by Bill Kavanagh: So I was over at Pam’s House Blend this morning and noticed this clip from Pastor Rick Warren about Proposition 8. He’s got a right to be a bigot, I guess. It’s a free country. But if President Johnson had asked a preacher who had just recently told all his minions to get out and fight against the Civil Rights Act to give the invocation at his inaugural in 1964, I guess we’d a' thought he was nuts. What’s more, we’d think he wasn’t too serious in his support for civil rights.
So I’m thinking that President-elect Obama needs to get a grip on this Rick Warren friendship of his. First, Warren’s selection is a real slap in the face to gay Americans and to those of us who love our gay family members and friends. He’s an out-and-out bigot, who’s running around recording pleas for others to be bigoted. Not acceptable as a choice to begin your Presidency, Mr. Obama.
But second, Mr. President-elect, Rick Warren isn’t your friend. I watched that Saddleback Forum debate he sponsored. Time after time, he couched the terms of the debate in such a way that you were at a real disadvantage. He clearly set it up for McCain to walk away the winner. (As Pam puts it, he sandbagged you, man.) It wasn’t just about gay marriage, which, of course, you aren’t really standing up for anyway, unfortunately. The guy obviously just tolerates you; he doesn’t embrace you. So why piss off all of us — and set a homophobic tone— to have him bless your Presidency?
Why?
Rick Warren just oozes sanctimoniousness. I play this clip below because the sanctimony and the lying just flows out of it. First, when he says that five thousand years of Christianity tells us that marriage is an unchanging sacred thing, he’s sanctimonious—and wrong. For quite some time, Christians were urged not to marry. It was giving in to the carnal urge. Celibacy was a virtue. Then, marriage was accepted because Christianity became mainstream. Cultures change religious traditions as they evolve. Come on, aren’t you the religious leader?
Second, when he says that two percent of the country are homosexuals (don’t say ‘gay’ fella, that would be just too respectful, right?), he’s just lying. Even government surveys, which understate the number of gay people in the population, double that number and most researchers would put a more accurate figure at closer to ten percent of the population. He knows that, but his construction is designed to make gay people seem freaky and odd (not like ‘us.’).
Lastly (the clip was recorded before the election), when he says he’s not endorsing a candidate, remember, he’s already sandbagged Obama at his forum repeatedly. So, again, the sanctimoniousness… Please, don’t let this selection be a harbinger of self-flagellation to come in this Presidency. The man is not your friend. You gotta be a friend to have a friend.
Don’t even get me started about the way he treats the court system in this little ditty… go ahead, watch it yourself.
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