Such fun to break the grammar! I've been reading more on the opinions expressed on Rick Warren's website. He's almost your average right-wing Christian in that the website is opposed to abortion, believes in male leadership in family and in the church and is adamantly opposed to same-sex marriage. Where Warren differs some from the usual type of wingnut fundie is in talking more about AIDS and poverty and such. That's a good thing.
Still, I find his pick as the invocation speaker at Obama's inauguration a most mysterious one. Is the political intent really to attract Republican evangelists to vote for the Democratic Party? This will not work. As Warren states somewhere, no abortion and no same-sex marriage are among their non-negotiables. As one might argue that the reverse of those are among the non-negotiables of many, many progressives and liberals it would appear that the Democratic Party would have to change some of its basic policies to attract the evangelists, and changing those policies would lose them a large number of current Democratic voters.
What does Obama say about all this? Let's see:
"I am a fierce advocate of equality for gay and lesbian Americans. It is something that I have been consistent on and something that I intend to continue to be consistent on in my presidency," Obama said at a morning news conference to announce several financial appointments. "What I've also said is that it is important for American to come together even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues."
Here's that term 'social issues' again. Note that Warren's website resources include an article which tells us how Christian women must subjugate themselves to male leadership:
4. Submission does not mean slavery.
Let's release a few old notions and fears! Paul uses an entirely different word in Ephesians 6:5 when he instructs slaves to obey their masters. This Greek word for "obey," huakouo embraces more of the meaning people often mistakenly associate with marital submission. Hupaaakouo means "to obey, to yield to a superior command or force (without necessarily being willing)." The term draws a picture of a soldier saluting his commander, not a wife submitting to her husband!
Hubba, hubba! (I have no idea why I wrote that.)
Aravosis has more on Obama's reaction and so does Sargent.
Who the invocation speaker is might ultimately not matter very much, of course, and I'm not criticizing the Warren choice as some indication of what Obama will do in his administration. But I'm concerned about the choice nevertheless, because these choices are meant as signals. So what is the signal? And to whom?
The oddest thing of all is that Warren was a McCain supporter. His sermon from October says this about the presidential election:
We don't need more visionaries in America. We don't need more smart leaders. We need leaders with character. We need leaders who aren't interested in image, but are willing to say: "What you see is what you get."
Here's where I see the task of the future for us dirty fucking hippies and feminazis and such: To teach politicians that 'social issues' is not about what we eat for Thanksgiving or how we arrange flowers. Those issues are about freedom, justice, economics, dignity and respect.