President-elect Obama has invited Saddleback pastor Rick Warren to give the invocation (i.e. opening prayer) at the inauguration. While Obama and Warren disagree on some issues, Obama says he wants to "create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable." In fact, this follows in the footsteps of Bush’s choice in 2004, as the Huffington Post notes.
At his 2005 inaugural, George W. Bush tapped Rev. Dr. Louis Leon to deliver the invocation. Like Obama and Warren, the two shared a commitment to combating AIDS in Africa, as well as a friendship from time spent in each other’s company. But Leon was and is a progressive voice. And his selection in ‘04 sparked a lot of interest, though little of the outrage that we see with Warren.
Indeed, the "tolerant" Left side of the blogosphere didn’t seem to get the "disagree without being disagreeable" memo.
Americablog: “Great, then where are the racists, Mr. Obama?"
Markos himself at Daily Kos: “Yeah. Where is David Duke’s invitation? Or as Blue Texan notes, when do Phelps and Hagee get their invitations? Heck, throw up Tom Tancredo up there for good measure, so us Latinos can feel some of the hate!”
Atrios: "Wanker of the Day: Barack Obama."
Firedoglake: "President-elect Obama chose eliminationist hate preacher Rick Warren to give the invocation at Obama’s Inaguration. With this choice, Obama sends three destructive messages. Number one: In Obama’s America, equal rights and reproductive freedom aren’t for everyone. Number two: President-elect Obama likes sharing the national stage with hate. Number three: While Obama enjoys his equality before the law, LGBT Americans can go to Hell. Literally. Gee. Is this change we can believe in?"
Andrew Sullivan: "…pandering to Christianists at his inauguration is a depressing omen."
Think Progress: "…he laughs off accusations of being ‘homophobic’ because he ‘talks to’ gay people and served protesters water."
(A tip of the hat to Don Surber and John Hawkins, from whom I got much of this list, and who have even more examples.)
Once again, we have examples of liberals, who tout their "tolerance" and "acceptance", being wholly unable to handle any sort of deviation from the orthodoxy. Additionally, as even the Huffington Post notes, the folks they claim are the intolerant ones actually were more accepting when they were in the same situation.
Tolerance. You keep using that word. I do no think it means what you think it means.
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2 users commented in " The Rick Warren Kerfuffle and The "Tolerant" Left "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackFar better would have been for for Obama to make a real statement for change and eliminate the whole ooga-booga need for imaginary godly invocation and sanction. How about a truly secular inauguration? wouldn’t that be a great way to honor our Constitution?!
After the initial anger and intolerance, there may be some rethinking setting in. At least, Andrew Sullivan’s article, “Taking Yes for an Answer,” at theatlantic.com would suggest so. Our next president is to be commended for providing both the gay left and the evangelical right with an opportunity for dialogue. Obviously, most of both camp cannot abide the other or see this opportunity as anything but threat. It is interesting to note how the right demonizes Warren as much as the left attacks Obama for inciting this Invocation Crisis. That being the case, nothing has been lost. What might be gained is an opportunity to expand the middle, if only a little, so that a few on each side of the gay-evangelical cultural cleavage can see the opportunity both Obama and Warren are providing them.
What is hopeful in all of this is that we are going to have a president who is willing to take some risks to reduce the dominance of ideology in our current public discourse—who genuinely seeks to govern from the center and work through differences.
Those who think Obama has “pivoted right” in picking Warren for the minor honor of giving the invocation at his inauguration have missed the whole point of the invitation. He is trying to tell us something about how he’s going to govern and what kind of an America he is governing toward. IF he is able to move us in that direction, America will be a better nation for the gay community, for evangelicals, and for the rest of us.
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