! Er I mean, not that there’s anything wrong with that!) Later generations can then pick and choose from these ideas to justify whatever their beliefs happen to be.

I agree with Steve in the sense that it’s the belief itself that’s dangerous. I think the connection to a particular religion is rationalization–it comes after the fact, and springs from a need for some claim to authority.

Religion is like M&Ms–it provides the creamy inner layer of your particular belief with a protective outer coating of dogma. It’s protective because people are afraid to question it. The result is palatable to the masses!

I believe the Temple in Jerusalem will some day be rebuilt, but I have real trouble with some of my co-religionists who want to get started on it next week.

I wouldn’t vote for someone who wanted to compel everyone to convert to Islam, by force if necessary. But my problem would be with the force and compulsion, not with Islam.

You’re right that I have an instinctual unease about demonizing someone for their religion. But I have no problem demonizing someone for inciting crazy actions, however they are inspired.

Do you think it’s fair game if a candidate for vice president publicly asks God to build a natural-gas pipeline, and applauds with a big smile on her face when the minister of her former church tells the congregation that God has special plans for her state after the Apocalypse?

Would you think it’s fair game if we had a president who fervently believes that Jesus will return to earth after Armageddon, and who announces that he’s going to break off negotiations with Iran, North Korea, Russia, and any other nuclear country you can name?

Would you have some questions if one of the Senate candidates to succeed Ted Kennedy were a follower of Wahhabism?

The only difference is that Beck is a talk-show host, not a candidate for public office. So maybe he ought to be cut a bit of slack on that basis. But religion matters. We’re wrong to pander to it and we’re wrong to ignore it. If extreme religious beliefs animate some of Beck’s opinions, well, let’s hear about it.

Beck predicts the apocalypse – “We’re all going to die soon” – is that also part of Mormon religious heritage?

Glenn Beck is a huge fan of Cleon Skousen, an influential midcentury LDS figure. He’s praised Skousen on air and written the foreword for one of his books.

Prior to the ’08 presidential election, Glenn Beck played audio of Ezra Taft Benson–who later became president of the LDS Church–warning of a stealth communist threat that would survive the Cold War and lead to the destruction of American freedom. This, Beck said, was a pretty good description of where we are right now.

In addition, Glenn Beck has explicitly referenced, on air, a well-known Mormon belief–attributed to Mormonism’s founder Joseph Smith–that the US Constitution will one day “hang by a thread” and be rescued by Mormons.

Glenn Beck has also, on air, invoked Mormon scriptural understandings about why God cast down Satan (i.e., because the latter sought to deny humans free moral agency) to condemn government as “the Devil.”

If Bob DeLeo makes similar overt nods to Catholicism–if he quotes from a papal encyclical or two, say, or lauds the keen insights of Josemaria Escriva–I’ll write about it with relish.

I happen to be anti-Communist myself – is it because I’m a closet Mormon? Or just a child of the Fifties?

Because Mormons are a religious minority, it’s easy to make them mysterious scapegoats.

Mr. Reilly – Finding a fellow adherent who also thinks Beck is giving Mormons a bad rap is a scant fig leaf. George W. Bush and Hillary Clinton belong to the same church. How would you twist that into saying a ‘fellow adherent’ says each is wacky?

Also, I’d urge you to take another look at the quote in my piece from Rory Swensen, a Mormon who’s very concerned about the potential impact on his community of Beck’s chosen LDS emphases.