There were definitely better picks than Warren.

That's Obama's MO thus far, good choice followed by a bad choice.
But we knew he would do this Centrist crap when we voted for him.

I'm just going to wait and see what decisions he makes once in office. If they're as poor as Warren, Hillary, Salazar, and a few others, we're looking at a mediocre presidency at best.
Barack really does have to opportunity to change thing for the better. I hope he leaves behind a legacy that reflects that. It's up to him.

I would imaging that choosing Warren was some sort of "keep the Right from squawking" move, but it's the appeasement of the Right that makes Centrists so depressing to begin with.

Still happy about my vote though. No matter how much Right Wing ass Obama kisses, he's still better than the alternatives.

Sorry for the typos, I'm really tired.

I like that Warren considers helping the poor as part of Christianity, he's still too right wing for my taste though.

So, is Obama deep down an evangelical?

I think deep down, Obama isn't overly religious. Whomever he picked, somebody was going to start this thread.

But there's going to be another preacher at the festivities that should be weighed in the considerations.

(link...)

...would be the Rev. Troy Perry, but I'm not holding my breath.

I've heard him speak, but not actually lead a worship service. He does have a gift. (And he told me he thought I was good looking. How many other people can say that about the founder of their denomination?)

"I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." -- Will Rogers

Evangelicals are a significant minority in this country. I don't mind seeing Obama reaching out to them, that doesn't mean he agrees with all their tenets.

I think we need to put the culture wars behind us and work together to rebuild a country that's been robbed blind by the current administration and its cronies.

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"Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse."

Maybe the Obama blinders are starting to come off....

According to Warren, being gay makes me no better than a pedophile. I'm tired of this sort of mentality and seeing once again these sort of hurtful and divisive words being swept under the rug.

I don't want to argue about whether there are better or worse candidates out there, because there will always be both. What I do want is for religious leaders to just be religious leaders. I want separation of the civil and the mystical. I want Obama to take a stand and tell the Warrens of the world that their nasty rhetoric is not okay just because they claim to be friends with some gay people.

I want a world where no more gay kids end up spending years in the closet, years of hurt and confusion, denying themselves the truth like I've done. And I'll willingly admit that I didn't really have it that bad. But it was bad enough, and no one deserves to be made to feel this hurt and confusion and frustration because they happen to have been born gay.

Why have prayer at the inauguration at all?

I think you may be missing something significant here. About Warren and about Obama, and where the two meet.

Speaking as a wingnut swine, who also has vile Evangelistical tendencies, I can assure you that the idea that Obama adopted Christianity as a sop to the black community is very prevalent over here on the dark side. Many of us who don't believe he's a cryptomuslim believe that he's at least a cynical nonbeliever masquerading as a believer just to score points with the simpletons in the pews.

That's certainly within the realm of possibility, but I've always thought it seemed stupid and unsupportable. He says that he had a life-changing encounter with Christ. Why not take his word for it? Does his support for abortion rights disqualify him from the Kingdom of Heaven? Show me one single human being who has lived the perfect life and I'll show you the Messiah. It's that simple. Obama might very well be every bit as Evangelical as Jimmy Carter. Or W. Or Rick Warren. Maybe part of the reason he picked the guy is because Warren is a genuinely good guy and Obama likes him and they have some core beliefs in common, not to mention the fact that Warren's an excellent communicator and very astute politically.

But Warren's not really rightwing. If you say that he is, your ignorance is showing. He's unapologetically Evangelical, sure. But he's pushing the Evangelical ethical envelope in some interesting and good ways. Some very progressive ways. Some very not-rightwing ways. His push goes way beyond the idea that we need to help the poor. I think he seems to be suggesting a very community-oriented kind of responsibility on the part of Christians towards ALL of their neighbors, especially those who suffer. I'm not a Warren expert, but he seems to want to go way beyond the standard, benevolence-from-a-distance thing that's so regrettably the norm.

I think Warren is right about much of this stuff. The Evangelical community has been extremely self-absorbed for a long time, and much too into the pursuit of pure political power as the means to a set of ends that, frankly, seemed always to promise more harm than good to the message and practice of the Gospel. Warren seems like someone who is at least trying to change that orientation. I hope he can.

So c'mon, moonbats. Quit being so damn cynical. And fearful. And exclusive. When you do that you start to sound too much like us.

I never really understood a certain poster on this blog until I happened across the word "pedant" in the dictionary.

I for one appreciate you reaching across the aisle, bobby. I have a theological question I've wondered about. There are several passages in the scriptures that demonize left handed people, I've read that only a couple of hundred years ago children were prvented from using the "handedness" that was natural to them. Now it's not such a big deal. I hope for Sam's sake and for the sake of many others we can also get past the demonization of sexual preference. Why the discrepancy?

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"Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse."

This may actually be a victory of sorts for liberals. Rick Warren is a watered-down, though unfluential, evangelical, at best. The way he has received Obama probably shows more weakness on Warren's part than on the President-elect. One of the better ways to render an evangelical ineffective is to convince him to compromise. Rick Warren's message seems to lean increasingly more to life-enhancement issues, leaving the Gospel secondary. Apparently he only made the statement about Prop. 8 after being pressed by his congregation. Because of Warren's efforts many nominal evangelicals may be more inclined to overlook Obama's policies that don't jibe with what they say they believe, in the spirit of "coming together". So if Rick Warren is willing to be "unqually yoked" with an unbeliever or even someone who "isn't overly religious", the problem is with Warren, not Obama. If it is apparent that Obama has influenced what Warren prays, it will verify my point.