At this point there are three issues that I really don’t expect seeing much progress on with our Democratic politicians: gay marriage, abortion, and Israel/Palestine policy. It’s not that I doubt their progressive chops, but I don’t see a political landscape that, currently, will accomodate such a liberal lean.
That said, even I was shocked at the selection of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at Obama’s inauguration. Oh sure, he’s a well-known evangelical and an author, but he’s at a level of crazy that I’d hoped Obama would be beyond. Apparently not.
But Obama had thousands of clergy to choose from, and the choice of Warren is not only a slap in the face to progressive ministers toiling on the front lines of advocacy and service but a bow to the continuing influence of the religious right in American politics. Warren vocally opposes gay marriage, does not believe in evolution, has compared abortion to the Holocaust and backed the assassination of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
On that gay thing, we’re not just talking about simple opposition to gay marriage. That’s not uncommon. Warren, however, is one of those “culture wars” nutjobs who takes the gay debate to its most absurd ends and has no qualms laying into not just the marriage debate, but gays in general:
Warren, a creationist, believes that homosexuality disproves evolution; he told CNN’s Larry King in 2005, “If Darwin was right, which is survival of the fittest then homosexuality would be a recessive gene because it doesn’t reproduce and you would think that over thousands of years that homosexuality would work itself out of the gene pool.”
Warren protests that he’s not a homophobe; it’s just that two dudes marrying, in his mind, is indistinguishable from an adult marrying a child, a brother marrying his sister, or polygamy. He thinks his AIDS relief efforts represent an elevated form of Christianity over those non-evangelical do-gooders whom he compares to “Marxists” because they’re more interested in good works than salvation.
Yeah, one of those guys.
Now, I could shoot down the “if evolution was true” thing pretty much instantly because the premise means it isn’t a choice, since if it was a choice, it wouldn’t disprove evolution, it would just mean people decide to go against the natural order. At the same time he suggests, thanks to conclusion #1, that God made people gay (remember, it can’t be a choice or it doesn’t make sense).
That’s not my point. Wacko evangelicals are a dime a dozen. If I wanted to bitch about crazy pastors I’d have my hands full. The problem is that Captain Progress is having his inauguration “blessed” by a man who’s so far on the opposite side of progressive that if McCain had won and he’d selected Warren the backlash would have been harsh enough he’d have to turn him down. Warren is no less off the wall than Hagee or Falwell.
In his zeal to assure the religious that he’s on their side, Obama picked a guy that’s so far right he’s the exact kind of figure the Republican Party deemed was the cause of their electoral demolition. One thing Obama can’t afford to do right now is piss off the left side en total, and that’s what he’s doing here. Not just the “base”, the moderates and even the more centrist conservatives as well. Everyone in the leftmost 95% of the spectrum is opposite Warren, and his inclusion in the Obama inauguration sets a baaaaaad precedent.
Hey, I found something to get angry about.
Be aware I’m playing Devil’s Advocate here. I’m not supporting Warren, or Defending Obama. Just pointing a thing or two out.
a man who’s so far on the opposite side of progressive
Opposite side of gay rights? Yeah. But, from the guy’s wiki page:
Though maintaining traditional evangelical positions on issues such as abortion and gay marriage, Warren has challenged the conservative views of many evangelical leaders by devoting less attention to these issues and instead calling on the church to focus its efforts on fighting international poverty and disease, expanding educational opportunity for the marginalized, and combatting global warming.
…
Warren has worked to shift the evangelical movement away from a narrow focus on social issues, such as abortion and gay marriage, to a broader social agenda. His five-point plan for global action calls for church-led efforts to tackle global poverty and disease, including the spread of HIV/AIDS, and to support literacy and education efforts around the world. In February 2006, he signed a statement backing a major initiative to combat global warming, thus breaking with some of the U.S.’s high-profile evangelical leaders, such as James Dobson, who had opposed such a move.[2]
Warren has been invited to speak at national and international forums including the United Nations, the World Economic Forum in Davos, the African Union, the Council on Foreign Relations, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, TED, and Time’s Global Health Summit.
Warren was named one of “America’s Top 25 Leaders” in the October 31, 2005 issue of U.S. News and World Report. Warren was elected by TIME magazine as one of 15 World Leaders Who Mattered Most in 2004 and one of the “100 Most Influential People in the World” (2005). Newsweek magazine called him one of “15 People Who Make America Great”, an award given to people who, through bravery or generosity, genius or passion, devote themselves to helping others.
From Secrets of Success.com:
Rick Warren is well-known as the pioneer of the Purpose-Driven paradigm for church health. More than 250,000 pastors and church leaders from over 125 countries have attended Purpose-Driven Church seminars in 18 languages. Peter Drucker calls Rick “the inventor of perpetual revival.”
Rick’s previous book, The Purpose-Driven Church, has sold over one million copies in 20 languages.
Winner of the Gold Medallion Ministry Book of the Year, it is used as a textbook in most seminaries, and was selected as one of the 100 Christian Books That Changed the 20th Century.
In addition, Rick is the author of The Power to Change Your Life, Answers to Life’s Difficult Questions, and Personal Bible Study Methods.
Rick is also the founder of Pastors.com, a global Internet community that serves and mentors those in ministry worldwide. Over 60,000 pastors subscribe to Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox, a free, weekly email newsletter.
When it comes to hotbutton social issues, the guy is a favorite wingnut. However, on a whole host of others, this guy is “on our side”. Pushing for global warming? Helping the Poor? Darfur resolution? AIDS relief? Cut out the gay bashing, and this is the kind of pastor that we would want on our side.
This guy has influence and world acclaim (who else gets to speak at the UN and other global platforms. He also gives marching orders to a ton of pastors.
So yes. This is a big fuck you to the Gay Community. However, it is clearly an effort to reach out, and also to (subtly) get this guy at least half-way in line with Obama’s other policies.
Cutting out the gay stuff, however, is far from palatable. He’s also said some shitty things about jews/muslims, and about Michael Schiavo.
The problem Obama has here is that he’s trying to have his cake and eat it too. He’s putting out the olive branch to the Religious Right, trying to show he’s emotionally bipartisan. That same gesture, he’s putting out the eye of the GLBT community.
But, the Religious Right hate Warren too. Thousands of angry letters about Warren receiving and accepting the invitation from the Right have went into some Christian organization (I forget which). The Right sees Warren as “That Global Warming Guy”. He’s not a huge Fundie Favorite because of his stances.
So instead of bipartisanship, Obama is offending both sides of the aisle.
What surprises me, Hanlon, is that you didn’t get irate that we have a Pastor at the Inauguration; why the hell do we need a religious figure at all?
What surprises me, Hanlon, is that you didn’t get irate that we have a Pastor at the Inauguration; why the hell do we need a religious figure at all?
For the reason I said at the beginning. I recognize that a pastor is going to be there. Frankly I don’t think the religious right should be courted whatsoever and it offends me greatly that we have our political figures trying to compete to show who believes in God the most.
If I was in charge there’d be no “spiritual advisor” or a sermon of any kind at the inauguration, but I realize that, similarly to Warren being severely right, I’m severely left and if Obama came over to my side on things he’d be out of office before you can say “war on Christmas”.
LORD BLESS AMERICA
I don’t know why Obama bothers. He doesn’t need Jesusistan to win, and racism is as ingrained in Jesusistan as gay hating is. They’re never going to come his way.
It seems to me that now would be a wonderful time to peel back the curtain and give us all a look at how they’ve conducted themselves over the last 30 years or so.