Rick Warren to offer prayers at Obama Inauguration
- Thursday, December 18, 2008, 19:07
- World News
- 1 comment
Rick Warren, founder of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California will pray at the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama on January 20 at the White House, Washington D.C.
Obama Rick Warren Inauguration may look like this. File Photo.
Pastor Warren is one of the most influential religious leaders in the States, has championed issues such as a reduction of global poverty, human rights abuses and the AIDS epidemic.
But the founder of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, has also adhered to socially conservative stances — including his opposition to gay marriage and abortion rights that puts him at odds with many in the Democratic Party, especially the party’s most liberal wing.
Prominent liberal groups and gay rights proponents criticized President-elect Barack Obama Wednesday for choosing evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the presidential inauguration next month.
President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday defended his pick of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration next month as one of “a wide range of viewpoints that are presented.”
“And that’s how it should be, because that’s what America is about,” Obama said responding to a question at a news conference about his and Warren’s differences on social issues. “That’s part of the magic of this country is that we are diverse and noisy and opinionated.”
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My letter to HRC: – As your letter to President Elect Obama got right to the point, let me do so as well. My son is 24 and says he is gay. He came out about two years ago. He has been in a relationship with his partner for three years. I am a Christian Minister on the conservative side. What I know is that none of us know enough about human sexuality to be this divided on the issue. My response to my son was to embrace him while leaving the rest of our lives to figure out what the implications of “gay” are. We talk every day, he and his partner are a big part of our lives, and we have never had a cross moment in regard to his lifestyle.
Do we agree on everything about it? No. Do we talk about the things we disagree on? All the time. Because we don’t agree does that make either of us intolerant? Absolutely not. And, because I don’t agree with a lot of what gay is, does that make me homophobic? Not in any measure. It means I simply disagree.
Your letter to President Elect Obama makes HRC seem the most intolerant group around. Calling Rick Warren homophobic is just that, name calling. Rick Warren does not hate nor fear gays, lesbians, transgenders, or bi’s. He simply does not believe in their lifestyle. I know this because I know Rick and have seen him in action for over twenty five years.
Every time I see a letter like yours I am reminded of the same type of letter coming from the Dobson camp. We will never get anywhere doing it like that.
President Elect Obama offers a unique opportunity for opposing sides to sit down at the same table. That is the beginning of tolerance. To push back from the table and refuse to sit down shows your true colors when it come to tolerance. What your letter should have said was, “While we vehemently disagree with your choice of Rick Warren for this position, we look forward to sitting down at the table of discussion to bring this issue front and center so that the country and the world can be moved to a place of unity and human rights for those we represent, for everyone.” That makes you and the movement that is supposed to be helping my son look like the bigger person at the table and it brings legitimacy to HRC in a way name calling will never do.
Today you hurt my son’s future. He is going to have to wait a little longer because of the tactics you chose to employ today.