NPR HEADLINE: "Orange County pastor Rick Warren's prominence grows"

[Bluebear]

It's hard to imagine Pastor Rick Warren's profile growing any larger. Warren heads Saddleback Church in Orange County, one of the largest congregations in the United States. He's written a best-selling Christian devotional. But on Tuesday, his audience will expand even more when he delivers the official prayer at the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama in Washington D.C....

Stoltze: On the Internet, 54-year-old Warren speaks to pastors around the world and posts his sermons. He's traveled the globe urging Christians to embrace his five-point plan to recruit people of all faiths to fight poverty, AIDS, and climate change.

Warren: The United Nations has failed, and the United States has failed. There's only one organization or organizations big enough to take it on – it is the spiritual bodies...

Stoltze: While he hosted a presidential candidates' forum last year, Warren has not been particularly active in electoral politics. President-elect Obama's invitation to offer the inaugural invocation next week has thrust him onto the political stage. Fuller's Kurt Frederickson said evangelicals will watch closely.

Frederickson: This is a huge event. I want to know how broadly he is going to define his religion or how narrowly he is going to define his religion. Is he going to speak from his heart about a very strong sense of conviction, or is he going to offer a broader embrace of the entire nation?

http://www.scpr.org/news/stories/2009/01/16/08_warren_profile_01160.html

[leftstreet]

1. This still just makes me sick

:puke:

[smorgma]

21. Obama wants us to Embrace Uncle Good-But-Homphobic....

Embracing Uncle Good-But-Homophobic: Why "Reaching Across the Aisle" to Rick Warren Does Not Feel Safe to Everyone

Snip:

Warren's defenders are playing the role of the straight family members who enable the homophobic (or racist or sexist) uncle. They are asking GLBT people to look at the bigger picture and to accept a "good guy" with troubling politics because there is room at the table for everyone. Perhaps this is the best course of action. But these types of deals ultimately require that some groups make sacrifices not shared by the whole. The stakes become even greater and more volatile when the situation involves concrete policy and not mere symbolism. I cannot stop wondering whether Warren's defenders would demand the same type of sacrifices by other groups -- or whether they would make the same sacrifices themselves.

[Bluebear]

23. welcome to DU!

[ColbertWatcher]

35. Great link and welcome to DU. I hope you post more. n/t

[nichomachus]

2. No -- it's just a silly two-minute speech -- it won't do anything for him

:sarcasm:

[Tesha]

20. You knew that was a bullshit excuse the moment you heard it.

I knew it.

Lots of people knew it.

Now get back under the bus!

Tesha

[Bluebear]

22. You said it.

[QC]

3. HE'S JUST GOING TO SING ONE SONG!1!!!!11

[mdmc]

4. At least it aint Hagee or the Phelps dude

Obama could have done worse...

[Bluebear]

5. 'Obama could have done worse...' - - - he also could have done much better.

[nichomachus]

6. He couldn't have done a lot worse

And he could have done a lot lot lot better

Phelps is clearly a nut, as is Hagee -- but Warren has been polished with respectability by this and is positioning himself to become the Pope of America. That's why this is so bad. Phelps would have been a sad joke, as would Hagee.

[leftstreet]

15. Yep. We're getting our first Fundy Pope of Amerika

USA !!11111!!

[Bluebear]

17. A fundy pope who is envious of Hitler's adoring throng, yet!

[Bluebear]

26. .

[mdmc]

10. oh, yeah

he should of had Bush's pastor - the one that opposed invading Iraq...
That would have been good and still reached out to cross the divide...

[Lance_Boyle]

8. well, we still lack the technology to reanimate Jim Jones for the speech

So could he have done worse with a LIVING godtard? Probably. But *why* should our president-elect plumb the depths like this?

[mdmc]

16. He wants it all

It is not enough to have a majority and be president. He wants everyone to see him as their leader...

Obama thinks that the GOP can come to love him. That Raygun was great, because he was popular.

Obama wants to be a nice, kind Raygun. A kinder, gentler Raygun... Even Poppy knew that Raygun was a sick (mentally) hateful man...

[readmoreoften]

9. Geez. FRED PHELPS is the bar now? Talk about low expectations of your president.

[bigwillq]

11. He could've done a hell of a lot better, too!

:mad:



:puke:

[Maven]

13. Not by much

Weak post.

[ColbertWatcher]

18. Sorry, but Warren is the same as Hagee and Phelps.

In fact, he might even be worse since he doesn't have the integrity to be honest about who he is and what he believes.

[mdmc]

true

enough

[PM Martin]

7. Obama really should have chosen someone who

reflects his beliefs, instead of this bigot.

[Maven]

12. IT'S JUST A TWO MINUTE PRAYER!!111!

:argh:

[Solly Mack]

14. Blech

[Obamanaut]

19. A soothing ointment will reduce the prominance. nt

[AntiFascist]

24. This news item sounds particularly dangerous...

theocracy anyone?

[Starry Messenger]

25. I'm probably going to go straight to hell for this...

http://www.sfweekly.com/php/advice/index.php?coltype=SavageLove

Has everyone voted for the new definition for "saddlebacking" yet? I'm leaning towards #5...

[ColbertWatcher]

27. Oh, that's just simply beautiful! Thank you for the link! n/t

[Starry Messenger]

29. No problem.

I just read the print article today and was glad to have a place to post the link. :)

[Luminous Animal]

37. Definitely #5! (n/t)

[Hannah Bell]

28. dominionist, exhorts children to be like hitler youth & gives them anti-semitic

comics, homophobe, gets US tax money to convert & preach abstinence in africa, coincidentally near ongoing conflicts over resources, dead brother a financier-type...


This guy gets a key spot at the "Democratic" inaugural.

Sold to the rank & file as "reaching out" to fundies.

Bull, bull, bull.

The "reaching out" is to Warren's big donors, a power block who are not nice people.

You don't think this guy got where he is on his own, do you? Just patiently building his brokeback church with the help of the lord?

he got where he is because he has big money backing him, that's why he gets book contracts, publicity, gov't $$$$, media time, & hype through the established fundy networks.

and that power faction is who obama's "reaching out" to, not ordinary fundies.

it's disgusting. & doesn't bode well for the country, when the supposed "liberal" wing is going along with this creeping fascism.

[ColbertWatcher]

31. Don't forget their version of "abstinence" in Africa is killing more people ...

... than they'll ever save.

[Hannah Bell]

32. yep. he's so creepy, in so many ways, i don't see how anyone can defend the decision.

& i'll bet quite a bit of that "faith-based" gov't $$ goes to fat salaries for warren-ites & bribes to african compradors.

& i'll bet, if you really looked close, you'd find some ties to the current conflicts in africa as well. spying, arms shipments, something like that. shades of pat robertson & his "operation blessing" scam.

http://www.skeptictank.org/robem2.htm

[ColbertWatcher]

33. Yeah. (EDITED TO ADD)

Unless a government can genuinely help their citizens, sending aid to them funds corruption.

I think I just realized that Dominionists are like corrupt African governments.

And regarding your link: Ah, yes! Pat Robertson and his not-so-secret diamond "investments."

I wonder which natural resource Warren has his eyes on in Uganda?

Hmm, a quick peek at Wikip*dia and Lake Victoria comes to mind. Besides the dam, I wonder what other energy sources will be exploited?

(EDITED TO ADD)
(I should have said besides clean drinking water)

Here is an interesting link about oil alternative energy sources in Africa: http://www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/newrels/203-oil.html

[Bluebear]

36. Exactly.

[defendandprotect]

30. If he isn't helping to overturn "Man's Dominion Over Nature" . . . he's not

reacting honestly re Global Warming ---

And, who could trust any head of organized patriarchal religion --- ??

It's based on male superiority . . .

[Luminous Animal]

34. To all those who defended Obama

for choosing this notorious bigot.

Fuck you.

[Orsino]

38. That can't be true.

"It's only a prayer," we are told, and therefore it can't possibly increase his prominence. x(

[ProgressIn2008]

39. Ah, fundies with more prominences and legitimacy. What could go wrong?

This is just odious:

"The United Nations has failed, and the United States has failed. There's only one organization or organizations big enough to take it on – it is the spiritual bodies."

Again, what could go wrong?

[Bluebear]

40. Got theocracy?