Being the Change I Wish to See

If Rick Warren had let this go, I think this controversy would have died down by the end of this week and we’d all be getting over the fact that this snake oil salesman will be preaching at PE Obama’s inauguration. But he couldn’t let sleeping dogs lie, and the press has this nasty, annoying habit of following up on stories.

Here’s the pertinent Rachel Maddow Show segment about what Mr. Warren had to say a couple of days ago:

Here’s the full-length video from Rick Warren to his members on his blog so you can listen to the entire 22 minute message. It gets more hypocritical as it goes on, so put on your waders.

Dec. 21, 2008 Member Video, Rick Warren

Pastor Warren walks all over civil rights in the name of free speech. He lies about what he has said in the past on video tape. He blames the press for creating conflict where he says it doesn’t exist. He says he is for the separation of church and state, but wants marriage defined by his religious definition. He calls those who don’t agree with him and his views “Christ-ophobes”. His members will gloss over the anti-gay rhetoric. Oy!

I think he is mistaken. We are just opposed to Rick Warren’s definition of who we should be and that his flavor of Christianity is the only flavor that is right. I am a Christian, but not according to his definition. I’m a traditional Christian from a long-lived denomination, United Methodist. I was Baptized as an infant and I don’t believe that I need to be Baptized again to be saved. I don’t practice the religion I grew up with (Methodist) because there is no gay-accepting Methodist church in town. I attend either the Metropolitan Community Church (non-denominational) or the Unitarian Church, where a lot more people than Christians attend. These churches are welcoming to gays and don’t preach to us that we are sinners for being who we are, and they have programs just for our group within these churches.

I do think reaching out to the middle is an idea worth exploring, but we have to be extremely careful about making sure we are staunchly who we are and unrepentant about it. We have nothing to repent. We also have to make it clear that our protests are civil, not religious. We want civil rights, not other people’s religious acceptance.

Rick Warren has twisted our protests against his beliefs that he brought out of his church and into civic life on Prop 8 into hate speech. We are spewing hate when we protest against his ideas? No, we are demonstrating that we don’t agree with him and he believes we hate him because of it. This guy is slippery.

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Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, LGBT civil rights, Rachel Maddow, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

Barack Obama, LGBT civil rights, Rachel Maddow, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church