Without a prayer

By Mustang Bobby 

When Barack Obama was inaugurated the first time, he had the invocation read by Pastor Rick Warren, who, among other things, is noted for not being terribly sympathetic to the rights of all people.

Those of us in the gay community were not happy, but we figured, hey, he'll learn, and his attempt at being open to all points of view from the pulpit was well-intended if not well-handled.

So this time around, the invocation will be read by Myrlie Evers, the widow of Medgar Evers who was murdered 50 years ago for his work in civil rights in Mississippi. Well, that's a nice move; it represents a historical connection with the modern times and reminds us how far we've come to be inaugurating our first African-American president for the second time.

But then the inauguration committee stepped on the rake by inviting Pastor Louie Giglio of the Georgia-based Passion City Church to deliver the benediction. Mr. Giglio is on the record as being vocally anti-gay:

In a mid-1990s sermon identified as Giglio's, available online on a Christian training website, he preached rabidly anti-LGBT views. The 54-minute sermon, entitled "In Search of a Standard – Christian Response to Homosexuality," advocates for dangerous "ex-gay" therapy for gay and lesbian people, references a biblical passage often interpreted to require gay people be executed, and impels Christians to "firmly respond to the aggressive agenda" and prevent the "homosexual lifestyle" from becoming accepted in society.

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Life is not a Rolex -- a Rolex is not alive

By Capt. Fogg

"Comprehensible to the intelligent, to the world at large, needing interpretation"

- Pindar -
___________________________

Ah, Pastor Rick Warren -- not quite smart enough to realize that his arguments have long since been steamrollered by better minds or just smart enough to realize that enough people are ignorant of it for him to make a living by peddling delusion? That is the question.

Put Rick on the list of people deeply disturbed by a sign on a bus saying belief in invisible magic spirits isn't necessary if you want to be good to your fellow humans. In fact he's been in terror of disbelief for a long time, resorting often to such idiocies as the idea that Atheists must be wrong because they're angry, that Atheists are responsible for most of the worlds wars and atrocities including being responsible for the Spanish Inquisition. I have to admit, even I didn't expect that.

No, it's ridiculous not to believe in magic and the supernatural and forces and places for which there is no evidence other than the failure to understand nature. You see, if Pastor Warren is walking down a mountain and finds a rock -- that could be accidental, but if he finds a Rolex, it's "design."

Again, it's easily comprehensible to the rare intelligent American that Rolex's do not occur in nature, nor are they alive and self reproducing; but things like living cells and viruses can indeed result from natural processes which is liberally illustrated by evidence and that Warren is trotting out this mawkish and moronic argument only because, as I said, there are enough congenitally and willfully stupid people out there to be blind to his festival of fatuous fallacies. It's not an argument at all really, it's just a bad analogy and an attempt to shift the burden of proof as Dawkins' The Blind Watchmaker illustrates with greater patience and a good deal more skill than I have.

Warren doesn't have enough faith to be an atheist, he says in an attempt to make science and evidence and logic and knowledge a false equivalent of ignorance and the will to believe. Again, if you're intelligent, nobody has to explain it to you any more than I would have to explain why, contrary to his lies belief, same sex marriage is not just like pedophilia and neither Tomas de Torquemada nor the Holy Office at the Vatican were atheists.

But almost everybody believes in the supernatural he says, bringing the ad populum fallacy up to bat. "The actual number of secularists in the world is actually quite small outside of Europe and Manhattan," he continues, adding an appeal to people who find an educated populace threatening. The place for Secular Humanists is North Korea, whines Warren. It's called "poisoning the well" for anyone interested and yes, it's in any book of popular fallacies. That he doesn't tell us that the place for blind faith in religious authority is in the Taliban, isn't surprising, but it is telling.

Of course, if the future of the world is not secularism but as he reminds us: pluralism, a certainty that certainly lacks support as we see beliefs declining as education (and intelligence) increases, it's hard to understand that we should accept a multiplicity of religions but not Secular Humanism. What then does Humanism lack that theistic religion has? Authority. It's rather hard to base a tyranny or any system of arbitrary authority on it and that, dear reader, is what Rick Warren is all about and that's why he's afraid and that's why he has to make fun of your freedom.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)

Quote of the Day: Andrew Sullivan on Rick Warren and Uganda's anti-gay legislation

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I posted yesterday on the "Anti-Homosexuality Bill" currently working its way through Uganda's Parliament. It's a despicable piece of legislation that, if enacted, would impose life imprisonment and even capital punishment for gays.

The legislator who intoduced the bill, David Bahati, is a member of "The Family," an American right-wing theocratic group closely connected to some high-ranking Republicans in Washington, while another man behind the bill is Martin Ssempa, a minister who wants to "kick sodomy out of Uganda" and who is closely connected to popular American evangelist Rick Warren, the author of The Purpose Driven Life, among other books, and the man who, much to the chagrin of many of us, gave the invocation at Obama's inauguration.

Warren is refusing to take a position on the Ugandan legislation -- "As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides." -- but it's pretty clear where he stands, which is firmly against not just same-sex marriage but even basic human and civil rights for homosexuals, and his non-interference dodge here is simply disgusting. Here's Andrew Sullivan rightly tearing him to shreds:

This is an act of terror and murder against an already beleaguered minority, and Warren is an accessory to it. As a powerful figure in distributing AIDS funding in Uganda, he cannot bring himself to oppose a law that would condemn someone in a gay relationship to death, and imprison him or her for touching another human being, and inciting a wave of informing on family members and friends and acquaintances in order to terrify a sexual minority. This alleged man of God cannot speak out on this - except to protect his own p.r. His schtick of actually being the nice evangelical -- a schtick that got him to Obama's inauguration -- is a lie. If he cannot condemn this fascist act of violence against a tiny minority of vulnerable human beings, then his position in this struggle is clear enough.

*****

He lies. He has taken sides, whenever possible, to stigmatize, demonize and now physically threaten the lives of gay people in his own country and abroad. And his silence on this issue means the deaths of others. Warren needs to come out and condemn this law as evil, which it is. And to stop hiding his own enmeshment with the most virulent forms of fundamentalist hatred under the veil of media-savvy benevolence.

Yes, this bestselling author, this hugely popular public figure, this "alleged man of God," is essentially a bigoted thug out to protect his clean image, off which he profits mightily, while fighting his battles through surrogates at home and abroad. This whole episode tells you pretty much all you need to know about him.

Barack Obama is a major league asshole...

Guest Post by Ted Leibowitz

...for choosing homophobic Proposition H8te-supporting minister Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation.

Here's an ad that Warren made supporting Proposition H8te:



Seriously? Warren and his "we're not homophobes but gay people should not be allowed to marry" crowd keep talking about the biblical definition of marriage as between one man and one woman. How many wives did the biblical big guys have?

Samuel 12:7-8 "And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; And I gave thee thy master s house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things."

Rick Warren's bible tells of the Lord God of Israel giving a man multiple wives. Not allowing, actively giving. Enough with the "marriage is between one man and one woman and has been for 5000 years" bullshit.

As recently as 1890, just over 100 years ago, the Mormon Church (you know, those fine folks who sought to "protect marriage" by pumping tens of millions of dollars into the pro-Prop H8te campaign) not only allowed and practiced but advocated for polygamy. The only reason they disavowed the practice was to gain statehood for Utah.

5000 years my ass.

As for the procreation argument, what do these homophobes think about heterosexual married couples who plan to not have children? Should they not be allowed to be married? Should married, childless couples be stripped of the rights granted them when they tied the knot?

The honeymoon is over, Mr. Obama. Time to start acting like the forward-thinking leader this country and planet so desperately needs. Embracing Rick Warren lends legitimacy to his intolerance and is a huge step in the wrong direction.

Hat tip to AmericaBlog, go there for more on the topic.

Update: Huffington Post weighs in, says nothing.

Update II [12.18.08]: Obama's defense of his choice of Rick Warren saying, "We're not going to agree on every single issue" misses the point of why people are upset about it.

Update III [12.18.08]: Wonkette weighs in and uses profanity, too. You go, girl.

The problem for Obama with the Rick Warren pick isn't social issues. That makes it seem like it's all about gay marriage in particular, or gay rights in general. It's not. The problem with Rick Warren is that he's a clear and present homophobe who equates gay marriage to polygamy, incest, and pedophelia. He says he's not a homophobe, yet he equates gays to criminal predators:

WARREN: "I'm opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that a marriage. I am opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage. I am opposed to one guy having multiple wives."

INTERVIEWER: "Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married?"

WARREN: "Oh, I do."

In the clip below, Hillary Rosen provided interesting context on the humanity and decency aspect of denigrating a social group using the bible as statue: "At one time the bible was used to justify slavery. If [Warren] was a preacher out there using 'moral weapons' against African Americans (instead of gays), we wouldn't even be having this conversation."



Rick Warren preaches a faith based on fear, hatred, and divisiveness. Rick Warren equates gays marrying to criminal acts. Rick Warren and his bigoted, hateful views should not be on the inauguration stage. The way we in 2008 look back on racist public figures from the 50s and 60s is the way our children will look back on Rick Warren.

(Cross-posted at State of the Day.)

[Creature's note: I would like to welcome Ted, my co-blogger and best friend, to The Reaction. Welcome, Ted, and congrats for landing a coveted guest posting slot here at the best group blog around.]

[MJWS's note: I've long been a fan of Ted's blogging over at State of the Day, Creature's home, and he's a welcome addition to our team here at The Reaction. I'm sure he's already turning heads with this post title. You can be sure that he'll continue to prod and poke, stimulate and provoke, in posts to come. And for more from Ted, check out BAGeL Radio, one of the finest music outlets around.]

Oh, Lord

By Mustang Bobby

A lot of people are understandably upset that Barack Obama has invited Pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Inauguration next month.

Barack Obama’s choice of a prominent evangelical minister to perform the invocation at his inauguration is a conciliatory gesture toward social conservatives who opposed him in November, but it is drawing fierce challenges from a gay rights movement that – in the wake of a gay marriage ban in California – is looking for a fight.

Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church in southern California, opposes abortion rights but has taken more liberal stances on the government role in fighting poverty, and backed away from other evangelicals’ staunch support for economic conservatism. But it’s his support for the California constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage that drew the most heated criticism from Democrats Wednesday.

“Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans,” the president of Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solomonese, wrote Obama Wednesday. “[W]e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.”

And this backlash has delighted the righties, who are chortling that the queers are all in a tizzy over Pastor Rick. That's their way of covering up the fact that there are probably a fair number of wingers who are not happy that Mr. Warren is giving the blessing to the enemy... or were hoping for the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

I'm not exactly sure why the inauguration of a president requires the inclusion of the clergy to conduct a ritual, but other than the obvious political posturing and pandering that is woven into the fabric of the moment, it is a tradition and it would have been a huge story if that part of the ceremony had been left out. I can't remember it ever being a big deal as to who it is who gives the invocation, although I can imagine that some people weren't happy when John F. Kennedy had Cardinal Cushing give the invocation at his inauguration.

As the article notes, Pastor Warren was outspoken in his support for the passage of Prop 8 in California, comparing same-sex marriage to polygamy and incest, which is, to me, the same as saying getting a driver's license leads to grand theft auto. So I hope that this one event is the last we'll be hearing from him in terms of public speaking on behalf of the Obama administration. Far be it from me to tell the president-elect who to choose as his spiritual counsel, but I hope that his actions speak louder than words, and I hope that what follows in the next four years will do more to piss off the Religious Right -- the end of DADT, repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and the passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act would be a start -- than it will to mollify them with a thirty-second appeal to a mythological being.

(Cross-posted from Bark Bark Woof Woof.)