New Worship Centers of Jeroboam:
And he set the one in Bethel,
and the other put he in Dan.
1 Kings 12:29
Some have pointed out that they represented 2 groups:
1) Bethel is where the patriarchs worshipped. It appealed to the unconverted traditionalists.
They could mix a little more of that old time religion with the new if they wished.
2) Dan was a center with a history of rebellion-as it was the center for a renegade Levite priest.
It is also far north of Jerusalem (at the tip top of Israel on a map) and therefore far away from "Jerusalem" so one could be as bold as one wished. Dan was for the unconverted progressives in the church today.