Hey folks,
Happy Thursday to you. Do you remember Rick Warren? For those of you who may not know him, he is an out spoken Evangelical Pro-Life Pastor. Some say he is nothing more than a self promoting, power hungry, fame seeking, scam artist. Others say he is a Man of God, who creates waves because he is bold enough to tell the truth.I'll be honest with you. I have never sat in his pew. I have never heard a sermon given by him. I have not read any books written by him. I know very little about him. But I do know this. He hosted the Faith Forum with Obama and McCain at the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California. I posted this back then. McCain Concise, Obama Elusive and Patronizing
Asked at what point he believes life begins, McCain immediately said: “At the moment of conception.”
“I will be a pro-life president and this presidency will have pro-life policies,” he said, after receiving thunderous applause.
Obama, rather, said answering that question would be “above my pay grade.”
Above my pay grade? Can you say he doesn't have the kahunas to answer the question? There were moans after this answer, but I guess he thought that the moans were better than getting booed for being honest.
Obama fought against the ban on LATE Term Abortions. Worse yet, he fought against a bill that would PROTECT babies that were failed attempts of late term abortions. Babies born alive and left to die. On March 30, 2001, he argued this on the floor of the Illinois State Senate.
"Number one, whenever we define a preventable fetus as a person that is protected by the equal protection clause or other elements in the Constitution, what we are saying is, in fact, they are persons entitled to the kinds of protections that would be provided to a,,a child, a nine month old, that was delivered to term. That determination then, essentially, if it were accepted by a court, would forbid abortions to take place. I mean it,,it,,would bar abortions, because the equal protection clause does not allow someone to kill a child."
Of course he couldn't be honest and say, "well, I believe life begins whenever the Mother decides it does." Now he says he would limit abortions in late stages of pregnancy, but we know where he stands on this.
Well, Pastor Rick is back. This time he will be giving the Inaugural Invocation. Of course many are not happy with this. According to The Political Machine - Why Rick Warren's Inaugural Invocation Will Anger Many Conservatives By Matt Lewis Dec 17th 2008 5:18PM
Barack Obama's decision to have Rick Warren deliver the invocation at his inauguration will surely be greeted by many as the triumph of bipartisanship and post-partisan politics.
Predictably, this move is sure to anger some of Obama's base who might view having an Evangelical pro-Life Pastor play such a prominent role in Obama's inauguration as a slap in the face.
I can understand that. We KNOW where Obama stands on Abortion. We now he is for killing innocent lives. The Pro-Choice people were hoping that Obama would protect them and their multi-billion dollar industry.
... But there is another group who is likely to view this move with suspicion: Traditional conservatives. (In fact, a quick perusal of the conservatives I'm following on Twitter confirms this.)
On the surface, one might wonder why conservatives would object to having an evangelical pastor deliver such an important and historic invocation. But for a long time now, conservative opinion has been greatly divided concerning Warren -- and this latest move is merely one more reason for conservatives to be skeptical of his loyalties.
Most TRUE Conservatives, could not care less what his or anyone's "loyalties" are. We are not a big club that hates those not in it. We do not go around kicking people out, or having others PAY to come in. We believe in Right and Wrong. PERIOD. There is no middle ground with TRUE Conservatives. It is a LIFE STYLE. We LIVE what we preach. So do TRUE Christians. At least, that is what we should do.
There are several reasons many conservatives question Rick Warren:
1. Many believe him to be a self-promoting opportunist who is seeking to become the 21st century's version of Billy Graham.
Maybe. But then again, we are all to strive to be Jesus. Someone who even Billy Gram would call greater than he. So just because one seeks to be someone of greatness, does not mean they have evil intents. Then again, he may be a fame seeking, greed driven, scam artist. But I repeat, I know very little about him, therefore I can not judge his intent.
2. As I write this, a debate continues to rage between Michael Gerson style "compassionate conservatives" -- and traditional conservatives who view the term as redundant, and who blame George W. Bush for supporting big government liberal policies. Warren obviously fits into the former camp. And while he is pro-Life, he has sought to "broaden the focus of the evangelical agenda" by focusing more on tailor-made Democratic issues over traditional family issues which favor Republicans.
Folks, "Compassionate Conservatives" is nothing more than a term to describe LIBERALS pretending to be Conservatives. There is NO SUCH THING as a Liberal Conservative.
3. Some conservatives will also view his presence as a tacit endorsement of Obama's policies. Devout pro-Lifer's will surely object to this, though the counter argument is that it is better to have at least one pro-Life voice whispering in Obama's ear than to surrender this opportunity for influence. Still, many conservatives will view Warren as nothing more than a pawn, meant to cheaply provide "cover" or pacify Christian conservatives (who might now be able to justify their vote for Obama), while the new president will predictably support a socially liberal agenda.
Sorry again folks, but the truth is, NO TRUE Conservative could have EVER voted for Obama. Now is Rick Warren a pawn? A willing participate? Could he be doing this in the hopes to persuade Obama that Pro-Life is the way to go? Maybe.
While this move will surely be applauded by the center, in one fell swoop, Obama and Warren have found a way to anger many on the left and on the right.
According to Political Machines poll on their site, it seems more Libs are ticked at this than Conservatives. Liberals 6183 (58.4%)Conservatives 4404 (41.6%) at the time of me writing this.
I do remember that Faith Forum with Obama and McCain. I did not see it but I remember reading the transcripts. I remember thinking to myself that McCain was comfortable with matters of Faith, yet Obama was all over the place. attempting to tick off the least amount of people. He was trying to get elected at the time. So of course he could not be honest.
So what is my take on this? If Pastor Warren is legit and truly hoping to tell Obama the truth about matters of Faith and God, then I say great. If he is just trying to be part of history for selfish reasons, then I say, whatever. You see, just giving an Inaugural Invocation, a few minutes on stage, is NOT going to change Obama's mind, nor will it effect the country in any negative nor positive way whatsoever. It really is pretty much a non-issue. Just something for those on the far ends of the spectrum to argue about. It would have been a little more entertaining to have someone like Past Wright do it, but I would still stand by what I just said. It really would not matter that much either.
Peter
Sources:
OPNTalk- McCain Concise, Obama Elusive and Patronizing
The Political Machine - Why Rick Warren's Inaugural Invocation Will Anger Many Conservatives
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