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August 19, 2009
E-mail a friendYOUNG VOICES
Rick Warren? Really?
The Obama Presidency has hit its first snag, and it hasn't even officially begun yet.
Last week, it was announced that the evangelical preacher Rick Warren would be on hand to give the invocation at the inauguration next month. The choice of Warren, whose wildly successful book, The Purpose Driven Life, has made him a celebrity in evangelical circles, is now being criticized because of the preacher's stance on gay marriage.
While Obama himself has never come out explicitly in favor of gay marriage, his selection of a man who likened same-sex unions to child abuse and incest hardly seems the ideal way to begin a presidency founded on hope and change. To many, it seems like the first faltering step of a too-good-to-be-true candidacy.
I won't be the first to say this, but now may be a good time to re-examine our vision of Barack Obama as the savior of America. Certainly, a superhero is just what America needs right now, but it may be time to accept that Obama won't be able to be all things to all people. He still has the potential to be as good for America as he promised, but this first misstep is an early indication of the tough road he has ahead of him.
In Obama's Rick Warren decision, those on the left who favor gay marriage will be upset by the honoring of someone who has spoken so hatefully about gays. The hardline evangelicals will not be moved into Obama's camp, either, because of his position in favor of abortion, probably their most significant issue. Those in the middle, who are neither rabid on the issue of gay marriage nor vociferously against abortion, will be fine with this—but isn't it a bit late to be reaching out to the undecided?
Rick Warren's statements about gays and gay marriage are shameful, and have no place in 21st century American politics. After all, is likening gays to pedophiles any different from the slurs that were once made by some preachers against African Americans to keep them from attaining civil rights?
Perhaps Obama is trying to be inclusive with this choice, and he certainly can't be blamed for trying to bring Americans together—it will be one of the most important tasks of his administration. But it will not be easy, especially when so many of them insist on clinging to fear and hatred under the guise of Christianity.
UPDATE: Check out Henrik Hertzberg's excellent blog on The New Yorker's website for another point of view.