The liberal case for Warren

[kstewart33]

Put differences aside, let us pray together
By Cynthia Tucker, Editorial Page Editor
The Atlanta Journal Constitution
Sunday, December 21, 2008

Like President-elect Barack Obama, I disagree with many of the views espoused by the Rev. Rick Warren. Pastor of an Orange County megachurch and best-selling author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” Warren vehemently opposes abortion and same-sex marriage. He has gone so far as to compare gay marriage with incest, polygamy and pedophilia, which I find deeply offensive.

But as a member of the Christian left, I would still bow my head for a prayer led by the Rev. Warren (assuming he doesn’t disparage any group in the process). There are some important issues on which we agree, after all: Christ’s ministry emphasized an obligation to help the needy; Christians ought to be good stewards of the planet; and, most important, God’s love is for all.

Gay-rights activists are outraged that Warren has been invited to give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration, a platform which, they believe, legitimizes Warren’s discriminatory views. Some even seem to think that Obama agrees with Warren’s offensive rhetoric about same-sex marriage.

That’s ironic. Gay-marriage advocates have adopted the same overwrought logic that many conservatives applied to Obama’s relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, retired pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago. How could Obama listen to Wright’s offensive rants all those years unless he agreed with them, they asked.

More at link:http://www.ajc.com/opinion/content/opinion/tucker/stories/2008/12/21/tucked_1221.html

[BlooInBloo]

1. (pukes)

[mondo joe]

2. So the liberal case is that he's a lying pig, but he has some nice things to say about poverty?

Is that it?

[Dennis Donovan]

3. Hitler was very kind to his dog and his secretary...

;)

[mondo joe]

6. He was efficient. The trains ran on time. NT

[Dennis Donovan]

9. Wasn't that Mussolini?

:D

[mondo joe]

15. Okay, I'm giving him credit then. For the trains to run on time in Italy really

is kind of miraculous.

[RetroLounge]

4. Busllshit. There *IS* no Liberal case for Warren.

:puke:

RL

[Hepburn]

10. Ditto.

A liberal case for a gay-hating POS minister???

:puke:

[sarcasmo]

5. I guess I am not a liberal. This makes me puke!

[xchrom]

7. and that's the problem with too many leftist christians --

when the nazi christians get in everybodys face -- and their drawers -- leftist christian get busy saying we disagree but we are brothers in christ.

IT HASN'T WORKED.

[mondo joe]

12. Democrats have largely abandoned committment to civil rights.

Civil rights are now a luxury.

[xchrom]

18. i agree with that too. nt

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Hitler Loved Animals

Not the same thing, but still...

[RainDog]

11. You notice he didn't invite Wright to give in the invocation, tho, did he?

Both Wright and Warren, imo, are assholes and idiots... and I'm not a "gay rights activist." To label those who find this disgusting "activists" is an attempt to marginalize those who do not find common ground with people like Warren because he and others like him are hate-mongers.

Warren is a preacher of hate.

This is the person Obama and his team have chosen: a person who preaches hate.

Why not ask David Duke to speak at the inauguration? He wouldn't necessarily mention how much he hates blacks or that he has tried, his entire life, to make their lives miserable. Why not be inclusive? Why not reach out to racists and neo-nazis, too?

[gratuitous]

13. Oh, yes, always assuming he doesn't disparage any group

Why ask someone who has done that in the past to offer the invocation in the first place? Watching this nimnol turn herself into a pretzel trying to bend her logic to justify this is just sickening.

[Fumesucker]

14. I like Cynthia Tucker and I usually agree with her..

But not this time..

It seems that quite a few even leftist Christians just can't let go of thinking that any "man of God" is at heart a decent person, Obama fits into this category IMO.

It's going to be most illuminating to see whether Obama drops Warren the same way he dropped his own pastor of many years after criticism, that will tell us whether he listens to criticism from his own base as much as he does criticism from those who in theory he is opposed to.

I suspect and fear that criticism from the right will effect Obama more than criticism from those who are his strongest supporters.

[trotsky]

17. Bingo.

It seems that quite a few even leftist Christians just can't let go of thinking that any "man of God" is at heart a decent person, Obama fits into this category IMO.

I think you are absolutely correct.

[spanone]

16. that's not a 'liberal case' it's a 'christian case'

[mondo joe]

19. Most astute comment. The thread should die now, because after this there's no more

worthy commentary.

[Nite Owl]

20. But what happened to Wright?

To appease the right he was sent under the bus in a flash. Warren? Not so much, huh?

[mondo joe]

21. Cost / benefit ratio. Throwing Wright under the bus is worth the benefit to Obama, same

as throwing gays under.