OAKLAND, CA — ColorOfChange.org—the organization behind the advertising drop-off of Glenn Beck’s television show—today asked its members to join with Sojourners, a Christian social justice organization, in confronting Beck’s recent attack on churches that preach social and economic justice. The Fox News Channel host called on his viewers on March 2 to disavow from their churches and report them to authorities if the institutions are preaching social justice.

Last week, Sojourners launched an online petition allowing signers to “report” themselves to Beck, declaring “I’m a Christian who believes in the biblical call to social justice.”

“For many of our members, Beck’s latest attack is a second hit, as a lot of them are Christian and believe in upholding the tradition of preaching social justice in the church,” said James Rucker, executive director of ColorOfChange.org.

“While the ColorOfChange community is not defined by any particular faith, we think this petition is a great way for those of us who are Christian to push back against Glenn Beck’s attack on values that so many of us see as central to our faith and morality.”

The effort began last week when Rev. Jim Wallis, president of Sojourners, sent an e-mail asking Sojourners members to sign a petition declaring themselves proud church members who practice and preach social justice. Since then, Wallis has repeatedly called for a public dialogue with Beck on the meaning of social justice.

“We have a wonderful opportunity for the two of us to sit down together and have an open and public discussion on what social justice really means and how Christians are called to engage in the struggle for justice,” Wallis wrote in an open letter to Beck published Friday. “Why don’t we do that, on your show, or in some other venue.”

Beck responded with a threat, saying “we’ve been compiling information on you, your cute little organization, and all the other cute little people that are with you. And when the hammer comes, it’s going to be hammering hard and all through the night, over and over.” However, Beck has not said whether he will accept the invitation from Wallis for a public dialogue.

Soon after finding out about the campaign, executives at ColorOfChange.org reached out to Sojourners to see how ColorOfChange members could support the effort.

Today, ColorOfChange.org sent out an e-mail to members who have previously signed petitions confronting Beck’s rhetoric – a list of over 285,000 members – asking them to sign the Sojourners petition. ColorOfChange’s email to members today described Beck’s comments as “an attack on values that are at the core of many religious traditions, including most Black churches — values that were central in the civil rights movement and the fight to end slavery.”

ColorOfChange.org has been fighting against Beck’s fear-mongering and race-baiting for almost a year. Disturbed by comments Beck made on Fox & Friends calling President Obama a “racist” who has “a deep-seated hatred for white people,” they called on their members to sign a petition informing those companies advertising on his program of his controversial comments and asking them to drop the show from their advertising schedule.

To date, over 100 companies in both the United States and the United Kingdom have dropped his ads or pledged to no longer advertise on his show going forward.

For more information, please visit www.sojo.net.

Sojourner’s petition can be found here:
http://go.sojo.net/campaign/glennbeck_socialjustice

With more than 600,000 members, ColorOfChange.org is the largest African-American online political organization in the country.