Amid a firestorm of criticism from pro-choice and gay marriage supporters, Pastor Rick Warren has called President-elect Barack Obama courageous for taking the risk of choosing him to deliver the inaugural invocation.
“I commend President-elect Obama for his courage to willingly take enormous heat from his base by inviting someone like me, with whom he doesn’t agree on every issue, to offer the Invocation at his historic inaugural ceremony,” Warren said in a statement Thursday evening.
“Hopefully individuals passionately expressing opinions from the left and the right will recognize that both of us have shown a commitment to model civility in America.”
Liberals and gay rights activists have hammered Obama for giving someone who openly opposes gay marriage and abortion such an important position at his inaugural event. They accused Obama of being insincere in his commitment to the advancement of the homosexual agenda.
Likewise, Warren has also faced his fair share of criticism from the liberal camp. He has been accused of being a “homophobe” and has been equated with the religious right, which he has worked hard to distance himself from, preferring a more moderate public personality.
Kathryn Kolbert, president of the liberal rights group People for the American Way, said Warren “doesn’t need or deserve a position of honor at the inauguration” of a president who many Americans hope will reject the “politics of division,” in her column posted on CNN.
She took offense at Warren’s comparison of same-sex marriage with incest and pedophilia in his recent interview with Beliefnet.com.
“There is no substantive difference between Rick Warren and James Dobson,” Kolbert said to CNN. “The only difference is tone. His tone is moderate, but his ideas are radical.”
Warren, in response to the protest, has refuted accusations that he is a homophobe, noting that he has many gay friends, has donated millions to help AIDS victims that contracted the disease through same-sex relationships, and that his church gave water and donuts to anti-Proposition 8 protestors.
“So they can’t accuse me of homophobia. I just don’t believe in the redefinition of marriage,” Warrens said in the Beliefnet.com interview released just days before the invocation announcement.
Some Proposition 8 opponents and pro-choice advocates, however, has defended Obama’s selection of Warren.
Ruben Navarrette, Jr., a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union-Tribune and a nationally syndicated columnist, disagrees with Kolbert that Obama was wrong to choose Warren to give the invocation.
He believes the president-elect has the right to exercise “his prerogative to choose whoever he wants to deliver the blessing at his inauguration.”
“It’s about recognizing that – for those who feel like protesting Warren’s appearance – there is an ocean’s worth of bigger fish to fry,” Navarrette wrote in his column.
“Many of those raising a fuss are talking about respect, demanding respect, insisting they’re not given respect, etc.,” the columnist wrote. “Well, that works both ways. If they want respect, they have to give it. They can start by respecting the wishes of the president-elect to plan his inauguration as he see’s fit.”
Obama has stood firm on his decision to select Warren to give the invocation, noting his inauguration will feature “a wide range of viewpoints.”
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Didi
Jesus died so for those who repent of their sin...that means go and sin no more. People who do all of those things listed below are trampling the blood of Christ underfoot in their lust. They have no respect for anything.
I hope that Pastor Warren uses his access to the incoming administration in highlighting the Genocide against Christians in Iraq, India and elsewhere. It would also be prudent to investigate anti Christian groups like Vishwa Hindu Parishad America , etc..
Maybe, I'm asking too much, but he is the most recognized evangelical leader for the coming years and i hope that he continues to represent the evangelicals politically.
The Christian Post needs to be aware that they have an issue with copying and pasting quotes from an article into the comments area.
The blogger doesn't know there is a problem until the commented is posted.
Kathryn Kolbert seems to have a problem with Pastor Warren following in the footsteps of Dr. Dobson.
Yes, Pastor Warren may have changed his tune a little bit, but it sounds like the liberal camp is now afraid of the younger Warren just as they were once afraid of the younger Dobson.
And you thought conservatives were going away.
DelightntheLord, you know Jesus went to the cross for those who "indulge in anal sex", for those who "engage in terror and hate language". He died so that those who "protesting in the streets dressed up like colorful whores", who are "stepping on crosses, vandalizing church buildings and hateful name-calling", etc. etc. Jesus died on the cross for sinners just like them, in the hope that they might be saved, and he is asking us to carry our cross as well.
But I see from your posts that you would not die for them. You are "tired" of hearing about those sins of theirs... and apparently just want them condemned.
Didy
I didn't read anything from you that was respectable. You twisted Navarrette's statement to read that the need for respect was on the side of the Church and others opposing same-sex marriage. If you had read the article, Navarette was speaking about the gay activists needing to show respect.
This is part of the reason you all get bent out of shape, you jump to conclusions. I heartily agree with Navarette...don't we have bigger fish to fry? Get over your self importance, I have no respect for those who engage in terror and hate language such as "ULTRA" condemning. I quote you; " the religious guys really deserve none." Speaking like that you keep it going.
I find nothing respectable about those who indulge in anal sex and then think you want to make this activity respectable by forcing your agenda on others. We are tired of hearing about you and your so called rights.
Wow... DelightntheLord, you are a perfect example of what I was trying to point out... ah, thank you for being so disrespectful, and so ultra-condemning, that you deserve no respect.
From the article, quoting Navarrette; saying of homosexual activists; "If they want respect,
they have to give it."
Quoting Kathryn Kolbert of PPL for American Way; "Warren doesn't need or deserve a position of honor at the inauguration" (no respect)
From didy; "the religious guys really deserve none"; pretty much more of the same. (No respect)
A 'Mexican Standoff' of sorts. Not only do homosexuals seek society's approval, they'd also like an extra helping of respect.
Respect for what...spreading a plague of AIDS/HIV by unsafe anal sex, how about protesting in the streets dressed up like colorful whores, or how about respect for shoving old ladies around and stepping on crosses, vandalizing church buildings and hateful name-calling, sending terrorist threats via mail to LDS churches using an unknown a white powder?
This behavior is nothing less than anarchy and gay activists should be thrown in jail instead of being allowed to snivel over Obama's choice in the Press.
None of these things have not been done by the "right wing". Your local "wingspan" building is still intact with no vandalism and no protestors.
Gay activists may force the courts to allow same sex marriage but gays will never gain respect through continued disrespectful behavior and terrorist tactics against the voting public.
I think the Church has shown more respect than any homosexual activist is capable of or deserving of.
Navarrette is quoted, "Well, that works both ways. If they want respect, they have to give it. They can start by respecting the wishes of the president-elect..."
I think that this is part of the reason why they (the gay community) are protesting so much. The current Bush administration, and the its religious right backers, have been so disrespectful, so ultra-condemning, that no one expects "respect" from anyone anymore. To say "if they want respect, they have to give it" - well then the religious guys really deserve none, since they have given none for at least eight years now.
Nonetheless, I do think that Obama's choice Rick Warren is a credit to Obama, and shows I think a promising hope that Obama will prove to be a far better leader than our current lame-duck president has proven to be.