Is There Method to this Rick Warren Madness?

Why has President-elect Obama selected famous homophobe and creationist, Pastor Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, to deliver the invocation on Inauguration Day? Understandably, gay and civil rights groups are expressing their outrage at the choice. On the surface, the decision does appear a cynical political ploy to win the loyalty of hotly contested evangelical Christian voters, while taking for granted (even smacking in the face) the progressive base that worked tirelessly to elect a President Obama. As a member of that progressive base, I have to believe that Obama's governing skills are as nuanced and astute as I thought they were in February 2007, when I signed up to volunteer for his campaign.

Barack Obama is smarter than we are. It's an unfamiliar concept, after the last 8 years of non-leadership we've endured as a nation. He draws on historic precedents for contemporary political wisdom. Famously, his selection of cabinet members from the left and right ends of the political spectrum hearkens back to Abraham Lincoln's "team of rivals." But there may be another precedent at work here - that of Nelson Mandela and the Springboks, South Africa's white supremacist rugby team. In his book, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, John Carlin describes how Mandela sparked controversy by sporting the Springbok jersey, despite the all-white team's history of singing racist anthems at their games. Nelson Mandela's efforts integrated the team and its fan base, and helped unite the nation. In fact, in numerous arenas, Mandela embraced figures hateful to black South Africans, in order forge longer-term consensus.

Like South Africa's white elite, America's evangelical Christians are a minority, but a minority with disproportionate cultural and social sway. In fact, they are a much larger minority than South Africa's white population ever was, which, at its max, numbered around 20%. According to an ABC News poll, taken in June, the United States is 83% Christian. 37% of American Christians consider themselves "born-again" or "evangelical." That's almost 31% percent, a third, of the country. A Gallup poll taken in May reveals that 44% of Americans believe that "God created man in his present form." That's 13% percent "non-evangelicals" agreeing with the creationist worldview. Furthermore, according to a recent Gallup poll, 48% of Americans believe homosexuality is "unacceptable," and 57% in a Pew poll oppose gay marriage, though fewer oppose "civil unions."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Census Bureau evaluates the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender demographic to be around 1.51% of the population. As someone who has spent most of her life in major urban centers, and in the arts, at that, I find that piddling number impossible to believe and imagine that there are a lot of "Brokeback" gays living in silence in more remote parts of the country. If every one were honest, the LGBT demographic would probably prove considerably larger. Nonetheless, I doubt it would approach the numbers of creationists and evangelicals, who, because they take the Bible as the literal word of God written perfectly in heaven, rather than by fallible men here on earth, believe homosexuality is an abomination.

For the record, let me state unequivocally that I believe homophobia is an abomination. I believe heart and soul that the LGBT population deserve the right to marry - and deserve all requisite spousal benefits - just as black people and women deserved the right to vote before they won it. And indeed, Obama's choice to lead the taskforce for the Inaugural benediction, Rev. Joseph Lowery, a civil rights leader, agrees with me.

Pastor Rick Warren, however, emphatically does not. But he does agree with a majority of the American population. Barack Obama lies somewhere in the middle, supporting civil unions and spousal benefits, but not marriage, for the LGBT population. While I find Rick Warren's homophobia abhorrent and his creationism impossible, I recognize that he helped Obama double the number of evangelical voters in certain states from what Kerry garnered in 2004 - key states, such as Indiana, Florida and Colorado that helped Obama win the election. Barack Obama and I disagree fundamentally on certain issues, but what he achieves so spectacularly, beyond any American figure in my lifetime, is the ability to help us transcend our differences by appealing to our common values.

People will argue that they do not share any values with Pastor Rick Warren, who compares abortion to the Holocaust and calls for the assassination of Ahmadinejad. But if we can enfold his numerous followers into our political dialogue, let them get to know us of all stripes, perhaps we can begin to wear away some of the myths and misconceptions that disconnect us. If we continue to push away those who disagree with us, we will entrench ourselves deeper and deeper in the divisions that have gotten us nowhere. Obama's campaign proved that reaching out to those with whom we differ achieves the advancement of the progressive agenda - incrementally, rather than all in one fell swoop.

In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela relates how he repeatedly experienced the wrath of his own supporters, during his nearly 30 years in prison, for extending olive branches to the Apartheid government. But only through the gesture of reaching out to the opposing force was he able to dismantle it. I hope that's what President-elect Obama has in mind.

Comments

[cetaylor]

Here's the problem with your analogy to Mandela: His election represented a conquest over systemic oppression of those including Mandela himself. His olive branches were to his own oppressors and their symbols. Were this a gay President-elect inviting Rick Warren in a nation that had finally (at least officially) thrown off the various oppressions against gays, then you would have an analogy to Mandela. Not here, not now.

There is a fine (or maybe not-so-fine) line between mending partisan rancor and trying to be all things to all people. This decision is hard to read in any other way than meaning Obama is too prone to the latter and risks winding up standing for much less than he was elected to stand up for. He's not a saint, he will blunder, but he must have lines in the sand regarding inalienable rights. Too much has been sabotaged for even longer than the last eight retrograde years we haven't exactly weathered.

Defuse hostility, yes, seek compromise and opposing-voices-at-the-table where the din of rancor of the past 16 years has made it anathema, but not at the expense of standing for unimpeachable values of human rights, civil rights, and human dignity. He must have rationalized that having his inauguration end with a benediction by a gay-marriage advocate would "balance things out" - and there's the rub: How do you balance out a matter of equal rights? They're either equal or they're not.

[MKostroff]

The time has come for Americans to start grasping complexities -- something we're not used to in this sound-byte, text messaging age, when people can no longer take the time to spell out English words in their communications.

We need to settle down, breathe and start separating out the strands of these issues. Inviting Warren to lead a prayer is NOT the same as taking a stand against gay rights. It's not the same as inciting violence. A man has been invited to lead a prayer. A man we disagree with. I don't believe that hurts our cause. On the contrary: If people with strong, passionate disagreements DON'T start having conversations, hanging out together and yes, praying together, we're doomed to stay as stuck as we are now. Obama is showing us that reaching out and breaking bread with your enemy works both ways. The man is a stubborn peacemaker, and with this decision, I'm as proud as ever to have him as my President."

[drspears]

Obama is confidently leading by example the kind of vision, humility, and sacrifice needed from everyone in our nation. Decisions like this represent the direction our country needs to move towards - unity among difference through authentic dialogue.

[mishi]

It's about human happiness. It's about the happiness of people being married to those they love, and those who would annul that joy because it's opposed by the antique mythologies they espouse. It's about the happiness I felt on election night at the Obama party at the Saint Francis Hotel, and the sick sadness that overtook it when I went next door to the Prop 8 party. It's about the happiness we're supposed to feel at the dawn of the Obama Era, and the knowledge that, knowing how angry and upset the LGBT community is, President Hope has no problem - no problem at all - rubbing salt in our suppurating wound.

I'm heartily sick of Democrats taking our support and then crapping on us. You're saying, in effect, that the suffering of me and mine should be borne because the smart old bossman has something really cool in mind down the road? I'm remembering the party in the middle Castro Street when Clinton got elected. I'm remembering how that was followed by DOMA and Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

Screw it. Just screw it.

[XME]

This article is right on. Obama promised change, and while he may not be deliving the change that some supporters imagined, to me it's been exactly what I expected.

I would have been extremely disappointed had Obama opted to treat Conservatives the way that Bush has treated Progressives for the past 8 years!

THAT is not change, but seems to be what many Dems wanted and expected of Obama.

[RLForsythe]

Very simple. This entire issue is solely of Obama's making. And he chose to create the issue. There was no call from the gay community for Obama to choose someone to deliver a prayer in support of gay people, in support of gay marriage or gay rights. None.

He chose an active leader of the Prop 8 forces, someone who equates being gay with incest and beastiality, and who is known for those positions. The fact that Warren supports other commonly perceived "good" causes --- AIDS education, anti-poverty efforts, etc. --- doesn't negate his homophobia.

It strains credulity that Obama and his team --- who ran one of the smartest, savviest campaigns in recent history --- didn't see that selecting homophobe Warren would cause a controversy.

If so, "Why choose Warren?" Answer: Send a message to homophobes that Obama's not THAT liberal. Gays, despite their support, are more easily sacrificed; besides Obama's thinking must go, "Where else are the gays going to go other than on my side, who else are they going to support?"

Obama knew it would cause a stir. He chose to cause the stir. It sends a message to right-of-center people that he's not the leftie they think he is, because, "See, just like you, I don't have that big a problem with homophobes, even if I don't consider myself one, even if I disagree with them." Pretty cynical for a "uniter" guy...political cynicism worthy of ..... George W. Bush.

[CowboyDenver]

A very savvy and excellent analysis. I took note of one line: "If every one were honest, the LGBT demographic would probably prove considerably larger." There you have in a nutshell our problem. We still remain far too invisible in the areas where it matters. I'll wager that every one of the evangelicals out there has a relative who is gay or lesbian. As Harvey Fierstein put it, "that aunt or uncle who never got married." They may not know that this beloved aunt or uncle is gay, and they don't find them frightening individuals. I won't say that it is easy to come out in those environments - far from it. But as long as gays and lesbians remain a concept instead of real people, the evangelical sheep will swallow whatever hateful lie is put to them. Like Mandella's "I'm a springbok fan" gesture, he built a small bridge. I trust Obama's political savvy, and while I hate Rick Warren, I won't crucify BHO for reaching out. NOTHING can be accomplished by standing in opposing camps and hating each other. Nothing. So, to my fellow gays: remember you won a war and pick your battles.

[Michael45]

Lucia Brawley said: "In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela relates how he repeatedly experienced the wrath of his own supporters, during his nearly 30 years in prison, for extending olive branches to the Apartheid government. But only through the gesture of reaching out to the opposing force was he able to dismantle it."

Those are nice words of yours, Ms. Brawley, but they do not totally comport with the facts.

It was not Nelson Mandela's "gesture of reaching out to the opposing force" that was mainly responsible for the dismantling of Apartheid in South Africa. Rather, it was the systematic application of political and economic sanctions by western corporations and governments that ultimately forced the white South African government to begin negotiations with the African National Congress that in turn led to the abolition of Apartheid and democratic multi-racial elections.

[Trappperg]

What an incredible collection of rationalizations you have gathered for your article!
The difference between what Mandela did in South Africa and what's happening here is that religion wasn't in the mix over there. Once you add blind faith to the mix, all bets are off. There's no changing the minds of people like this.

[sanaaiman]

HuffPost's Pick

whatever obama's intent was, this selection has changed my life. i never held views on gay rights that were close to pastor warren"s, but every time i hear warren's comments play on tv i move farther and farther away from his way of thinking. how irresponsible and absurd to compare homosexuality to pedophilia and incest! i personally believe that there are thoughtful and even rational ways to describe your christian beliefs. it is my hope that he, and people who strongly share his views, will realize that it is absolutely unacceptable to talk down to and marginalize other human beings in such a manner.

[woodcut]

"Barack Obama lies somewhere in the middle..."
You wrote it - lies.
Instead of uniting, he's already caused more problems.
Sorta reminds me of that one who suddenly suspended his campaign - rash decision.

BO = trying too hard to be different. This time he goofed up.

[Fongenie]

Nice article, Lucia, but some people fail to take notice. *sighs* The cynicism continues...

[mishi]

Wow...you really have to be "cynical" to notice that President Hope has asked -asked! - to be blessed by a guy who equates gay relationships with pedophilia.

The rationalizations continue... * sighs, then pukes *

[Sioen]

Your rationalization of hateful bigotry makes you culpable for the gays that will be beaten and killed as a result.

When you say that someone is less than human, it makes it acceptable to harm them. Gays are still killed in this country, if you didn't know.

Highbrow talk of political tactics sound really gross in that context.

[Kasanne]

Evangelicals and religious extremists can only become more energised when they are treated like the enemy. Depending on how Obama perfoms in the next 4 to 8 years, these people could get into power and do things in the extreme. It is better to embrace them and teach them that there is another way. A better way. Mind you hating them for their views makes you no better than them. Hate is wrong in whatever shape or form.

[tomomaha]

Mandela was completely different, because he was handing an olive branch to his own oppressors.

Obama is handing an olive branch to the oppressors of people he has little real link to.

People who he has already shown a willingness to sacrifice for political expediency on multiple occasions.

My hundreds of hours and shoe leather and thousands of dollars were spent in vain.

Obama not just entering into dialogue, but deeply honoring a man who has said that I am equivalent to an incest perpetrator or pedophile.

It seems you straights want to build unity among yourselves the good old fashion: way by having the bully beat up on the queers with the popular guy's silent nod of approval. The best part is everyone having a good laugh when we cry, at least feeling yourselves so superior in that moment, knowing that normal people like you would never act in such a ridiculous and pathetic way.

No "Wiley Coyote" brilliant plan will emerge from this disaster. Barack Obama suffers from the delusion that while racism is completely unacceptable, homophobia is just a matter of opinion on which respectable people can disagree.

He needs to learn a painful lesson.

[Sioen]

Amen. Thank you! Very well put.

[Turquoisespirit]

I agree except I don't know what you mean by learning a painful lesson. Kind of a scary connotation.Such as?