The choice of Rick Warren to do the invocation for Obama's inauguration is all the rage. Granted, people like Hillary Clinton has also participated in events sponsored by Warren in the past. And yes, Warren is a complicated, controversial person in the evangelical community. Perhaps there was the same amount of rage when Reverend Billy Graham (anti-gay rights) did the invocation at both of Clinton's inaugural ceremonies. That's another story.
However, looking at the full picture of Rick Warren, his stances on other important issues besides gay marriage (and Prop 8 support) are certainly needed from the evangelical community.
The New York Times mentioned a little about that today:
So upon reading that information, I did a search of how Warren is seen with the Christian Right and the evangelical community. Guess what... they don't want him allied with "liberal causes" and particularly with Barack Obama. This is mostly due to their wretched notion that Obama (and all liberals) like to kill babies and apparently have infanticide parties. Here's a taste of that along with a list of the Usual Suspects:
Rick Warren/Barack Obama AIDS Partnership Must End, Say Pro-Life Groups...we join with one voice in expressing our indignation and opposition to Rick Warren's welcoming of Senator Barack Obama to his church on December 1, 2006. Rick Warren is bringing Senator Obama to his church to speak for his Global Summit on AIDS and the church and to take an AIDS test in front of the cameras at a noon press conference.
(snip)
You cannot fight one evil while justifying another.
The evangelical church can provide no genuine help for those who suffer from AIDS if those involved do not first have their ethic of life firmly rooted in the Word of God. Accordingly, we call on Pastor Rick Warren to rescind his invitation to Senator Obama immediately. (snip)
Phyllis Schlafly, President and Founder, Eagle Forum
Judie Brown, President, American Life League
Tim Wildmon, President American Family Association and American Family Radio
Joe Scheidler, President, Pro-Life Action League
Cheryl Sullenger, Operation Rescue
Matt Trewhella, Missionaries to the Preborn
Brannon Howse, President, Worldview Weekend, Christian Worldview Network
Janet Folger, President, Faith2Action
Peter LaBarbera, President, Americans for Truth
Greg Cunningham, President, Center for Bioethical Reform, Lake Forest, California
Peggy Hamill, Director, Pro-Life Wisconsin
Cal Zastrow, Christian Action for the Preborn
Dr. Vic Eliason, President, VCY America Radio Network
Ingrid Schlueter, Host, Crosstalk Radio Talk Show
Kevin McCullough, Host, Musclehead Revolution, WMCA Radio
Chris Rosebrough, Capo Valley Church, San Juan Capistrano, California
Rev. Ken Silva, Apprising Ministries
Linda Harvey, President, Mission America
http://www.christiannewswire.com/news/791771591.html And yes, Hillary Clinton has also participated in Warren's AIDS conference. Where was the outrage when she did that? Add that the Christian Right thinks that while AIDS is a tragedy, it's nothing compared to abortion... hence Warren is seen as wasting his time on his AIDS awareness efforts because the AIDS victims aren't Christian enough:
Hillary Clinton Speaks at Rick Warren's AIDS ConferenceIs Hillary really interested in partnering with evangelical churches across America to address our social ills? If so, this would be evident in her actions prior to this conference. If such action is almost entirely absent from her past public record, is it more reasonable to think that an appearance at Warren's conference is nothing more than an attempt to woo evangelical voters?
(snip)
According to the Center for Disease Control about 17,000 AIDS-related deaths in the United States in 2005. Certainly 17,000 dead is very tragic. And I know Warren's plans extend beyond the U.S. to Africa. But take the U.S. abortion numbers and compare: by conservative estimates you've got more than one million abortions each year in the U.S. And you have almost 50 million abortions since 1973.
17,000 lives lost versus more than 1 million lives lost annually. You tell me which issue seems to be more weighty.
http://str.typepad.com/weblog/2007/11/this-bothers-me.html Additionally, there is evidence that Warren may not believe in changing the parameters of marriage as it stands now, but is certainly for, as he terms it, "full equal rights for everybody in America". This would mean he's at least for domestic partnerships and civil unions. Add that he thinks divorce is a greater "threat" than gay marriage:
Steven Waldman: Which do you think is a greater threat to the American family? Divorce or gay marriage?
Rick Warren:Haha! That’s a no-brainer. Divorce. There’s no doubt about it. Here’s an interesting thing. The divorce statistics are quite bandied around. People say, well half of marriages end in divorce. That’s just not true. Forty percent of first-time marriages end in divorce. Forty percent. About 61% of second-time marriages end in divorce, and almost 75% of third-time marriages end in divorce. So the odds get worse, and what’s balancing this out when you hear 50% ends in divorce, it’s just not true. The majority of marriages do last. But what you have is these people who are second, third, fourth time, who are getting married again and so the divorces keep coming in to equal the marriages.
(snip)
Steven Waldman: Now you, one controversial moment for you in the last election was your support for proposition 8 in California. A couple of questions about that. First, to clarify, do you support civil unions or domestic partnerships?
Rick Warren: I don’t know if I use the term there, but I support full equal rights for everybody in America. I don’t believe that we should have unequal rights depending on particular lifestyles or whatever stuff like that. So I fully support equal rights.
http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2008/12/16/7415OK. Do I like Warren. I don't hate him. I actually think there is a chance that, if faced with more solid evidence and examples of those married and of the same sex, he might actually change his ways. Warren is somewhat hated by the Christian Right for being somewhat of a renegade, so there is indeed a chance that he might "see the light" with wanting to fight for what he called "full equal rights for everybody in America".
It's easy to demonize Warren on face value.
It also takes doing some research and trying to understand all the complexities and arguments on the issue of gay marriage.
Am I for gay
or same sex marriage? Indeed!
Do I think we need to get domestic partnerships and civil unions (which people like Warren support) made into law first? Yes, please!