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The clergy chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to pray at his inauguration fill separate symbolic roles: One is a nod to the civil rights activists who made Obama’s election possible. The other is an overture to conservative Christians who rankles some Obama supporters. –
ABP reports Pastor Rick Warren termed criticism of his selection to pray the
invocation at President-elect Barack Obama’s Jan. 20 inauguration “hate
speech” and “Christophobia” in a video message on the Saddleback Church
website.
“A lot of you have written to me this week and said, ‘Rick, how are you
going to respond to all these, you know, these false accusations and
attacks, outright lies and hateful slander, and really a lot of hate
speech?’” Warren said in a 22-minute message to church members. “It’s
what I would call Christophobia — people who are afraid of any
Christian.”
OneNewsNow reports A leading black conservative pastor and political activist says the
high level of anger in the homosexual community over president-elect
Barack Obama’s selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his
inauguration next month “shows the nature of the culture war we are in.”
The Christian Post reports Though Etheridge said she had only heard of Warren after “the man we
(the gay community) helped get elected seemingly invited a gay-hater to
address the world at his inauguration,” she decided to have her manager
reach out to Warren and say “In the spirit of unity I would like to
talk to him.” “He (Warren) explained in very thoughtful words that as a
Christian he believed in equal rights for everyone,” Etheridge recalled
in an article that appeared last week in The Huffington Post. “He believed every loving relationship should have equal
protection. He struggled with proposition 8 because he didn’t want to
see marriage redefined as anything other than between a man and a
woman,” she continued.
OnTopMag reports Saying that the nation needs to get
beyond “shaking our fists” across a “jagged edge” of a
divide, David Axelrod, President-elect Barack Obama’s senior adviser,
has defended the choice of Rev. Rick Warren to give the inaugural
invocation. But a new editorial in the New York Times arrives
at an opposite conclusion.
The Wall Street Journal reports For about a generation, many on the left have believed that active and
unapologetic intolerance of the right was justified because its views
on matters such as abortion and gay rights were simply unacceptable.
This moral somersault may work for them, but to the average American
voter, a full-throated assault on the likes of Rick Warren for being
“wrong” on two of many issues looks like simple intolerance.
________________________________________________________
Boston.com reports In the video, Warren criticizes the media, and, in particular,
bloggers, for fueling the controversy. And he says the criticism of him
in the wake of his selection has been characterized by “a lot of hate
speech” and by “Christophobia — people who are afraid of any
Christian.”
“Our nation is being destroyed by the demonization of differences,”
he says. “The fact that an evangelical pastor believes in keeping the
historic definition of marriage — that’s not news. The fact that the
gay community would disagree with me — that’s not news either. The
real story is that a couple of different American leaders have chosen
to model civility for the rest of the nation.”
Christian Newswire reports Bill Keller, the world’s leading internet evangelist and founder of
Liveprayer.com, lambasted Pastor Rick Warren - author of The Purpose
Driven Life - for giving President-elect Barack Hussein Obama
credibility by agreeing to deliver the invocation at Obama’s upcoming
inauguration.
AlterNet reports So, the real Rick Warren is someone who fights the culture war with a
velvet glove. He’s a religious right figure who’s figured out a new
strategy to move into a Democratic post-Bush era and still hold
influence. He even — he freely admitted to a reporter from the Wall Street Journal
that the principal difference, the only difference, between him and
James Dobson is a matter of tone. And when I called Rick Warren’s PR
handlers, you know, the people that are responsible for making him into
this major national figure, from Larry A. Ross Communications, they
kind of laughed at the idea that he was America’s pastor. They said
he’s consistent with what the Bible teaches. He’s not trying to be
America’s pastor or whatever.
_________________________________________________
The LA Times reports Reaction in the entertainment industry — where interestingly, Warren
has his own powerful ties — has been swift, angry and bitter. (And
nothing undermines a good party quite like disappointment and hurt.). “Barack Obama is a very smart student of history,” said longtime celebrity publicist and gay activist Howard Bragman.
“He saw that Bill Clinton did damage to his early presidency by
appearing to pander to the gay and lesbian community. Obama has chosen
a different tack.
AP reports Under fire for opposing gay marriage, influential evangelical pastor
Rick Warren said Saturday that he loves Muslims, people of other
religions, Republicans and Democrats, and he also loves “gays and
straights.” The 54-year-old pastor and founder of Saddleback
Church in Southern California told the crowd of 500 that it’s
unrealistic to expect everyone to agree on everything all the time. “You don’t have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand,” said Warren.
Bloomberg reports President-elect Barack Obama
shouldn’t have selected Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural
invocation because the evangelical pastor has made offensive
comments about gays, said Representative Barney Frank. “Giving that kind of mark of approval and honor to someone
who has frankly spoken in ways I and many others have found
personally very offensive, I thought that was a mistake for the
president-elect to do,” said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat,
today on CNN’s “Late Edition.”
_________________________________
AP reports The Rev. Rick Warren, who will give the invocation, is the most
influential pastor in the United States, and a choice that has already
caused problems for Obama.
Warren is a Southern Baptist who holds traditional religious beliefs and endorsed California’s Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage. But he also wants to broaden the evangelical agenda to include fighting global warming, poverty and AIDS.
The Rev. Joseph Lowery, 87, is considered the dean of the civil rights movement.
For the benediction at the Jan. 20 swearing-in, he says he will pray
that the “spirit of fellowship and oneness” at the inauguration endures
throughout Obama’s presidency.
The Wall Street Journal reports In choosing evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at
his inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama is associating himself
with one of the most popular religious figures in the nation, reaching
out to conservative America and proving he’s willing to take some flak
from the liberal flank of his party.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports San Francisco’s gay community, which threw its political weight behind
Barack Obama’s campaign, is protesting the president-elect’s decision
to invite an evangelical pastor known for anti-gay comments to give the
inaugural prayer.
Politico reports gay leaders are furious with Obama.
CNA reports Some pro-life individuals have also criticized Rev. Warren’s cooperation with Obama, a staunch advocate of abortion rights. CBN reports The Brody File has been flooded with emails and most of them absolutely
rip Pastor Warren for doing this. Below is but a very small sampling.
Albert Mohler at Crosswalk blogs condemning letters from all sides here.
AP further reports But Obama told reporters in Chicago that America needs to “come
together,” even when there’s disagreement on social issues. “That
dialogue is part of what my campaign is all about,” he said. Obama also said he’s known to be a “fierce advocate for equality” for gays and lesbians, and will remain so. The transcript is here.
The LA Times blogs Obama has said he doesn’t agree with some things Warren says
and vice versa, but Warren invited him to speak in August at the
Saddleback Forum. And, Obama adds, disagreeing with someone doesn’t
mean being disagreeable to each other. That’s something his campaign
has preached about for two years. Listen to Obama explain it himself on
the video.
AFP reports Obama noted that Warren invited him to speak at Saddleback a few years
ago “despite his awareness that I held views that were entirely
contrary to his” on gay rights and abortion.
WND reports Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., an outspoken homosexual, said he was “very disappointed” with Obama’s choice, according to The Hill, and insisted it is irrelevant that Warren had invited Obama to the Saddleback forum, since McCain was there.
Dr. Rick Warren responded “Hopefully individuals passionately expressing opinions from the
left and the right will recognize that both of us have shown a
commitment to model civility in America. “The Bible admonishes us to pray for our leaders. I am honored by
this opportunity to pray God’s blessing on the office of the President
and its current and future inhabitant, asking the Lord to provide
wisdom to America’s leaders during this critical time in our nation’s
history.”
Operation Rescue condemned Warren’s statement. People for the American Way did likewise. HLI ditto. A reasoned response from the left is here.
David Waters at Newsweek comments I think the most interesting question won’t
be answered until Warren speaks on Jan. 20. To whom (Whom?) will Warren
deliver the Inauguration’s opening prayer? Will his language be
inclusive or exclusive? Will he pray to the sort of generic Creator God
mentioned in the Declaration of Independence? Will he pray to the
monotheistic and paternalistic God the Father? Or will he, as a
conservative Christian pastor, pray in the name of Jesus? Does it matter?
The NY Times reports “I’m all for Rick Warren being at the table,” Bishop Robinson said,
“but we’re not talking about a discussion, we’re talking about putting
someone up front and center at what will be the most watched
inauguration in history, and asking his blessing on the nation. And the
God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.”
USA Today reports In 2000, Lowery, gave what was described as an electrifying speech
calling for gay clergy, to the dinner during the general convention of
the United Methodist Church, the nation’s second largest Protestant
denomination.
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