When I heard Rick Warren would be the inaugural invocation, my first thought was, "Obama has thrown the evangelicals a bone." I knew Warren as the enormously popular evangelical preacher and best-selling author. As far as Christian conservatives go, he wasn't so bad. I knew he had done work on global warming and fighting HIV/AIDS in Africa, two causes evangelicals traditionally eschew.
What I didn't know about Rick Warren, as popular as he is, he is extremely divisive. Warren worked tirelessly to pass Proposition 8 in California, which banned gay marriage. In an interview with
Beliefnet, he compared gay marriage to incest, pedophilia and polygamy, saying:
I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.
The gay community has every right to be incensed and they should be. I can't imagine how it would feel if someone told me I couldn't get married because I am hearing impaired or wear glasses. I can go marry any schmuck I want to whenever I want to. Lucky me.
The thing is, as much as the Warren pick feels like a slap in the face to LBGT Americans, I really don't think this one was about them. (When is it ever about them, though?) For as much progress as we think we have made with the election of our first African-American president, racism still runs rampant. (Here's a plethora of
examples.)
Barack Obama only got 53% of the vote. Out of the 131 million voters, approximately 58 million Americans voted for John McCain. (
CNN) Just as Democrats had to accept George Bush as their President after he "won" in 2000, these McCain supporters will now have to do the same. Unfortunately, many McCain supporters mistrust and even fear President-elect Obama. A
Beliefnet survey of 4400 users found that "half of McCain voters believe Obama is or was a Muslim," Thirty-one percent said, "he used to be Muslim and still has too many connections to Islam."
While the sampling was not random, the results are probably far more accurate than many Obama supporters would like to believe. During the campaign, emails proclaiming Obama is a
secret Muslim went viral. Many people, even very well-educated or otherwise reasonable people, believed it, simply because they read it on the Internet.
When Sarah Palin declared that Obama "palled around with terrorists," the all of the Obama-related anxiety, paranoia and hatred bubbled over. (See exhibits
A,
B,
C and
D. I could go on but do I really need to?)
Some people simply don't like Obama because he has dark skin. Others fear he has hidden ties to Islam and terrorism. I am not sure why being Muslim is a bad thing, but these voters believe it is. They are entitled to that belief, I guess. However, if we are to come together as a country to fix the economy, Iraq, Afghanistan, global warming, health care and every other mess Bush has left behind, we are going to have to unite behind our government and its chief executive. I think Obama realizes he needs to reach out to those who are afraid of him, afraid of what it means to have an African-American in power, especially one with a name like "Barack Hussein Obama."
Rick Warren can help Obama. Warren is the enormously popular pastor of the Saddleback Church in California and is the author of the best-selling book "The Purpose-Driven Life." He is one of the most public and positive faces on Christian conservatism today.
Time magazine even called him "America's New People's Pastor." Rick Warren is a force to be reckoned with. When Warren talks, people listen. If Obama and Warren work together on issues like global warming, poverty and HIV/AIDS, perhaps the preacher can show the unconvinced that Obama is a decent guy who just wants to help the country.
Some people will never like or trust Barack Obama. I can't imagine the guy who ran around the Sarah Palin rally with the "Little Hussein" monkey will ever be BFFs with Obama. Still, Rick Warren may be able to help those who are afraid of Obama see that he's not so bad. Heck, they might even like the guy. You never know. Stranger things have happened, liked a guy named Barack Hussein Obama becoming the 44th president of the United States.
Posts
