Rick Warren: A Cuter Kind of Hater December 23, 2008

Rick Warren: A Cuter Kind of Hater

By Guest Contributor
December 23, 2008

I still say the Rick Warren controversy isn’t as big a deal as people are making it out to be.

That doesn’t mean I agree with his absurd, faulty, and hateful social views.

Cartoonist Mikhaela Reid shows us why mainstream America doesn’t find Warren as bigoted as his Religious Right counterparts:

rickwarren

I’m amazed someone can be so effective and wonderful on certain issues… and so misguided and irresponsible when it comes to others.

Warren is making it difficult for non-Christians to respect him.

(via M1khaela)

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  • PrimeNumbers

    Respect is earned. Respect is never earned through stupidity or adherence to an ancient book that doesn’t even make sense.

  • One may smile, and smile, and be a villain!

    WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet

  • Aj

    You’d think that giving a platform to someone who has so many abhorrant views about atheists (no morals, no meaning), women (obey husbands), homosexuals (unnatural), abortion (holocaust), science, reason, and who said that the President of Iran should be assassinated would be a big(ish) deal. A creationist that thinks before Noah there was no rain, we should obey God’s word “even if it doesn’t make sense”, or that any reasoned arguments against his batshit beliefs are the product of the devil.

    The arguments about “civility”, “inclusion”, and “diversity” don’t wash when there’s so many people with crazy beliefs out there that Obama wouldn’t dream of inviting. We are getting a clear picture here. Say whatever crazy, disgusting things you like preacher man, if you invite me to your church I’ll give you a special honor, but if you say something against me then I’ll disown you even though earlier I said you were like “an uncle”. Remember, it wasn’t the talk about AIDS being invented and spread by the US government that got Obama upset about Wright, it was the suggestion that Obama was “political posturing” that “particularly angered” Obama, prompting a much stronger denounciation.

    Isn’t this “celebration of diversity” slightly ironic, coming in the form of a bigot in the role that excludes non-Christians, and some Christians (e.g. gays) would probably be out of the question as well.

  • Ryan

    Sea the Blogonaut Says:

    December 23rd, 2008 at 9:12 pm
    One may smile, and smile, and be a villain!

    WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, Hamlet

    ——————————————-

    The Joker? Well at least the Joker isnt an idiot.

  • Phillip

    You know why I have a major problem with this? People like Rick Warren, they call us homos the end of civilization–more or less. You can’t promote fear of a minority group without promoting violence against it. I see men like this ultimately behind almost every gay-bashing.

    Hemant Mehta, apply your own criteria! You like to substitute “black people” for “atheist” in every other anti-atheist campaign to show what it means. Grant the queer community the same courtesy: let’s say Barack Obama had given this opportunity to an outspoken racist preacher who said non-white folks were leading to the downfall of America, thereby legitimating his views. What would you say then? It’s still “not a big deal”?

    Don’t be a hypocrite, Mr Mehta. It’s a HUGE deal.

  • Hemant Mehta, apply your own criteria! You like to substitute “black people” for “atheist” in every other anti-atheist campaign to show what it means. Grant the queer community the same courtesy: let’s say Barack Obama had given this opportunity to an outspoken racist preacher who said non-white folks were leading to the downfall of America, thereby legitimating his views. What would you say then? It’s still “not a big deal”?

    Don’t be a hypocrite, Mr Mehta. It’s a HUGE deal.

    I know what you’re saying and I’m disturbed by Warren’s views.

    My argument is that Warren will not be influencing policy decisions and that’s much more important.

    George Bush invited a gay-friendly pastor to deliver the invocation in 2005. Did that change anything? No.

    Did it matter symbolically? I don’t hear any gay people giving Bush props for his selection.

    In the same way, I just don’t think anyone will be giving this selection a second thought after the inauguration is over. I don’t think the pick reflects Obama’s endorsement of Warren’s views.

    It reflects an attempt to reach out to the Evangelical community. Don’t forget Obama’s still a politician. He wants to be inclusive of everyone, but to an extent.

    Again, we need to stand up for equal rights for everyone. We need to fight back against the Rick Warrens out there and their supporters. Let’s fight against bad judge selections and improper policy decisions. Let’s fight against an invocation being offered in the first place.

    I think we’re focusing on something minor if we just go after Warren. He’s not the focus of the inauguration. Obama is. And that’s a wonderful thing.

  • Phillip

    And Obama, it seems, is the sort of man who will welcome this fellow to set the tone for his inauguration. Obama’s own views are somewhat shaky–hell, first time I saw him speak I was disgusted to see the sheer amount of pandering. This MATTERS to LGBT people–with the passage of Prop 8, we need to know if we have a president who will FIGHT for our civil rights, or one who will make the token gestures but never go too far.

  • I still say the Rick Warren controversy isn’t as big a deal as people are making it out to be.

    Well, if I can’t convince you of the intense symbolic importance of inviting an open bigot to speak at a Presidential inauguration; and if I can’t convince you of the intense emotional importance of this slap in the face coming right after our devastating losses on Prop 8 and other marriage- equality initiatives around the country… maybe I can convince you of this.

    The LGBT community has been able to keep this story in the news cycle for a solid week.

    It has not been a happy week for Obama.

    So the next time he considers screwing us over in order to make nice with the religious right, he’s going to think long and hard. When the Employment Non Discrimination Act comes up, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and the expansion of federal hate crime legislation to include LGBTs… you can be damn sure he’s going to remember the Rick Warren debacle.

    That wouldn’t be the case if we hadn’t raised nineteen kinds of hell about Rick Warren. That wouldn’t be the case if we’d just rolled over and played dead. He now knows that we are not to be fucked with; that this is not our first time at the rodeo.

    How’s that for influencing policy decisions?

  • PrimeNumbers

    Maybe Obama couldn’t find a “famous” religious / Christian person without obnoxious views?

  • People like Rick Warren, they call us homos the end of civilization–more or less.

    Are you confusing Rick Warren with the Pope? The Pope actually said this. Although many US Protestants deny that Catholics are “real” Christians, they sadly seem to agree with the Pope on this issue.

    Actually this kind of talk scares me and reminds me of the anti-Semitism leading up to the holocaust. Atheists scare me the same way when they talk about Christians, Muslims and generic “religionists,” too. Sometimes I am afraid we didn’t learn anything from 20th-century history.

  • Phillip

    Aye, I’ve just as much issue with the Pope. But Rick Warren has made such statements as well.

  • Greta Christina: “It has not been a happy week for Obama.”

    It’s been a bit embarrassing for Rick Warren, too. Recently, he’s scrubbed the anti-gay language from his website. Now that’s a pretty small thing, and I doubt that his actual position on gays has changed much. However, it’s another nudge closer to the left, which is probably something Obama wanted.

  • mikespeir

    No, no. Apparently, Warren’s preaching against homosexuality isn’t hate speech. He says so right here: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/24/national/main4685478.shtml?tag=topHome;topStories

  • Tufty

    I’m not sure how he gets away with the rest of it, but Warren gets away with his atheophobia (fear/hatred of atheists) because many people still think it’s ok to hate atheists.

  • Phillip

    So the next time he considers screwing us over in order to make nice with the religious right, he’s going to think long and hard. When the Employment Non Discrimination Act comes up, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and the expansion of federal hate crime legislation to include LGBTs… you can be damn sure he’s going to remember the Rick Warren debacle.

    Kids, just say “no” to queer pressure.

  • Maria

    I’m probably one of the few GLBT people to say this, but I agree with Hemant. If you look at the bigger picture, it’s not as huge a deal as it’s being made out to be. Hemant makes a good point about George W. Bush having invited a gay friendly preacher and that didn’t change anything; neither will this, (it won’t change Obama’s stance on GLBT rights) but it might win Obama some PR points with Evangelicals.