The growing alliance of Mr. Obama and Mr. Warren ”” each of the two publicly refers to the other as “friend” ”” suggests that Mr. Obama hopes to capitalize on the signs of potential generational and political divisions within the evangelical Christian flock. For his part, Mr. Warren is increasingly being spoken of as a kind of minister to the nation, a status previously occupied by the Rev. Billy Graham.
V. Gene Robinson, the Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, whose consecration caused a painful divide in his church because he is openly gay, said that when he heard about the selection of Mr. Warren, “it was like a slap in the face.”
Bishop Robinson had been an early public endorser of Mr. Obama’s candidacy, and said he had helped serve as a liaison between the campaign and the gay community. He said he had called officials who work for Mr. Obama to share his dismay, and been told that Mr. Obama was trying to reach out to conservatives and give everybody a seat at the table.
“I’m all for Rick Warren being at the table,” Bishop Robinson said, “but we’re not talking about a discussion, we’re talking about putting someone up front and center at what will be the most watched inauguration in history, and asking his blessing on the nation. And the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.”
RE: “And the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.”
I wholeheartedly agree with Bishop Robinson and am glad to see that he is finally recognizing the abyss that separates traditional Christians from progressive activist Episcopalians.
Two gospels. One organization. That’s TEC.
VG is ticked he wasn’t invited to pray an invocation to his god – Obama understands that had he invited VG he would have a one-term presidency and serve four years as a lame-duck president. The President-elect, thank God, is considerably smarter than the “bishop” of New Hampshire.
Who gets to define who Barack Obama is? I’d answer it is the man himself, but others apparently feel they have dibs.
Yep. Robinson got it right for once. Warren and other faithful Christians do not pray to the god Robinson knows.
We pray to the real One.
“And the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.â€
I wonder if the man realizes the significance of the statement that he does not pray to the same ontological God that Rick Warren does.
#5 – it would seem he is past the point of even caring about the significance. How far we have come – or more appropriately, regressed….
Having Rick Warren give the invocation is not a slap in the face to gay people. It is a slap in the face to gay activitsts who cannot stand any voice but their own.
I’ll take +Robinson at his word – he prays to a different god than Rick Warren. I recognize the God that Warren prays to – it is the same God that created the universe and whose incarnation we celebrate in two days.
YBIC,
Phil Snyder
I think that the only god that Gene Robinson knows stares at him in the mirror each morning. Gene Robinson is a slave to his genital fascination and calls that cause for religious acceptance?
TEC is not inclusive enough to include Rick Warren! No wonder we have a porblem. Where is KJS in all this? It will probably be the subject of her Christmas message.
Yes, he’s got it but doesn’t know he’s got it. What a weird world it has become when a man who thinks marriage is between a man and a woman is considered “out there”. The abnormal simply cannot abide the normal. The dogs run the manger and most people stand helplessly by and watch.
A sad comment from the bishop, who should appreciate Obama’s magnanimity.
It seems that Warren took down the anti-gay elements from the church website – if anything, Obama’s willingness to stand by Warren did more practical good than those who demonize Warren.
If the bishop was more confident that his God would bring things into being, I would have expected a bit more forgiveness and charity toward Obama. He should recognize that people don’t change their minds because they are told to. They change their minds when faced with the power of love.
“And the God that he’s praying to is not the God that I know.â€
May the Lord have Mercy on Bp Robinson. So, so sad. We all need to pray for Gene. May the Lord have mercy on al of us.
Like Dan Crawford I wonder if VGR’s comments come from not having his “prophetic” status recognised by being asked to do it himself. That would have been a coup.
To put VGR’s quote in the fourth paragraph in a different context,
“I’m all for [gays etc] to be at the table, but….we’re talking about putting someone up front and center….”
Which is why he should not be bishop.
Uhhh, excuse me, Mr Robinson, but if you ever try to sit at the same table with ME, I leave!
#14 – um, is this to exemplify Christian charity?
#15 i would find it difficult to sit with him, if not only for the anger i feel at what he has done to the denomination i loved, but his outrageous holier than thou attitude and utter lack of humility. if we hadn’t suffered heretics so easily to begin with we might not have found ourselves in this giant mess.