Free Republic

Given some of the reactions to an item I wrote yesterday about Barney Frank's objections to Rick Warren giving the invocation at the inauguration, let me state for the record that I lean libertarian on marriage. On the one hand, I don't like courts substituting their judgment for legislatures or the will of the people. But in the long run, I think it might be better for government to recognize that marriage is a religious or spiritual institution, and confine its role to enforcing agreements between partners. That said, I can't help but chuckle at the way the MSM is...

Tis the season of empty gestures! Inaugural pastor Rick Warren rewrote his website so it no longer says gays are poison to his congregation. In fact a whole long lecture about gays was deleted. Here's the old content, via AmericaBlog, via Dave Winer, where Warren explains why gays can't join his church: This was from a website section called "Small Group Questions About Saddleback Church." The above is part of an answer to the question "What does the Bible say about homosexuality?" Also part of the answer, in the original, was a description of homosexuality as "an enormous sin" and...

The Pope has said that "saving" humanity from homosexual or transsexual behaviour is just as important as saving the rainforests. Pope Benedict XVI sparked a furious reaction from other Christian groups as he also suggested that a blurring of the distinction between male and female could lead to the "self-destruction" of the human race. The pontiff was delivering his end-of-year address to senior Vatican staff and his words were later released to the media. The Roman Catholic Church teaches that, while homosexuality is not sinful, homosexual acts are. It opposes gay marriage and, in October, one leading Vatican official described...

Rick Warren is in a place he never expected to be: at the center of a culture war. The pastor chosen by President-elect Barack Obama to give the inaugural invocation backed Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in his home state of California. But he did so belatedly, with none of the enthusiasm he brings to fighting AIDS and illiteracy. When other conservative Christians held stadium rallies and raised tens of millions of dollars for the ballot effort, there was no sign of Warren. Neither he nor his wife, Kay, donated any of their considerable fortune to the campaign, according...

Not that he was planning to attend, but Barack Obama should know that my sister's inauguration night party -- the one for which she was preparing Obama Punch -- has been canceled. The notice went out over the weekend, by e-mail and word of mouth, that Obama's choice of Rick Warren to give the inaugural invocation had simply ruined the party. Warren is anti-gay, and my sister, not to put too fine a point on it, is not. She's gay. She is -- or was -- a committed Obama supporter. On the weekend before the presidential election, my sister and...

Here's a lovely quote you may wish to put in your scrapbook: "For 5,000 years, every culture and every religion - not just Christianity - has defined marriage as a contract between men and women. There is no reason to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population. This is one issue that both Democrats and Republicans can agree on. Both Barack Obama and John McCain have publicly opposed the redefinition of marriage to include so-called 'gay marriage.' Even some gay leaders, like Al Rantel of KABC, oppose watering down the definition of marriage....

Gay civil rights groups - the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force - are calling on President-elect Barack Obama to yank his invitation to Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren to give the inaugural prayer on Jan. 20. They demand tolerance from others, but won't spare any for those with whom they disagree. Unless, of course, that person is Obama, who, like Warren, opposes same-sex marriage. Then, they get real ecumenical. Not to mention, very forgetful."I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Now, for me as a Christian - for...

Gay civil rights groups -- the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force -- are calling on President-elect Barack Obama to yank his invitation to Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren to give the inaugural prayer on Jan. 20. They demand tolerance from others, but won't spare any for those with whom they disagree. Unless of course, that person is Obama, who, like Warren, opposes same-sex marriage. Then they get real ecumenical. Not to mention, very forgetful.

In defending his choice of Warren, Obama went further than arguing for inclusion: He argued for civility. "We can disagree without being disagreeable, and then focus on those things that we hold in common as Americans." Who can argue with that? Too bad it is only the political right that gets tagged by the media for bad manners. The president-elect may have to rap some liberal knuckles to convince them he really wants a better public tone from everyone. Many have called Obama's choice of Warren "shrewd." That may be, or perhaps Obama means what he says. We will see....

I'm writing to share my profound and abject revulsion at your agreement to offer the invocation at the inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama as president Jan. 20. I understand you want this to be a time of "healing" for our nation. I understand you consider Obama to be your "friend." I understand your desire to bring "civility" to our society. However, when we read the Bible, we see there are times for men of God to stand up to leaders, like Nathan did to King David, and confront them with the absolute truth of God's word and His laws. That's...

Tonight at 9 ET on The Andrea Shea King Show on Blog Talk Radio What's YOUR opinion? Should Pastor Rick Warren have accepted the invitation from Obama to offer the inaugural invocation? Pastor Rick Warren might be a man filled with spiritual wisdom, but in this case, he's made a huge miscalculation and a serious mistake. Under fire for opposing gay marriage, the influential evangelical pastor defended his decision to accept President-elect Barack Obama's invitation to give the invocation at the Jan. 20 inauguration. In a keynote speech he delivered at the Muslim Public Affairs Council's annual convention in...

Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a voice crying in the wilderness that the mainstream media and middle class America weren't quite ready for and megachurch pastor Rick Warren is an ignorant evangelical rube who isn't totally without hope, given his awareness of AIDS and other favored liberal causes. That's essentially what Eleanor Clift preached to her choir in her December 19 "Capitol Letter" column, "Choosing a Church: Obama's next big decision -- and its implications." Wrote Sister Eleanor (emphasis mine): Black religious leaders did not stand up for Wright even as they understood and sympathized with the prophetic theology he was...

A drunk half-man half-alligator crashed Rick Warren's press conference earlier today. Mortified, Warren tried to get through a prepared statement focusing on cooperation between people of different beliefs. Unfortunately his every sentence was punctuated by Manigator yelling his support for intolerance using vulgar language and controlled flatulence.

Like other gay Republicans, I have been amused by the brouhaha among gay activists, bloggers, and their allies on the left over President-elect Obama’s choice of Pastor Rick Warren, a proponent of Proposition 8 which bars the state of California from recognizing same-sex marriages, to offer the invocation at his inauguration. Unlike some of my ideological confrères, I don’t see this as a sign that he has thrown his gay supporters under the bus. Gay activists, however, are up in arms....

I can’t believe I’m back commenting on the gay movement and their obnoxious culture wars. I had other windmills at which to tilt this week – but every time I think I’m out, they pull me back in! This time it’s the mega-stink being raised over mega-pol Barack Obama’s invitation for Rick Warren, mega-church pastor – not to mention mega-hit author, mega-relief advocate for AIDS and poverty and mega-debate moderator – to give the invocation at the mega-Inaugural. Take this nugget from the gay advocacy group Human Rights Campaign (please): “It is difficult to comprehend how our president-elect, who has...

I think we are all entitled to ask and to keep asking every member of the Obama transition team until we receive a satisfactory answer, the following questions: ___ Will Warren be invited to the solemn ceremony of inauguration without being asked to repudiate what he has directly said to deny salvation to Jews? ___ Will he be giving a national invocation without disowning what his mentor said about civil rights and what his leading supporter says about Mormons? ___ Will the American people be prayed into the next administration, which will be confronted by a possible nuclear Iran and...

<p>Rep. Barney Frank says it was a mistake for President-elect Barack Obama to invite the Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.</p> <p>The first openly gay member of Congress says Warren "compared same-sex couples to incest," and Frank says he finds that "deeply offensive and unfair."</p>

LONG BEACH, Calif. - Rick Warren has told a Muslim group in California that 'You don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand.' And at the same gathering, Warren also admitted he's a big fan of lesbian activist Melissa Ethridge and has all her albums. Under fire for opposing gay marriage, the influential evangelical told the Muslim Public Affairs Council's annual convention Saturday that he loves Muslims, people of other religions, Republicans and Democrats, and he also loves "gays and straights." The 54-year-old pastor and founder of Saddleback Church in Southern California told the crowd of...

Choices Rick Warren 65% Liberal Critics 19% Can't decide 16% votes 6,480

About three years ago, a reporter at Fortune asked Rick Warren, the successful pastor whom the President-elect has asked to pray at his Inauguration, about homosexuality. "I'm no homophobic guy," Warren said. His proof? He has dined with gays; he has a church "full of people who are caring for gays who are dying of AIDS"; he believes that "in the hierarchy of evil ... homosexuality is not the worst sin." So gays get to eat — sometimes even with Rick Warren! Then they get to die of AIDS — possibly under the care of Rick Warren's congregants. And when...