The most thoughtful and interesting debate of the two-year-long presidential campaign occurred last August at Saddleback Church between John McCain and Barack Obama, moderated by Saddleback pastor Rick Warren. So it is notable that President-elect Obama’s choice of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his Inauguration next month has brought forth hyperpartisan invective from the Democratic left. It has spent the past week conveying to the world its disappointment and disgust with the choice of Pastor Warren because he opposes gay marriage and abortion.
This is a balanced and thoughtful piece that deserves pondering. We have lived for a generation now in a culture of intolerance, with right and left blasting off at each other, with relatively few listening to what others are saying. There has been little creative response. It would seem by choosing Rick Warren to give the invocation at the Inauguration, the President-elect is sending out a signal of some kind.
As in the church, in the political realm it would appear that the left has made human sexuality issues the touchstone of what is and what is not acceptable, and clearly this is going to be a problem for the President-elect. Meanwhile, those on the right have their own collection of intolerances to manage.