WP, Dionne: Message from a Megachurch: No longer a cog in GOP machine

[DeepModem Mom]

Message From A Megachurch
By E. J. Dionne Jr.
Tuesday, December 5, 2006; Page A29

American politics took an important turn last week at a church in the foothills of Southern California's Santa Ana Mountains.

When Rick Warren, one of the nation's most popular evangelical pastors, faced down right-wing pressure and invited Sen. Barack Obama to speak at a gathering at his Saddleback Valley Community Church about the AIDS crisis, he sent a signal: A significant group of theologically conservative Christians no longer wants to be treated as a cog in the Republican political machine.

For his part, Obama, the former community organizer from Chicago, showed why he is this moment's hottest commodity in 2008 presidential politics, even though he has not entered the race yet.

For a quarter-century since the rise of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, white evangelical Christians have been widely seen as a Republican preserve. No one did a more comprehensive job of organizing them than President Bush, and he carried the white evangelical vote in 2004 over John Kerry by a ratio of nearly 4 to 1. Many of the most politically active evangelical leaders have insisted that the morally freighted social issues -- abortion, stem-cell research, same-sex marriage -- took priority over all questions.

Enter Warren, or Pastor Rick, as he likes to be known. Warren is no political liberal. On the contrary, his views on the hot-button issues are reliably conservative....But Warren speaks for a new generation of evangelicals who think that harnessing religious faith too closely to electoral politics is bad for religion, and who are broadening the evangelical public agenda to include a concern for global poverty and the scourge of AIDS....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/04/AR2006120401048.html?nav=hcmodule

[applegrove]

1. Thank gosh for some leadership.

[quiet.american]

2. I have to applaud Warren for his action. And the speech Obama gave is AMAZING. n/t

[msongs]

3. pastor rick is interested in power and $$$ and bein' a player nt

[Bluestar]

4. Yep

He knows which way the wind is blowing--very savvy on his part to keep the book revenue rolling in (A Purpose-Driven Life). He has become bigger than the evangelical movement itself, so he feels he can "broaden" his message. What a crock!

[iverglas]

5. Obama/Warren event -- commented on in Canadian Senate

I just thought youse guys might be interested.

Notes:

(1) "the other place" is what the House of Commons is referred to as in debate in the Senate;

(2) what was being debated in the House that day (Thursday, Dec 7) was the motion by the Prime Minister that the House invite the government to introduce legislation "redefining" marriage to exclude same-sex marriages, which are now legal in Canada.

(Yes, that's what the motion was -- instead of just introducing legislation, which would have taken enormous time to debate and defeat, Harper chose to get defeated on a mere motion.)

Herewith:

http://www.parl.gc.ca/common/..%5C39%5C1%5Cparlbus%5Cchambus%5Csenate/deb-E/058db_2006-12-07-e.htm?Language=E&Parl=39&Ses=1#3

SENATORS' STATEMENTS
Politics and Religion

Hon. Jack Austin: Honourable senators, I want to bring to your attention what may be a remarkable turning point in the long morality wars we have witnessed in the United States.

Rick Warren is one of their most popular evangelical pastors; and to the surprise of his followers at the Saddleback Valley Community Church in Orange County, Southern California, he invited Senator Barack Obama, Democrat for Illinois, to address his congregation on the AIDS crisis.

To begin with, a part of the surprise is that people who identify themselves as members of the Christian Coalition have also been seen as a right wing Republican preserve. President Bush carried the evangelical vote in 2004 by a ratio of four to one. Many politically active evangelical leaders have insisted that the morally weighted social issues -- same-sex marriage, abortion and stem-cell research -- takes priority over all other issues.

About Pastor Rick, as he is called, his book The Purpose-Driven Life has sold over 10 million copies. One of its key messages is that harnessing religious faith too closely to electoral politics is bad for religion.

Last Friday was World AIDS Day. Senator Obama is pro-choice, which is argued by the Christian Coalition to be the antithesis of biblical ethics and morality. His message to the Saddleback congregation was:

Abstinence and fidelity, although the ideal, may not always be the reality. We are dealing with flesh and blood men and women, and not abstractions. If condoms and microbicides can prevent millions of deaths, then they should be made more widely available. I don't accept the notion that those who make mistakes in their lives should be given an effective death sentence.

In response to his critics, Pastor Rick Warren said:

I am a pastor, not a politician. People always say, "Rick, are you right wing or left wing?" I say, "I'm for the whole bird."

The news report said that both Senator Obama and Pastor Rick received standing ovations from that congregation.

Given the issue before the other place this afternoon, I thought this would be a timely lesson in real morality.

I have no doubt that there is good reason to doubt Warren's motives and sincerity -- but heck, he got used as an object lesson in politics and morality for the right-wingers in the Canadian Parliament then engaged in their nasty exercise in bigotry and exclusion, so he served some good purpose!

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Interesting! Thanks for posting. nt

[Joe Bacon]

7. Too little and too late from Pastor Rick

I refuse to waste any time in a "Xtian" church. "P-ASS-tor" Rick is just like any other crucifix wearing crook. He'll do and say anything to fleece a flock. He's locked in to the GOP "Faith based" gravy train and he's only interested in getting as much money for as little effort as he can get.

American Christianity is the most corrupt institution that ever existed. Preacher after preacher bullshits about Jesus, but they follow Ayn "as in MINE's" Look Out for #1 and Fuck Everyone Else attitutde.

I refuse to listen to Republican propaganda regurgitated from pulpit after pulpit. I'd rather sleep in on a Sunday than sleep in a pew filled with mindless Christbots who slobber over a cardboard cutout of Bush and take their praying instruction from the Republicans who run the "Presidential Prayer Team". Sorry, but for me intelligence and religion are like oil and water, they do not mix.

This world would be so far better off without the hate generated by all the churches.