Glenn Beck’s path to unity a rocky road

Glenn Beck’s rally in Washington Saturday was a picture of unity on stage, but that wasn’t easy to accomplish, according to interviews with Christian ministers involved in planning the event.

Beck, a Fox News personality, faced major objections and concerns within the evangelical community prior to the event due to his status as a Mormon who planned to lead a spiritual rally involving tens of thousands of Protestant Christians. Those concerns remain for numerous top Christian leaders.

Beck also had to overcome major reservations held by black ministers he recruited to attend and appear on stage with him. Some African-American leaders rejected the invitation, fearing that they would be used as props to give Beck cover after he came under criticism from some black leaders for holding the event on the same spot Martin Luther King, Jr., gave his “I Have a Dream” speech 47 years prior.

But African-American leaders involved in the event, and some who decided not to come, said they were happy with Beck’s rally and the way that black ministers were involved.

“When the rally went off, the concerns I had were done away with. I might have had some concerns initially, but those concerns were dropped,” said Rev. William Owens, chairman of the Coalition of African-American Pastors, a 72-year old leader who organized with King in Memphis during the Civil Rights movement.

Privately in conversations with other leaders, Owens was one of the most vociferous critics of Beck in the days leading up to the event. Though he was invited to attend by Alveda King, the niece of the civil rights leader who spoke at the rally, he refused to attend.

“The initial concern was he would have just a few black people, just to show off, just a few,” said Owens, who is conservative and whose son is heavily involved in speaking at Tea Party events. “From the sound of it, what I heard was they were using blacks as tokens, as camouflage.

“But I didn’t see that happen. I think Glenn was very sincere,” Owens said. “Glenn Beck told the truth, very candid, very honest. It was all inclusive. So I didn’t have any problem with it.”

One African-American leader who was instrumental in recruiting clergy to come said in an interview that Beck and the rally’s organizers began reaching out to black pastors in earnest in May. Much of the outreach from Beck began with Alveda King, who then worked through close friends of hers.

Dean Nelson, the vice chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a D.C.-based black conservative group, was one of King’s closest friends that she persuaded to help her recruit other African-American ministers. He then worked with her to bring in others.

Nelson said in an interview that he was nonetheless concerned about the appearance of numerous African-American ministers on stage at an event with an estimated crowd of 100,000 to 300,000 people that was almost entirely white.

“I said several times that this was going to appear that this was simply window dressing. I was concerned about that, and I’m certain that many people have made those assertions,” he said.