Wednesday, December 17, 2008
2008 Rick Warren to Give Inauguration Invocation
Posted by Eli Sanders on Wed, Dec 17, 2008 at 11:55 AM
The lineup is coming out, and it seems Rick Warren, leader of California's Saddleback Church, will be delivering the invocation on January 20th when Barack Obama is sworn in as president.
Right Wing Watch is not happy:
As we've pointed out several times before, in 2004 Warren declared that marriage, reproductive choice, and stem cell research were "non-negotiable" issues for Christian voters and has admitted that the main difference between himself and James Dobson is a matter of tone. He criticized Obama's answers at the Faith Forum he hosted before the election and vowed to continue to pressure him to change his views on the issue of 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.So why has this man been tapped to deliver the invocation at Obama's inaguration?
Why? Because this kind of dog-whistling to the religious right gets politicians reelected. (See, esp., George W. Bush.)
Also in the lineup: Aretha Franklin singing to Obama as he makes his way to the podium, Justice John Paul Stevens swearing in Biden, Chief Justice John G. Roberts administering the oath of office to Obama, and Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma playing a new composition by John Williams.
Full lineup here.
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2
My fellow queers!?! Get ready to be yet again thown under the bus by a Democrat.
Never again will I vote for someone who does not fully support my rights...and if that means Presden Palin in 2012 then so be it. America gets what it deserves.
Never again will I vote for someone who does not fully support my rights...and if that means Presden Palin in 2012 then so be it. America gets what it deserves.
4
Aretha Franklin at the Inauguration is dog-whistling to everyone with taste and sure to scare a few stupid fucking rednecks.
7
It's hard to view this as anything other than a slap in the face after Prop 8. Honestly. The highest-profile evangelical Californian? A staunch opponent of Prop 8? A huckster leader of a mega-church in Orange Fucking County, California?
The only thing worse would be having the Mormon prophet or whatever-the-fuck they call him deliver it.
The only thing worse would be having the Mormon prophet or whatever-the-fuck they call him deliver it.
9
barack..
that fool didn't return my calls and now i find out on slog of all places that i've been bumped from giving the invocation and replaced by this nut ?
..negro, where my shoe ?!!!
that fool didn't return my calls and now i find out on slog of all places that i've been bumped from giving the invocation and replaced by this nut ?
..negro, where my shoe ?!!!
11
Obama is just as much of a Christian Zionist as Bush is. You naive white Seattle "liberal progressives" got duped and played like the soft fools you are.
12
What happened to everyone creaming their pants over Obama?
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
Can we just accept the fact that this man is just better than George Bush and probably nothing more?
http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archive…
Can we just accept the fact that this man is just better than George Bush and probably nothing more?
14
Fuck all dat... JOHN WILLIAMS!!! But I think he should forego the new composition and do the score that was playing when the Millennium Falcon blew into Cloud City. Oh, and fuck the whole Rick Warren thing. It's a purpose-driven bone thrown to haters.
16
Geez, most of you don't even believe in God, so why get your panties in a knot over an invocation you don't believe in? I can’t wait to hear Elizabeth Alexander’s poem. As for John Williams: an outdoor venue of 2+ million is a terrible place for chamber music!
17
Good for Obama for not participating in your culture wars! I'm loving watching the left wing's wails of disappointment as its savior is revealed to be a mainstream politician.
18
PEOPLE, CALM THE FUCK DOWN! Obama has done nothing to curtail gay rights or anyone else's rights - YET - so don't get your panties in a bunch until we see his POLICIES. Forget about who he's associating with - that's the same tack that the right wingers used during the election to paint him as a pinko closeted black supremacist Jew hater. If we learned anything from Prop 8, it's that we only make progress when we drag along the most bigoted right wingers, kicking and screaming if necessary. Rick Warren is a great choice to reach out to the far right; they have to feel like they own this moment as much as the rest of us. Then little by little, as Obama actually implements true progressive policies, maybe they won't see it as "us vs. them" - they will feel invested and important. And with irrational right-wing crazies, you have to treat them like children and take care of their emotions - if you do that they'll go along with anything you say.
So chill out until we see some actual policy recommendations. If he proceeds to do anything sketchy as president, THEN we can freak out and take him to task. Until then, CALM DOWN and watch his amazing strategy to transform America as we know it unfold.
So chill out until we see some actual policy recommendations. If he proceeds to do anything sketchy as president, THEN we can freak out and take him to task. Until then, CALM DOWN and watch his amazing strategy to transform America as we know it unfold.
20
Yeah, because we all know that an incoming president's choice to deliver the invocation is a definitive predictor of exactly how that president's term is going to play out. What, did you think he was going to choose an atheist or a gay priest or something?
21
Bitch and moan. Bitch and moan. What alternative? McCain? McKinney? Nader?
Stop thinking that by not voting for the more liberal of the two because Obama isn't liberal enough is going to get you anything but more oppressors like Bush and Cheney.
Like it or not, life was better under the Clintons. Life would have been a lot better under Gore (just think of the different look the Supreme Court would have). Life is going to get better beginning January 20, but it's going to take time.
Stop thinking that by not voting for the more liberal of the two because Obama isn't liberal enough is going to get you anything but more oppressors like Bush and Cheney.
Like it or not, life was better under the Clintons. Life would have been a lot better under Gore (just think of the different look the Supreme Court would have). Life is going to get better beginning January 20, but it's going to take time.
22
Yeah you silly faggots!! You need to SHUT the FUCK up and start learing to be second class people.
23
stop it!
you're killing me!!
I'm LITERALLY RFLMAO!!!
ObamaFanBoys are soooo gullible.
Obama is sending
a strong message
to HIS base,
the same folks that went
3 to 1 FOR PROP 8.
Get used to the
New World Order.
you're killing me!!
I'm LITERALLY RFLMAO!!!
ObamaFanBoys are soooo gullible.
Obama is sending
a strong message
to HIS base,
the same folks that went
3 to 1 FOR PROP 8.
Get used to the
New World Order.
24
Don't you people get it? THIS COSTS US NOTHING. It's a symbolic bone thrown to the bigoted Christians to keep them paying attention. Come back when you actually have something to complain about.
26
@24
And what, tangible or symbolic, has Obama given GAYS?
Don't be a whimpering lap dog licking crumbs off the floor. (unless you're into that sort of thing, of course)
Was Prop 8 a symbolic bone thrown to the bigoted Christians???
And what, tangible or symbolic, has Obama given GAYS?
Don't be a whimpering lap dog licking crumbs off the floor. (unless you're into that sort of thing, of course)
Was Prop 8 a symbolic bone thrown to the bigoted Christians???
28
http://change.gov/agenda/civil_rights_ag…
It's right there, in his civil rights agenda, a huge section on what he wants to do for the LGBT community:
* expand hate crimes statutes
* fight workplace discrimination
* full civil unions
* oppose gay marriage ban
* repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell
* expand adoption rights
* promote HIV/AIDS prevention
He hasn't delivered anything to the gays because HE'S NOT PRESIDENT YET. And I know gay marriage isn't on that list, but guess what? That's gonna take a fight no matter who the president is.
Prop 8 was another matter. Obama publicly opposed Prop 8, but nobody was going to ask him to risk the election because of it, and for that, the whole Democratic party owes the gay community big time. The gays took a bullet for the team, to keep us from getting President McCain, and now it's time the rest of us helped you out. But stop pretending that Obama is the only one who can make a difference. It takes all of us - and that includes me fighting with my fundamentalist Christian parents to get them to realize that being gay isn't a choice. This is a battle that isn't fought at the top - it's fought in the streets.
It's right there, in his civil rights agenda, a huge section on what he wants to do for the LGBT community:
* expand hate crimes statutes
* fight workplace discrimination
* full civil unions
* oppose gay marriage ban
* repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell
* expand adoption rights
* promote HIV/AIDS prevention
He hasn't delivered anything to the gays because HE'S NOT PRESIDENT YET. And I know gay marriage isn't on that list, but guess what? That's gonna take a fight no matter who the president is.
Prop 8 was another matter. Obama publicly opposed Prop 8, but nobody was going to ask him to risk the election because of it, and for that, the whole Democratic party owes the gay community big time. The gays took a bullet for the team, to keep us from getting President McCain, and now it's time the rest of us helped you out. But stop pretending that Obama is the only one who can make a difference. It takes all of us - and that includes me fighting with my fundamentalist Christian parents to get them to realize that being gay isn't a choice. This is a battle that isn't fought at the top - it's fought in the streets.
31
"Why? Because this kind of dog-whistling to the religious right gets politicians reelected. (See, esp., George W. Bush.)"
George W. Bush is a - what's the word again? - oh yeah - a Republican.
George W. Bush is a - what's the word again? - oh yeah - a Republican.
33
@28
re Prop 8
Gays took a bullet for the team,
for sure,
in the back of the head.
Looks like another 4 years on the 'Island of Misfit Toys'.
re Prop 8
Gays took a bullet for the team,
for sure,
in the back of the head.
Looks like another 4 years on the 'Island of Misfit Toys'.
35
Yes, the symbolism sucks, but let's not overreact just yet, kids.
Let the man get sworn in and take office, make judicial appointments, and then see what he DOES. If he works for ENDA (more important, IMHO, than Marriage Equality, and an easier battle to win), repeals DADT, and addresses the Marriage Equality issue in queer-affirmative ways, I don't care if Jerry Falwell himself gives some invocation from the grave.
Deeds, not words, give me my rights.
Let the man get sworn in and take office, make judicial appointments, and then see what he DOES. If he works for ENDA (more important, IMHO, than Marriage Equality, and an easier battle to win), repeals DADT, and addresses the Marriage Equality issue in queer-affirmative ways, I don't care if Jerry Falwell himself gives some invocation from the grave.
Deeds, not words, give me my rights.
36
@ 28, BAM! Way to back up your assertions with facts.
Like it or not, Obama's civil rights agenda IS better than any alternative we have available at the moment. Rick Warren is a giant douchebag, to be sure, but I also believe this action is mostly symbolic of overcoming this debilitating "us vs. them" rut we've been stuck in for decades.
The Christians have been telling us that creation happens from the top down for centuries and it seems most of you have bought it. Creation (i.e. evolution) happens constantly as the aggregate of millions of tiny decisions made by all of us every day. Bottom-up, not top-down.
I'm glad you're taking on your right-wing parents. That's something small we can all do, if we have the opportunity, and it was a great message to be included in "Milk" ...let the bullet that rips through my body open every closet door or whatever he says at the end.
What if everyone took a moment to tell a family member in some little redneck town in the Midwest that you are gay or liberal and that every hateful word spoken by Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter is spoken about YOU, and force them to reconcile it with their worldview? So many of these people are allowed to go on like this because all their intellectual children fled to the big cities and the coasts...and there is no one left to hold them accountable and transform them with love and understanding.
Make this battle your own. Sacrifice your comfort this holiday season by vowing to have at least one uncomfortable conversation with a bigot. Do not yell or get self-righteous. If someone strikes your right cheek, offer them your left. Tell them you love them and we're all in this together.
Like it or not, Obama's civil rights agenda IS better than any alternative we have available at the moment. Rick Warren is a giant douchebag, to be sure, but I also believe this action is mostly symbolic of overcoming this debilitating "us vs. them" rut we've been stuck in for decades.
The Christians have been telling us that creation happens from the top down for centuries and it seems most of you have bought it. Creation (i.e. evolution) happens constantly as the aggregate of millions of tiny decisions made by all of us every day. Bottom-up, not top-down.
I'm glad you're taking on your right-wing parents. That's something small we can all do, if we have the opportunity, and it was a great message to be included in "Milk" ...let the bullet that rips through my body open every closet door or whatever he says at the end.
What if everyone took a moment to tell a family member in some little redneck town in the Midwest that you are gay or liberal and that every hateful word spoken by Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter is spoken about YOU, and force them to reconcile it with their worldview? So many of these people are allowed to go on like this because all their intellectual children fled to the big cities and the coasts...and there is no one left to hold them accountable and transform them with love and understanding.
Make this battle your own. Sacrifice your comfort this holiday season by vowing to have at least one uncomfortable conversation with a bigot. Do not yell or get self-righteous. If someone strikes your right cheek, offer them your left. Tell them you love them and we're all in this together.
38
Also: the thing that we have that most right-wing bigots DON'T is the capacity for logical reasoning. Don't let your EMOTIONS get the best of you, for mysakes. That makes you no better than them.
Cool. Calculated. Effective. These are Obama's best qualities and these are the same qualities that picked Rick Warren for this ***COMPLETELY SYMBOLIC*** act.
Cool. Calculated. Effective. These are Obama's best qualities and these are the same qualities that picked Rick Warren for this ***COMPLETELY SYMBOLIC*** act.
39
@36
Good luck with that evolutionary pond scum thing. I give it a couple of million years, or so.
Good luck with that evolutionary pond scum thing. I give it a couple of million years, or so.
42
me me me. Since when did gay right become the end all/be all issue of the day? There are other things going on. And please: Stop fucking saying "thrown under the bus." Jesus, if there was ever a phrase that's been overused. According to some of you, Obama has thrown you under the bus 8 million times already. And really: That's why you wanted Hillary? really? Still there? Get over it.
43
From Salon.com:
This time, though, the decision to get involved with Saddleback was actually not Obama's. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, run by the House and Senate, put together the program for the swearing-in ceremony. Congress, not Obama, invited Warren.
Yes. I know. The internet is a race. Still, do a little research. Everyone.
This time, though, the decision to get involved with Saddleback was actually not Obama's. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, run by the House and Senate, put together the program for the swearing-in ceremony. Congress, not Obama, invited Warren.
Yes. I know. The internet is a race. Still, do a little research. Everyone.
44
I think gay rights ARE one of the central issues of the day, (along with environmentalism, corporate accountability, etc.) I just don't think anyone will get anywhere by pissing and moaning about who gets invited to the president's tea parties.
Obama is everyone's president, not just ours--and actually getting a "zero negotiation" guy like Rick Warren to come out [in support of HIM, remember] is an amazingly subversive alpha dog trick. Let's hold tight and see where this goes.
Obama is everyone's president, not just ours--and actually getting a "zero negotiation" guy like Rick Warren to come out [in support of HIM, remember] is an amazingly subversive alpha dog trick. Let's hold tight and see where this goes.
46
43
And the Mighty Obama
can't even pick the guy
who will pray to God
at his inauguration?
pitiful
This guy is going to
Change the World?
wake me when it's over...
And the Mighty Obama
can't even pick the guy
who will pray to God
at his inauguration?
pitiful
This guy is going to
Change the World?
wake me when it's over...
47
@43 Wow, really? Well that actually lessens the blow of this news. Did a little research, and you're right, the decision to invite Warren was not Obama's.
51
Ha-Ha!!!
For weeks I've been confessing to my fellow queers that I didn't vote for Saint Obama. Now, I get to brag about it!!!
For weeks I've been confessing to my fellow queers that I didn't vote for Saint Obama. Now, I get to brag about it!!!
53
His policies on his transition website spell good things for us. I will choose to ignore this tip of the hat to the right wing crazies and I will not wag my finger yet.
I sent in my postcards by the way. I have yet to get a response from Barak or any of his transition team, but I am sure I will get something this term. Hopefully, not put on a watch list.
I sent in my postcards by the way. I have yet to get a response from Barak or any of his transition team, but I am sure I will get something this term. Hopefully, not put on a watch list.
55
Uuuuuuhhhh, muh pooosie! Obama beez makin muh poooosie all wet n'shit! Dayum! I GWINE BEEZ HABBIN A OBASM!!!!
56
"For weeks I've been confessing to my fellow queers that I didn't vote for Saint Obama. Now, I get to brag about it!!!"
Yes, now you get to brag about it. This one event, inviting Rick Warren, totally justifies being a dipshit who either threw his vote away by not voting, or voted for McCain/Palin (that's show em!), or just wrote in one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Yes, because inviting Rick Warren and not completely and totally transmuting into an atheist means Obama will be a DISASTER!!! HAHAHAH. I've won, and now I can tell all my friends I was right!!! RICK WARREN!!!! AHAHAHAHA.
yeesh
Yes, now you get to brag about it. This one event, inviting Rick Warren, totally justifies being a dipshit who either threw his vote away by not voting, or voted for McCain/Palin (that's show em!), or just wrote in one of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. Yes, because inviting Rick Warren and not completely and totally transmuting into an atheist means Obama will be a DISASTER!!! HAHAHAH. I've won, and now I can tell all my friends I was right!!! RICK WARREN!!!! AHAHAHAHA.
yeesh
57
Ugh. Invocations do not belong at government functions. Rick Warren just makes the state religion even less palatable.
58
Even *if* Obama picked him, he still ADDRESSED GAY PEOPLE in his speech on Nov. 4th. Have any other presidents done that? Really?
And seriously, most everyone in congress is anti-gay, pro prop 8. Of course they'd pick Warren. He's like the Hillary Duff of old christian people. Jesus.
And seriously, most everyone in congress is anti-gay, pro prop 8. Of course they'd pick Warren. He's like the Hillary Duff of old christian people. Jesus.
59
Gay People,
allow me to introduce to you-
REALITY !!
for crying out loud
I know it is hard
but I penned a poem to help:
Reality is a monster
of so frightful mien,
As, to be feared,
needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft,
familiar with her face,
We first endure,
then pity,
then embrace.
Embrace the Horror.
allow me to introduce to you-
REALITY !!
for crying out loud
I know it is hard
but I penned a poem to help:
Reality is a monster
of so frightful mien,
As, to be feared,
needs but to be seen;
Yet seen too oft,
familiar with her face,
We first endure,
then pity,
then embrace.
Embrace the Horror.
60
Hey, just as Republicans own the DOD, they own religion too, right? I mean, there aren't any high level military officials who are Democrats, and certainly no progressive churches out there that Obama could have chosen from. Unity requires appointing people you totally disagree with. Or something like that...
61
When Obama turns out to be the best president on gay issues (not perfect, simply the best up to this point), all of you mofos better be ready to eat crow, especially you, Cato.
62
A question for Rick Warren:
"Hey, fat-ass, isn't gluttony a sin?
Why does anybody listen to what some Jabba the Hutt lookin' motherfucker like you has to say about sin?"
"Hey, fat-ass, isn't gluttony a sin?
Why does anybody listen to what some Jabba the Hutt lookin' motherfucker like you has to say about sin?"
64
The biggest enemy to gay rights are drama queen shitheads who say retarded things like....
"My fellow queers!?! Get ready to be yet again thown under the bus by a Democrat.
Never again will I vote for someone who does not fully support my rights...and if that means Presden Palin in 2012 then so be it. America gets what it deserves."
"My fellow queers!?! Get ready to be yet again thown under the bus by a Democrat.
Never again will I vote for someone who does not fully support my rights...and if that means Presden Palin in 2012 then so be it. America gets what it deserves."
65
22 I never said shut up or not fight for your rights. I just said that saying voting for Obama was a mistake is dumb because then we would have McCain and Palin and you would get nothing but more conservative bullshit.
At least with Obama there is still a chance that something good will happen, because nothing good would happen under 8 more years of Republican rule.
At least with Obama there is still a chance that something good will happen, because nothing good would happen under 8 more years of Republican rule.
67
"My fellow queers!?! Get ready to be yet again thown under the bus by a Democrat.
Never again will I vote for someone who does not fully support my rights...and if that means Presden Palin in 2012 then so be it. America gets what it deserves"
What a moronic, leftactionary cunt you seem to be!
Never again will I vote for someone who does not fully support my rights...and if that means Presden Palin in 2012 then so be it. America gets what it deserves"
What a moronic, leftactionary cunt you seem to be!
69
LGBT are good for money and support during the primary. After that we are baggage. Even our votes in the general election probably don't mean much. We in large part live in states that will go Blue anyhow. A Democrat who needs the GLBT vote to win the General is going to lose.
Obama threw the gays under the bus at the begining of his campaign. I was always surprised by the ferocity of the glbt supporters of Obama and their lack of knowledge about his lack of support for them. I assumed that they just wanted to be on the band wagon so bad that they were ok with being ask to sit quietly at the back.
I am more than a bit surprised by the degree of betrayal some are feeling. Obama's expressed views on gay marriage are identical to Warren's.
If you think he is going to allow a bunch of queers the same rights as him and Michelle.... try again.
So what do we get from the Dems in exchange for our money and time. We don't get compared to beastiality. Which ain't equal rights but it ain't nothing either.
Obama threw the gays under the bus at the begining of his campaign. I was always surprised by the ferocity of the glbt supporters of Obama and their lack of knowledge about his lack of support for them. I assumed that they just wanted to be on the band wagon so bad that they were ok with being ask to sit quietly at the back.
I am more than a bit surprised by the degree of betrayal some are feeling. Obama's expressed views on gay marriage are identical to Warren's.
If you think he is going to allow a bunch of queers the same rights as him and Michelle.... try again.
So what do we get from the Dems in exchange for our money and time. We don't get compared to beastiality. Which ain't equal rights but it ain't nothing either.
71
(CNN) -- President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday defended his pick of evangelical pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration next month as one of "a wide range of viewpoints that are presented."
72
Praise the lord!!!!!!!!!!
The gays are just beginning to reap the fruits of their stupid labor.
Soon the American Sodom and Gomorrah will be no more, thanks to Obama's all embracing approach to the Evangelical community!
The gays are just beginning to reap the fruits of their stupid labor.
Soon the American Sodom and Gomorrah will be no more, thanks to Obama's all embracing approach to the Evangelical community!
73
He's already showing his true colors. What's next, a "Christian" nation?
What happened to separation of church and state?
What happened to separation of church and state?
74
Joseph Lowery is delivering a benediction at the inauguration, and he's a pro-gay marriage, pro-gay rights minister.
75
Oh good, Warren. How nice of Obama to be so inclusive, because Heaven knows, the rabid right wing evangelicals have not had a voice in government! Oh wait, not that was all of us!
76
Can anyone tell, beyond the obvious cynical appeal to right-wing jesus nuts, WHY on earth Obama would tap a friggin anti-choice, anti-gay, anti-feminist for his Invocation? Do you really think Warren isn't also racist? Come on, Obama!!!
77
It is possible that Obama has simply made a mistake. That he is human, and humans do that from time to time. The evangelicals won't ever vote for him while the liberals and gays will be angry at the insult. So maybe the best thing we can do is show some discipline, hold our fire, and then quietly remind the Obama administration that they owe us one for this.
78
All black marriages equal pedophilia and all jewish relationships equal insest.
-Pastor Shit Head
HMMMMMM. I doubt Obama would have chosen him. When I think of all the money and time I spent getting your ass elected it makes my blood boil! Thanks again for reminding America we are separate not equal. Less-than-intruders on our precious fucking puritan culture!
-Pastor Shit Head
HMMMMMM. I doubt Obama would have chosen him. When I think of all the money and time I spent getting your ass elected it makes my blood boil! Thanks again for reminding America we are separate not equal. Less-than-intruders on our precious fucking puritan culture!
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