Rick Warren, hypocritical invocator, in Jesus' name

AOL News says Rick Warren got a "tepid" response for his invocating skills at Obama's inauguration.

AOL News also says that some folks appeared to be moved emotionally, standing with arms outstretched and tears in their eyes.

To each his/her own.

While I thought it was suffocating and boring, Warren's invocation (prayer) was what I expected: an overly-long sermon as to what God should do and Obama should do and all of us should do.

A major problem is that Warren may speak of inclusiveness, about treating one another with respect, but he doesn't mean it. We know how he treats homosexuals (e.g. they cannot be members of his church; he opposed Proposition 8 in California); we know what he thinks of those who are pro-choice (he opposed Obama for president on the grounds he was pro-abortion); we know he believes that all people who have not accepted Jesus will burn forever in hell. We know these things because he has said these things with no qualification or equivocation. When he says [God] "is loving to everyone" he has made, the unspoken qualifier is always that, in spite of God's loving nature, those who chose not to accept Jesus are doomed forever.

We also know that the god he prayed to today is the Christian god. Atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhist, etc., were excluded. This was a christianist prayer based on the wrong-headed assumption the United States is a Christian nation.

Some of what he said was indeed appropriate, such as his prayers for President Obama and his family and our nation as a whole. But, again, it was very much a sermon, reminding us and God of our mutual responsibilities.

And he just couldn't help "humbly" asking all this of his god in the name of Jesus and then reciting the specifically Christian "Lord's Prayer."


It was a predictable, utterly unnecessary and inappropriate nod to God, and likely indicated to people of other faiths and to unbelievers all over the world that we are hypocrites, rewriting our Constitution to serve our own prejudices. In other words, to those without knowledge of our Constitution, Warren's invocation would leave the clear impression that we have established the christianist religion in our land.

Here's the text of the prayer:

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our Father, everything we see and everything we can’t see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you. It all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory.

History is your story. The Scripture tells us, “Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God. The Lord is One.” And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now, today, we rejoice not only in America’s peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hingepoint of history with the inauguration of our first African American president of the United States. We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership. And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in heaven.Give to our new President, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, O God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race, or religion, or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all. When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us. And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all. May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you. We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus [Spanish pronunciation], Jesus, who taught us to pray:

“Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”

The invocation of Bishop Gene Robinson

The Obama Presidential Inauguration Committee says the choice of Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson to invocate at the big bash was not a last minute thingy.

Well, hell, it sure looks like it. It sure looks like the Obama folks came to realize they'd screwed up with the homophobic, right-wing fanatic Rick Warren, disappointing millions of Obama's most avid supporters.

But never mind about all that. Robinson is going to nod to God on Sunday at what Politico calls the "kickoff inaugural event on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial."

Well, hey, it's better than nothing!


The gay community was happy, more or less. Again from Politico: "Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay civil rights organization, said in a statement that 'Bishop Robinson models what prayer should be -- spiritual reflection put into action for justice. It is encouraging that the president-elect has chosen this spiritual hero ... "


As you might imagine, however, god's christianists on the right are livid! One of the worst christianist homophobic hate groups is Americans For Truth about Homosexuality, aka AFTAH.
Here's a bit of what Peter LaBarbera, president of AFTAH, said about the choice of Robinson:

"President-elect Obama has signaled a tragic departure from America's godly, Judeo-Christian heritage with his choice of defiant homosexual activist, (Vicki) Gene Robinson ...

"Choosing Robinson -- who supports homosexual 'marriage' and compares his agenda to mainstream sinful and changeable homosexual behavior to the noble Black civil rights struggle -- is a sop to 'gay' activists ...

LaBarbera goes on to say that Robinson defies biblical teachings on sex and marriage, and his choice shows the world that Obama is going to "use the bully pulpit to undermine biblical values."

And this is just the beginning, whines LaBarbera. Obama is not only going to see that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is repealed, but "advocate for homosexual adoption," and distort "the Bible to justify his support for homosexual relationships."

Notice how LaBarbera, a "true" believer, a wonderful, godly christianist, attacks his fellow Christian - a bishop, in fact. Robinson, says LaBarbera, "is a radical sexual activist masquerading as a man of God. He is an affront to faithful Christians and religious defenders of morality everywhere. His selfish defense of sin literally has helped to destroy and divide a denomination." Blah, blah, blah.

And then a warning from da LaBarbera: "Robinson personifies the prophet Isaiah's admonition to Israel (Is. 5:20): 'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.'"


Unfortunately, LaBarbera has things turned around. It's not Robinson who personifies evil, it's LaBarbera and all those self-righteous "Uglicans" who split churches and families and dioceses in order to bow down to their fake god who hates homosexuals! They should all take their holy book and shove it where the sun don't shine!


Gene Robinson is the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire. Check out his Website here.