Rick Warren of Saddleback Church has been tapped by Obama to give the inaugural invocation. WTF? Rick Warren? He’s basically James Dobson in Dr Phil’s goatee. In 2004 Warren declared that marriage, reproductive choice, and stem cell research were "non-negotiable" issues of Christian voters, yet those things were part of Obama’s platform!
Here’s what Rick Warren had to say to Belief.net about Prop 8 and gays:
And the reason I supported Proposition 8, is really a free speech issue…Most people know, I have many gay friends. I’ve eaten dinner in gay homes. No church has probably done more for people with AIDS than Saddleback Church. Kay and I have given millions of dollars out of Purpose Driven Life helping people who got AIDS through gay relationships. So they can’t accuse me of homophobia. I just don’t believe in the redefinition of marriage.
I smelled some very not so veiled homo-hatery here.
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Hey Rick, you fucking homophobe!! AIDS does not equal GAY.
Jeez, what a horrible choice.
I’ve eaten dinner in gay homes. !!!
He actually said that? He must not know what that sounds like…
Barfarino, indeed.
Purpose Driven Life? We know what his purpose is. To make lots of money.
I refused to read that book. I read the original.
Why not just invite Anita Bryant to sing.
a grotesque, offensive, revolting choice
Firedogs,
(((Teddy and Family))) the focus on this must be kept on Barack Obama – he did this. and he didn’t just give this homophobic pig a marquee slot, he has been given his brand of hate the Obama imprimatur of legitimacy
heckuva effin job right out of the damn gate
CHILL OUT, dear friends and compatriots.
Like you, I hate Prop 8 and hate Rick Warren’s perspective on gay marriage.
But I don’t agree that disqualifies him from speaking at the inauguration. I hope that he says good things and that he embraces us all in spiritual hope. He represents lots of people, and I’d be just as glad if they end up embracing Obama.
I’m sorry that Rev Wright burnt his bridges to Obama, and did not agree to modulate his tone to meet the needs of the broader fearful US constituency.
I looked on change.gov and couldn’t find the citizen input part. Where do we write to protest this?
I was really excited about the inauguration, and still pleased to see Bush given the boot, but this is UNACCEPTABLE.
Why not? Obama still believes he can deal with homophobes, neocons and the Plantation Repukes in his big pragmatic tent. Good luck with that!
I will not CHILL OUT when a hateful bigot is asked to speak at an event that belongs to all the American people, the Inauguration of our President. His views on marriage, marriage equality, and choice certainly disqualify him from speaking at an event where ALL people are honored.
EPU’d:
Here’s an update from Box Turtle Bulletin, with some more email addresses:
Update: Are you looking for someone to email to express your outrage? Well, a well-placed source just provided these email addresses:
parag.mehta@ptt.gov (Parag Mehta is Obama’s LGBT liaison in the transition team.)
dnoble@barackobama.com
bbond@barackobama.com
shidebrand@barackobama.com
fred.hochberg@ptt.com
You can also contact Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office. She chaired the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and made the announcement.
Senator Dianne Feinstein
United States Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
Phone: (202) 224-3841
Fax: (202) 228-3954
Email form for DiFi
That’s very true. If human rights take a back seat to fundamentalist religious pandering in an Obama administration, I’m going to have to seriously re-consider 3rd parties.
??????
Right… chill out my ass. a high profile homophobe participating in this is a serious anti-gay gesture. I’m getting sick of all the mushy “support” for equal rights that amount to shit.
From Mike Madden at Salon:
As Pam Spaulding points out, since Barack Obama didn’t choose Rick Warren, he can ask the Committee to disinvite him now that he knows about this horrible choice. Do you think that will happen?
Perfect- great links.
With enough prodding and carrot/stick maneuvers from the LGBT community, maybe.
Correction: It’s shildebrand@barackobama.com
I really don’t feel we have any need to fear Rick Warren’s appearance at the inaugural. Check out the WSJ’s Washington Wire blog for a complete list of inauguration participants.
It is refreshing to have a politician who is as inclusive as Obama seems to be. Can he successfully bring together people like R.Warren and J.Lowery? Is Obama THE politician who will finally find a way to bridge the gap between pro-choice and anti-abortion folk?
I’m an aging DFH, and I feel Obama is the partial fulfillment of the reformist aspect of the sixties. I am just thankful I have an opportunity to live for a time under an administration that will not be doing hateful things in my name. I’m giving him every benefit of the doubt.
Sent my letter to Feinstein. Will likely send more later (dance practice first!).
Again this is just kabuki. Congress would never have invited anyone with out running the names and the whole program by Obama.
The Obama web site is
http://www.change.gov/page/s/yourvision
There’s a place to leave a message there which I did during Teddy’s post.
My email to DiFi:
I have to say, when I list her badnesses like that, I realize what an incredibly awful Democratic Senator she has been for California.
pro-Prop 8, damnit
epu’ed so i say it again: a hateful thing has been done.
now it’s up to us to say “Not in my name!”
That’s the standard line: I can’t be a bigot because I have friends who are members of That Group (whatever it is).
Try another one, Rick, because that line has been dead way long.
How can he tell a home is gay? Doesn’t he mean ‘the home of [possibly mythical?] gay friends’?
I’d let him do the invocation at the inaugural – but I’d want him to speak out and say that all discrimination is wrong and unChristian. That would be my price for letting him have a place on the podium. (Make him admit his error – or make him admit he’s bigoted.)
Yes, the skinheads couldn’t make it sadly so they invited Warren instead.
Given the huge number of pro-equality faith leaders, this is an especially unfortunate choice.
I love “inclusiveness.” What a great buzzword.
Perhaps he should include Fred Phelps… don’t want to alienate his congregation, now do we?
I’m sure Obama saw that list before it was released. It’s been one disappointment after another with him. I guess I’ll just hope he won’t f**k up as bad or worse than Bush and leave it at that. Jeez.
Hagee and Parsley weren’t available? How about Palin’s witch-hunting pastor?
Christ on a cross! You’re correct she’d a disaster for CA, but not her paying customers. God how I look forward to transparency now that she’s the Committee chair on Intelligence! The 111th will top the 110th for ineffectiveness and incompetence!
1,859 DAYZ AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Lisa Derrick and the Firepup Freedom Fighters:
I think we now know why a Secretary of Labor has not been appointed yet…David Bonior has been pushin’ an openly gay woman labor activist and for some reason Obama has been holdin’ off on announcin’ a candidate. I hope that this is a political move by Obama to promise the Labor slot to the gay woman if “they” don’t make too much noise about Warren and the inauguration…at least that’s the BEST scenario, but I’m not convinced…what the fuck is Obama thinkin’??!!!
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, WE GOTTA KEEP THE HEAT ON ALL OF THE BASTRADS, EVEN OUR BASTARDS!!
eff Hildebrand ! he’s been lying in wait for this.
Religion is the Opiate of the Masses and so Obama must be one of those Masses. This is number two in regards to his choice of Homophobics.
Slavery Begins and Ends with Religion. Be good a little Christian, Moslem or Jew and Do Not Rock The Boat!
The same old song just a different singer.
The Fat Lady is about to sing on all of this BS.
I find it fitting that the proper response to the comments on Rev. Wright and appeal to “Chill Out” was made by a patron saint of the conservative party: “Extremism in the Defense of Liberty Is No Vice”.
In what way does Pastor Warren think that “redefining marriage” would inhibit free speech?
Don’t forget the python spirits. Michael Palin and John Cleese both would have been better choices and more pythony.
p.s. …and furthermore, why was the Labor Secretary not introduced with the economic team, I’ve been really frustrated and quit frankly worried what that means politically!
I didn’t get that connection either. Maybe it’s because ….. ’cause…. um….. Help me out here. “Redefining marriage” to mean, um, marriage, infringes upon my right of free speech because ______________________.
New OxDown Gazette: The official gays are angry now.
The site address has been changed
http://change.gov
BTW in the NYT,
Kennedy Goes on Tour Upstate
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12…..=1&hp
It has descriptions like “Responding briefly to reporters,” and “30 second statement,” “carefully controlled strategy,” “The tour has been kept somewhat secretive,” etc. This is sounding more and more Palinesque.
Fine. That’s your right, Right Reverend Rick Warren but it does not speak to the rights of gay couples for equal protection under the law, no matter what name you give it.
Nor does it speak to the rights of same-sex couples’ children and their equality, that they can tell their friends their parents are married.
Legitimacy is what Rick withholds because, even though he tolerates gays, and gives money to people with the ‘gay disease‘ (that anyone with unprotected sex can get), he “just don’t believe two women or two men SHOULD be married.” SHOULD and SHOULD NOT be married is really what Rick means when he says “the redefinition of marriage”? It’s word game that makes you think he’s concerned about some propriety, maybe one handed down by god, tradition, or maybe just superstition.
my response to the burn bridges thing as well…. modulate his tone?? that kinda talk makes me sick
sometimes it’s scary how similar our vision is…. i thought of skinheads as well. inclusion indeed. am heartened to see this was NOT obama’s choice. so maybe will be undone.
See everyone is busy demonizing again. Funny how you ‘free minded’ Liberals, or excuse me Progressives, continue your labeling attacks against anyone who has alternate ideas/beliefs. What pisses me off is he allowed people like you the power to label him as he stated “So they can’t accuse me of homophobia”.
… and furthermore, why did Obama pick Ray LaHood for Transportation Secretary? True, LaHood is what passes for a moderate Republican these days, but he’s never run anything bigger than a congressional office and the only public transit in his district are a few buses in Peoria. It’s also disconcerting that the biggest corporation in LaHood’s district is Caterpillar, one of the most anti-union companies not just in U.S. but globally. With LaHood controlling billions in construction projects, that’s troubling.
Holy shit. This is horrendous. Absolutely horrendous.
Of all the people in America who have sacrificed so much over so many years for social justice, people who feel Obama’s election was a culmination of their work, and he gives this TV evangelist the main slot?!?!
Sure, it’ll calm the nerves of the John Q Nascar, but so would many others potential speakers that wouldn’t be this offensive to the DemocratIC base. What a joke!
More incredibly good news from our centrist presidential transition team.
Fuck ‘em.
I think I’m gonna have to laugh while our country goes down the shitter.
Calling him a terrorist (Obama), a traitor (Kerry), or a Communist (every Democrat for the last 40 years), that would be demonizing him. This is just wondering why Obama picked him, when there were so many other better choices available.
He showed his ass and we’re just pointing at it. No one is “demonizing” him. Give me a break.
He’s got free speech, and so do we.
Obama’s post-partisanship has reached the point of obsessive frivolity. This is not a good sign.
“allowed people like you the power..”? um, do not need his ok to have an opinion
I thought that Obama did not pick him – that the committee did.
No?
yes, and one word comes to mind….. giddiness. not a good thing at times like this.
you’re right…but I don’t think he would have been chosen without Obama’s approval.
Where is the fucking LGBT liaison on this?
What the hell has Warren ever done anyway other than excel at marketing and accounting? Where’s his programs that have turned around entire communities, like many of the local religious leaders I’ve known have done for zero money? Where are his brave stands to fight for the downtrodden in society? I can’t find anything about him where he’s used his celebrity to create some positive social movement.
Dude’s a classic religious moneygrubber, and now he’s given legitimacy by Obama allowing him such a prominent speaking slot. Pathetic!
Piffle! If you believe obama didn’t O.K. this decision, think again!
Exactly! What the hell is he thinking? Even if he didn’t personally approve it, this choice shows the climate of opinion that has infested his transition team, and is being made permanent in their choces for cabinet posts. They are studiously and deliberately avoiding picks that might be considered progressive, and in this case the went overboard to pick one of the most reactionary people they could find, in the process bypassing a lot of very good and decent clergy.
Loike Oiy sed, he’s one of dem OLD testament christians. Their’s is the wrathful god of fear and loathing, not the loving, forgiving god of the NEW testament (I am not a catholic, but i played one on tv). That’s the key to the whole thing. You know, not like the episcopalians ( a la Eddie Izzard, :Church of England, cake or death?) who pretty much leave folks to their own views and interpretation of the Bible, emphasize NEW testament message of love and compassion. That was the irony of the neo Calvinist Bushites, They were more OT god fearers than compasionate christians.
Off on the business of the Queen. See all later.
Piffle, yourself. I wasn’t trying to let him off the hook. I simply don’t know, and I doubt that you do either, how much the prez-elect has to do with this sort of thing. What’s the committee – who’s on it, etc.
YES wigwam, and clergy that would STAND for the kinds principles Obama’s supposedly wants to promote. It’s not as much about the guy’s bigotry (heinous as it is) as it is about his LACK of practice of true Christian principles: ie new testament stuff, inclusion, forgiveness, who has not sinned cast the first stone, that kinda stuff. (years of catholic school, you just don’t get forget it……)
Gee Rick I have been to gay Funerals! Does that make me Homophobic??
I don’t think so he was a very good friend of mine and I sure didn’t care if he was gay or … he was my friend and I still miss him 20 years later and still think of him.
Oh and AIDS is and Equal opportunity KILLER It doesn’t care if you are gay , straight! or what ever your choice is!
the committee was run by Feinstein . . .
but Twain does it really matter how it came to be ? It is undeniable that this is something that had to be ran past the President Elect. before it was announced – and sadly, probably before the invitation was extended
Twain -
Given the brouhaha surrounding the Rev. wright business, there ain’t a snowball’s chance in hell that this selection was NOT run by obama.
The times I’ve seen Warren speak I didn’t find him very insightful and he was a very average speaker. Lame all around.
Oh, what could’ve been!
see Teddy’s # 10 above
now now now. i always look forward to your posts. they much more clever than that….
see the problem is those folks suspect gayness is contagious… really
Oh, what could’ve been!
and will that be the legacy of the obama years? only time will tell
sorry that was a response to @61 not 1
I really want Obama to be a GREAT president.
But I find myself saying “I’m so glad I didn’t donate any $$ to him” waaaayyy more often than “I wish I had contributed to him.”
Last I knew “Gay” people were born that way. They don’t “Choose” To be gay. When is the rest of humanity going to learn that there have same sex couples since history has been recorded and that it is pervasive throughout mother nature’s creatures!!
The media didn’t do much vetting of the mystery that is Barack Obama. I pointed that out a few times last summer in discussions and on the net — but the response was “you must love Bush”, or “go away, wingnut”, or just “are you kidding me?” (I was not). About that time that I read Ryan Lizza’s New Yorker Magazine article (15,000 words, 7/21/08) “Making It: How Chicago Shaped Obama”. Excellent piece, but probably not widely read. I’m going through it for the second time tonight.
I figured this moment would come soon, as some buyers’ remorse settled in among those who had Obama pegged as a very progressive or liberal type. He has been at times, because that’s what the electorate wanted to see from him, but it’s not necessarily in his DNA.
In the event some may have put it out of their minds while campaigning and worshipping, note that first and foremost Obama is a savvy politician. He’s all about getting votes then (2008), and now for the election in 2012. He will play his cards toward that end, and this is just a little sign of that. Get used to it. “On balance….” will be a much used phrase.
i also posted this in teddy’s other diaries–
and here is a link to email addys that teddy listed. linked to comment 52.
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/…..ment-17813
here is the contact page to send a letter to tell them to change their plans to have Pastor Warren anywhere near this Inaugural.
http://change.gov/page/content/contact/
my letter could have been better, I hate those little boxes, but didn’t go to a text page. oh well. at least I wrote one.
I hope many many pups send one off immediately. Let’s get the outrage we feel about this across to them.
Dear President-Elect Obama;
Whomever made the decision for Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the Benediction at your Inaugural, and whomever suggested it, should be fired. Reverend Warren most certainly does not qualify as someone who exemplifies the teachings of Jesus and the actions of a man of God.
I can name at least 10 ordained women and men who espouse a level of excellence who should have been given the honor of delivering the Benediction on the historic day of your Inauguration. A myriad of choices, yet you chose the most offensive one besides James Dobson. And the one out of San Antonio, Hagee.
Surprisingly, I would rather hear the pastor at The Wasilla Bible Church; I listened to his sermon last Sunday after the fire and it is exactly what people should be hearing every Sunday. Unconditional Love. That is what he preached after having his church destroyed. You should listen to that sermon. I even wrote to him to compliment him.
Pastor Rick is not someone I would look to for insight or leadership, after seeing and hearing him telling others that love is conditional, who creates division and calls it being a leader. He is an appalling human being for the hate he creates and then hiding behind his other ‘works’ to ‘call it even’. That is not the conduct of a man of God, at least that is not what I was taught, especially coming from a preacher. i’ve noticed that he sounds great in interviews, but take a look at what he says in public, what he is really saying in front of his congregation, and news outlets. It is atrocious that he gets away with it.
Whom should you have asked instead, if you wanted a fundamentalist? Joyce Meyer. At least in the middle of her interpretations of the Bible she is also teaching people tolerance, and how to be fine human beings. To be responsible for what you create in others by being tolerant and loving to all, no matter your creed or religion. Or lifestyle.
I am dismayed that you would give such an honor to such a despicable person.
I spent countless hours working during your campaign, and I have to say, I wish I could take those hours back. I cannot believe you would do such a thing, yet you did. I truly don’t understand how this has happened.
Out of all of the people from which you had to choose, you chose the one who is the wolf in sheep’s clothing. I don’t think you realize how offended people are by this choice. If you think more will be offended if you change it, you are wrong.
I hope you change your decision about this.
Sincerely,
Methodist, and heterosexual, in case you wondered.
oops, i just saw that teddy posted his links at #10…shoulda known he would, i hadn’t read comments yet….so ignore my first link at 77.
As we used to say in Tennessee, Rick Warren is enough to puke a dog off a gut wagon.
I too an extremely offended by the choice of Rick Warren. Remember the debate he put on at Saddleback in which he asked Obama questions first and then McCain wasn’t even in a sound proof room, he wasn’t even in the building. I believe McCain watched Warren question Obama. And I believe McCain’s answers were rehearsed, he knew the questions ahead of time. Total set up. Where’s the petition, I want to sign it. I would like that one day to be joyous and that does NOT include hearing R. Warren. I do not want to see any right wingers for that specific memorable day.
There is No “Common Ground” when you have any dealings with this Nazi Cabal of the likes of Rick Warren.
This psychotic cult see all such actions as weaknesses which they fully exploit today, tomorrow or years from now.
Perhaps this Three Card Monty is merely to take heat away from the Mormon Mafia.
Obama’s third card in this fiasco could well be the Rev. Ken Hutcherson, The part-time ramble-rouser and full time Black Bipolar Nazi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Hutcherson
How about the Reverend McClurkin? Will he be there to round out the mockery?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..70202.html
Will Obama’s Hollywood support have a private chat with him?
It better be soon………….
Compassionate conservatism is a sales pitch of smoke up you rear view mirror.
Sort of like, a vacation resort with a swimmable cesspool.