When enough becomes too much

I wish I could say the honeymoon is over, but I can’t. That’s because I don’t give politicians honeymoons, even if they are Democrats. I can admire, and even agree with, Barack Obama’s ‘outreach’ plan, an approach designed to make everyone comfortable with his presidency. However, Obama and I part ways when one person’s inclusion makes others uncomfortable or feel unwelcome. There should be no place at the table for Rick Warren during the Obama inauguration, and he should especially not deliver the invocation. First of all, I have no idea why America remains obsessed with the need to tie religion to a political event. Most supposedly ‘inferior’ countries are getting away from this practice, having learned the hard way never to marry religion with public policy. If, however, Obama is insistent on this, and we know he’s doing this to make the evangelical voters comfortable with his presidency, there were plenty of religious figures he could have chosen. It did not have to be one of the most divisive religious figures in America.

Pastor Rick Warren is a human chameleon, and that’s one of the reasons why the photo of he and Obama enjoying each other’s company is so disquieting to me. While masquerading as a do-gooder, Warren harbors and promotes some of the most insulting and divisive beliefs possible. He is not only against same-sex marriage, but has stated that he personally sees it as indistinguishable from an adult marrying a child (pedophilia) or a brother marrying a sister (incest). For the misinformed, including the good pastor, homosexuality is neither related to pedophilia nor incest. I can say that with certainty. I have a twelve-year-old daughter and I find the insinuation repugnant. Look it up. The vast majority of pedophiles are heterosexual males. I rarely call people stupid, but Warren is not only a bigot, he’s a stupid bigot. Warren does not believe in evolution. In fact, he believes that homosexuality disproves the theory of evolution. His twisted brand of Christianity has also led him to compare abortion to the Holocaust and to support the assassination of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Sorry for the stark image, but the invitation of Rick Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration is akin to inviting the ghost of Adolph Hitler to a Passover Seder. While I’m a little more than insulted as a taxpaying lesbian American, that isn’t the only thing that bothers me about Pastor Warren. I don’t know about you, but I don’t find anything Christian about backing an assassination plot. If that is indeed what Jesus would do, then I say that the true believers are in a world of trouble.

Barack Obama has also invited the Reverend Joseph Lowery. Lowery is a progressive voice and a believer in civil rights for all. It is Lowery, a truly inclusive religious figure, who should be giving the invocation. It would have made Warren’s inclusion in the proceedings a lot easier to swallow.