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.

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

written by Sherri Joubert \\ tags: Barack Obama, LGBT civil rights, Rachel Maddow, Rick Warren, Saddleback Church

When I’m wrong I’m willing to admit it, and I’m wrong. All I heard were the sound bites of Pastor Rick Warren on TV, and the Dateline interview and I thought I knew who Rick Warren is. I don’t. I was wrong to judge him on sound bites and first impressions.

Please visit this link to Melissa Etheridge’s article on December 22, 2008 in the Huffington Post:

The Choice Is Ours Now

Pastor Warren visited with Melissa, her spouse and their children at Ethridge’s home after she and Pastor Warren performed at the Muslim Public Affairs Council in California. He said he was sorry for his choice of words in the clip shown on TV. He is against gays calling our unions marriage because he defines it as only between one man and one woman, but he claims to be for gay equal rights if we call our unions something else.

He has changed his website, and I hope that the initial information I got about Rick Warren is not accurate, or at least less accurate than it appears, and that he and his congregation are open to dialogue and better relations with the gay and lesbian community.

I do have a problem with Pastor Warren’s seeming lack of scientific facts and knowledge, as I have the same problem with many on the far right about their beliefs that science and their religions are contradictory. I do not believe that they are contradictory. The Bible was written in a time when most people couldn’t even read and write, let alone understand science. It wasn’t written down for centuries after the stories were passed down by oral tradition. When we don’t understand something, we tend to make up a story that explains it for us. Later, when we have the facts, those stories can become metaphors for what we didn’t understand previously. I believe the Bible stories of creation are wonderful metaphors for the physics that happened before, during, and after the big bang.

But again, how am I going to change anyone’s mind if I walk with a picket sign outside their church? I might have a better chance if I go inside and talk to some of the people who might be willing to have a discussion and at least give my ideas a try.

Technorati Tags: Barack Obama, Huffinton Post, Inauguration Invocation, Melissa Etheridge, Rick Warren

written by Sherri Joubert \\ tags: Barack Obama, Huffinton Post, Inauguration Invocation, Melissa Etheridge, Rick Warren