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Apparently Obama's a friend of his.
You may know Rev. Rick Warren as the friendly author of The Purpose Driven Life. The New York Times describes his Saddleback Church as "an evangelical congregation averaging 22,000 weekly attendees, a 120-acre campus, and has more than 300 community ministries to groups such as prisoners, CEOs, addicts, single parents, and those with HIV/AIDS." Seems lovely, right? BUT.... there are are a couple itty-bitty pieces which were left out of this inaugural announcement that I just can't get over.
He also urged this 22,000 person congregation to vote YES on Prop 8 and is fervently, fervently anti-choice.
Via Right Wing Watch:
His is the the chuch that Barack Obama and John McCain visited together for their Faith Forum while on the campaign trail, after which Warren critized Obama's views and committed to convincing him to change his position on reproductive choice.He came out strongly in support of Prop 8, saying "there is no need to change the universal, historical defintion of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population ... This is not a political issue -- it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about." He's declared that those who do not believe in God should not be allowed to hold public office.
Follow that last link. It's required reading.
I get that he'll just be giving the invocation and I get that it's likely that there are more important things to get all riled up about, but a choosing an Evangelical faith leader doesn't really sound like all that much different from what George W. would have done.
And it really just makes me feel sad inside.
There are many faith leaders in this country that more fully represent the values we share as Americans. He didn't need to choose the inauguration as the time to reach out to the anti-choice anti-gay block of the populace that didn't vote for him.
Update: Disappointment from Andrew Sullivan and discussion in the Times.
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I am not sure WHY he chose Warren to do the invocation, but I trust that what ever the reason it is a good one.
I think that this is merely an example of Obama's "lets all hold hands and come together" rhetoric- pure symbolism of including people even though they have repugnant views. I don't think he's going to budge one inch on women's rights, because (1) he knows we would turn on him in a second, and (2) Obama is already with a large majority of Americans on these issues, so it wouldn't make any political sense to cave in to the right.
While I must admit that this choice personally enfuriates me, I both understand it and am not surprised one bit by it. Obama will NOT be perfect, and he WILL disappoint us many times in the next 4-8 years, there is no doubt about that. However, I would rather have him piss me off on symbolic grounds than policy grounds.
Obama has the stomach to look these revolting social conservatives in the eye and smile. Thats why he gets the big bucks. But that doesn't mean he'll cave on policy, and it sure as hell doesn't mean that we have to smile at them either.
My 2 cents...
Oh, and it also helps him hide the fact that he's a secret Muslim (eyeroll....)