Obama Was Right To Pick Warren

I'm pro-Obama, pro-gay rights. I'm a former once burned, twice shy, ex-evangelical, son of a founder of the Religious Right, now a writer excoriated by the right as a traitor. And Let me tell you why Obama is -- again -- wiser than his critics in picking Warren to pray at the inauguration.

Unlike his lefty critics lamenting Obama's ideological impurity, the President-elect is actually positioning himself to help gay rights. That is because he is going to actually govern, not stand on the sidelines complaining. As such he needs to do all he can to soothe the idiots, when it comes to the tough social/political issues that are the residue of 30 years of culture wars.

In inviting Warren, President-elect Obama is sending a signal that as President he is going to stick with resolve to doing the tough things when it comes to using some political capital on behalf of the gay community. He knows symbols are important and is softening the blow for the vast number of evangelicals to whom Warren is a hero.

As noted by Jim Wallis in his "Hearts and Minds" Sojourners post (December 19, 2008) a leading evangelical -- Richard Cizik -- who is progressive on environmental issues and gay rights, was just fired from the vice presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals for only daring to say he is warming up to the idea of gay civil unions.

As Wallis notes:

Rich Cizik has been a pioneer in the "new evangelical" movement... Rich has helped lead the way to putting "creation care" and climate change on the mainstream agenda of the evangelical movement... because of things he said in an NPR interview with Terry Gross [he was fired]. The controversy of some of Rich's statements, in particular his "shifting" feelings about gay civil unions, admitting that he voted for Barack Obama in the primaries, and implying that he did so in the general election, caused so much controversy in some quarters of the NAE's constituency that the Executive Committee felt they had no choice but to suggest resignation, which Rich quickly but sadly accepted...

Here's the point for all you progressives that only talk to yourselves and haven't a clue about the "other" America: in a country where a national evangelical leader is fired for just voting for Obama, and thinking friendly thoughts about gays, the new progressive president has his work cut out!

If you all -- if we -- bitch each time Obama makes a strategic move, we are just shooting ourselves in the foot. Pipe down, and give him a chance. And by the way, America faces bigger problems right now than the window dressing at the inauguration.

Progressives are too used to failing. Stop worrying about little battles, you just won a war. It's all about real results now, not words, and not symbols. It is time to think like winners. The issue now is governance, not symbols.

Frank Schaeffer is the author of CRAZY FOR GOD-How I Grew Up As One Of The Elect, Helped Found The Religious Right, And Lived To Take All (Or Almost All) Of It Back. Now in paperback.

Follow Frank Schaeffer on Twitter: www.twitter.com/frank_schaeffer

Comments

[eddiedamn]

I know that the one and only thing that has 'softened' peoples' far-right position on gay rights, including gay marraige, is long-term contact with a friend or famlily member who is gay. This is rare and difficult because it means, as it meant for me, many years of enduring disrespectful comments and questions at the very least and physical danger or actual physical harm at its worst. It doesn't happen very often. The world can still be a dangerous place for many GLBT people. Being gay can still get you killed and not just spiritually.

So Frank, I'm going to try to trust you on this one. I don't think you're right but I'm willing to see what happens. I think the selection of Rick Warren, when there are other fantastic 'red-letter' Christian leaders out there such as Tony Campolo, is a strange and disturbing choice. So disturbing, in fact, that it makes me want to abstain in 2012 unless there's another W (or a Sarah P) on the rise.

I guess I have a few years to see if your theory of pandering for a purpose, kowtowing with a cause is actually effective in any way. Since it's all I really can do I'll wait and see.

It's disheartening, though, because when I voted I didn't think this was going to be such a profound wait-and-see kind of presidency.

[LiberalBuzz]

The second you used the term "lefty" you lost all credibility on this issue. Your bias is showing and you can claim to be anything you want but when you start using terms like "lefty", then you are being dishonest in your so called support of the things you started you post with.

[KathyinBaltimore]

Having spent many years living as a progressive Democrat in the deepest corners of the Bible Belt, I would like to say that you must be delusional if you think that inviting Rick Warren to give the invocation will in any way soften the blow of gay rights for the fundamentalist right! No way, no how, no time. I don't know what churches you have been hanging out in, but the churches I came to know were certainly anything but malleable on this particular issue, as witnessed by Cizik's unceremonious dismissal from the fold. If you want to get some religion on this issue, go see "Milk," and then ask yourself this question...why are our gay and lesbian sons, daughters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers sitting here thirty years later still waiting to be heard? If Obama wants to give them the voice they deserve, all he has to do is pull in some of those hard-won Democratic favors, find his Lyndon Johnson pen, and start signing!

[JN1034]

It's both needful and remarkable to finally read a practical, calm rationale about this dilemma. For Orthodox Christians, this is a bold and necessary inclusion to the wider debate about retraditioning the Church. For this interested, we spoke on this at http://www.jn1034.blogspot.com though not as succinctly. Thank you.

[GoodBadUgly]

It is sad that people are reacting in this over heated way & "are not seeing the forest for the trees." I support civil unions & rights for the GLBT community but will never support them marrying or adopting kids. Having said that, i believe the comment below summarizes the strategic nature of Obama inviting Rick Warren to say the prayer of invocation -

"I support the right of gay couples to marry and I so appreciate what you've written here. I felt torn about Obama's choosing Rick Warren until I happened to sit with a sister-in-law at a family get-together--- one who was holding prayer vigils against Obama prior to Nov. 4th, who circulated anti-Christ, Muslim and terrorist emails and who now says she'll support him as her President, but still fears his "differentness" on a number of counts-- and she's a member of a mainstream Methodist congregation. Moves like inviting Warren will soften a lot of the religious craziness and resistance. I can clearly feel and understand the wisdom now of inviting Rick Warren to the inauguration, and how such a move will go further to advance gay rights than now barring him or changing the plan, or simply not having invited him in the first place."

[TurnThePageGA]

As a left of center Evangelical LOYAL Democrat., Thank you Frank Schaeffer for this Thoughtful post.

[BEHM777]

As always Frank, your voice is a calm, sincere, thoughtful and reasonable one.

[NanDarien]

If Warren is merely a big fat pacifier to shut up/shut down the religious right, then maybe that's a good thing. As for gay rights, I doubt Mr. Obama and his team gave us gays a second thought in choosing Warren. After all, I was a member of the audience during the Charleston debate of July 23, 2007 when Mr. Obama clearly and unequivocally stated that he would leave the issue of gay marriage "to the churches" to decide.

[NanDarien]

I guess I must be craziest of all for simply hoping that in an Obama administration religion just wouldn't matter much at all. No more wasted time arguing over those ludicrous verses from Leviticus, no more arguing about the insanity of creationism, no more faith-based federal initiatives, and no more time wasted NOT exploring the miraculous outcomes possible for all of us through stem cell research (outcomes lost, or at least delayed, due to religion), and no more using gay people as a way for the religious right to raise money. I've never heard of you Frank Schaeffer (and I'm sure that's a barometer of my own lack of attention to all things modern in the literary world and not a reflection of the fact that "best-selling New York Times author" carries about as much weight as the ability to see Russia from one's own house does as a qualification for the Vice-Presidency), but rather than "piping down" I think I'll just continue to pray the prayer I've prayed for at least 25 years now: "God(dess), please grant our politicians, judges, and educators the wisdom to stop reading between the lines of the Constitution and simply take it at face value: please, I pray, keep religion and state separate."

[Shrinath]

*clap clap clap* Wonderfully stated. They making a mountain out of a molehill. There is no need for me to add any more. :)

[William999]

Thanks for piping up on this issue, Frank. I commented yesterday that I was surprised you hadn't voiced your opinion sooner. I happen to agree with you. Obama said he was going to reach across the aisle. He just reached across the cultural divide of America and picked the least crazy of the crazies to give the invocation at his inauguration. I think we can expect more moves like this from him in the future. To paraphrase one of your previous posts, if the fundamentalists on the left and the fundamentalists on the right are screaming, he must be doing something right.

[CatfishAndGrits]

By your measure then black people, back in the day, were fundamentalist for wanting others to see them as human. Gay people aren't fundamentalist.

Being a homophobe must become just as taboo as being a racist. We shun racist, and should shun homophobes.

Why do we accept asinine reasoning from the religious community. And I say that being a christian myself. If the same words were said by anybody else except a pastor we would denounce them as a bigot.

[generationyes]

Yeah, but what do you do when the majority of people in your own country fit the definition of homophobe? Do you shun them all? Or do you have some other plan?

[davusan]

Some people must be sorry they didn't vote for McCain/Palin instead of Obama.

[AngelaQuattrano]

McCain was not an option, and I doubt the fact that Obama has chosen to write off many of his supporters in order to pander to the followers of Warren will make many people think that McCain was a viable choice.

[davusan]

Hey, lighten up! It's called sarcasm! It's an ironic joke! Why does everyone have to take everything so seriously?

[susanowens611]

Tolerance .
When did people stop tolerating Christians?
Muslims and Christians share many of the same beliefs.
Stereotypes of anyone are wrong, including fundamentalist Christians.

[cc]

JohnDrake6 at 01:56 PM on 12/20/2008 said "I'm inclined for now to believe that there is method in his madness."

I don't see madness I only see method. I see Obama's offering an olive branch to the (nearly) half of the populace that voted against him as eminently wise and ingenious. Ignoring those "fearful" folks at his inauguration could get him started off on only one foot (his left) missing an opportune first step toward uniting the people behind his agenda for addressing the grievous problems facing us and the world at large. Obama's inviting Warren to speak has nothing to do with what the guy preaches about anything including gay lifestyle. It has everything to do with getting the WHOLE nation behind Obama. Having Warren as part of the ceremony--and especially at the beginning--may well attract and hold the attention of those who otherwise would have no incentive to watch this inauguration and/or listen to the new president speak.

My personal preference is to ban religion from all secular ceremonies. Since it is the law of ALL the American people, I believe a swearing-in with a hand on our Constitution would produce the best accountability.

[ruffmama]

Amen!

[bmorejoe]

For a brief moment a couple days ago I thought this pov had some merit. No longer. There are lots of ways to do dialogue - this is not dialogue this is a slap in the face.

Rick Warren literally snatched away my daughters' and their moms' right to a legal marriage. Without his efforts, Prop 8 would have failed. How can inviting him to bless Obama's presidency possibly be justified? Would Obama have invited someone opposed to interracial marriage to officiate? There are many ways to reach out without selling out your own people. Obama chose a different way, one that discounts and marginalizes and delegitimizes millions of people. This is a really really bad sign. It indicates that he does not see gay and lesbian folks as real people with real rights that are being violated.

I am a straight white 60 year old male. Like others I have been more excited by this campaign and by Obama than by any other campaign and candidate in my lifetime. Until now, I am sorry to say. To all you folks who are saying "oh get over it, move on" - sorry, it does not work that way - can't move on if you cannot even see us as people. I say "us" because what Obama may not realize yet is that GLBT folk are NOT isolated. They have friends, families. However many GLBT , multiply by ten to get an idea of the community. So no, this conversation is

[generationyes]

Was Prop 8 the be-all and end-all of gayness? Did the world end for gays? Are all your hopes and dreams and those of your children and your children's children forever obliterated? No? Well then, do get over it and gird your loins for the continuing struggle.

I do not support Pres-elect Obama's view that marriage should be between males and females only. I believe gays are full citizens and as such deserve to be conferred the same rights as all others - in fact, they have a constitutional right to be treated equally. Rick Warren does not represent the state. Rick Warren is a religious figure who holds very typically religious views. What's more, he stands for many millions of Americans who hold the same views. If you think, turning him away from playing a symbolic role in Obama's inauguration does anything to help the gay struggle to gain equality, then you're not playing with a full deck. You are putting your feelings of personal affront and grievance ahead of longer term planning.

I understand the hurt and the pain. But this is the wrong fight at the wrong time. Minorities need to feel the pain and still play smart. I think that's what Obama is doing.

[walleymr]

Don't worry, some of us gays have gotten numb to this sort of thing.