Obama’s choice of pastor under fire (again)
First it was Pastor Jeremiah Wright’s tirades against the United States; now it’s Pastor Rick Warren‘s easygoing evangelical morality. Can Barack Obama hope to pick a pastor who pleases everyone?
Until the 20th century, Christians of all denominations opposed both abortion and homosexual behavior. Even as recently as the 1990s, opposition to same-sex marriage by a pastor—any pastor, liberal or conservative—would have been considered so uncontroversial as to be unworthy of notice. (For Bible passages relevant to this topic, click here.)
And yet within hours—perhaps even minutes—of yesterday’s announcement that president elect Obama had selected Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, to give his inaugural invocation, a firestorm of controversy erupted. In a follow-up article, Ron Gonzales of Orange County’s OC Register collected initial responses from The Huffington Post, US News, Salon.com, and ABC News, in a post titled, “What other media say about the invocation story.” While some of the responses pointed to the perception among Obama supporters that Warren had “ambushed” him at Saddleback’s August 16 “Civil Forum on the Presidency,” it quickly became clear that the majority of the backlash sprang from Warren’s opposition to abortion and homosexual marriage. Another article in today’s Register titled, “Obama’s selection of Rick Warren is a slap in the face,” confirms this trend.
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