Rick Warren to be main speaker at Ebenezer on King Day

[CatWoman]

Pastor to do invocation at Obama inauguration, sparking criticism because of his stance on gays

By CHRISTOPHER QUINN

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

The Rev. Rick Warren will be the featured speaker at the Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Service in Atlanta the day before he gives the invocation at President-elect Barack Obama’s inauguration.

The 10 a.m. service at Ebenezer Baptist Church on Jan. 19 is the highlight of nearly more than a week of events to fete Atlanta’s famous son.

Warren, a Southern Baptist, pastors the 20,000-member Saddleback Church in Southern California and wrote the best-selling “The Purpose Driven Life.” During the presidential campaign he hosted a nationally televised talk on values with Obama and his opponent, Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain.

Warren opposes same-sex marriage and abortion rights, and Obama’s decision to have him give the inaugural invocation has drawn criticism from some liberal groups and gay rights activists.

Religious conservatives, meanwhile, have have lambasted Warren for accepting the invitation, citing Obama’s stances on civil unions for gay couples and his support of abortion rights.

Warren said in a press release: “I commend President-elect Obama for his courage to willingly take enormous heat by inviting someone like me, with whom he doesn’t agree on every issue, to offer the invocation at his historic inaugural ceremony.

“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.”

Warren also has become known for his work to reduce cases of AIDS and increase care for HIV patients in Africa, and for inspiring evangelicals to take active roles in reducing poverty and other social issues.

http://www.ajc.com/services/content/metro/atlanta/stories/2008/12/23/rick_warren_king_day.html?imw=Y

[TahitiNut]

1. I'll trust Joe Lowery to "take care of business."

Reverend Joe is my kind of pastor. Heroic, inclusive, smart, funny ... and a man of REAL conscience. (Warren can go fuck hisdamnself.)


FWIW ... http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=4707486&mesg_id=4707954

GMTA :hi:
:hug:

[CatWoman]

4. I don 't understand why this guy is getting all of these invitations

:shrug:

:hi:

[DemBones DemBones]

5. His book has sold 7 million copies and churches all over are using it

in study programs. Plus, it's Ebenezer Baptist Church and Warren is a Southern Baptist. He's obviously a hot ticket among Baptists and evangelicals, which may but do not always overlap. And Falwell died.

[jonnyblitz]

6. I actually liked Obama's old preacher that everybody had a

fit over, Reverend Wright. :shrug:

[patrice]

2. "...evangelicals...reducing poverty..." = Dominionism. How do we shine a light on this?

How do we go about assessing and then evaluating the Saddleback ministries?

How do they go about reducing poverty?

What kind of roles do they actually play in other social issues?

I think the DU should research RW et al.

[Wapsie B]

3. You.Have. Got. To. Be. F'n.Kidding Me.