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Per My Girfriend Rachel Maddow’s advice, I just watched all 22 minutes of Pastor Rick Warren’s most recent “News and Views” video on the Saddleback Church website, in which he addresses, among other things, the scandal surrounding his appointment by the President-elect to deliver the inagural invocation next month. Yes, I watched the whole thing. I don’t have a lot to do this week, okay?! And, even though Mr. Warren resides in The OC, it seemed an appropriate thing to watch in the woods in Southeast Texas on Christmas Eve Eve.
(Click the creepy image to watch for yourself, if you dare)
First off, I will say that he is the least inflammatory evangelical pastor to whom I’ve listened (fine, that’s not a hard distinction to earn). Generally speaking, he promotes peace and love and helping people, which are the few good things that can result from Christianity, in my opinion. Beyond that, though, he is terrifying. Bigotry aside, his belief that “faith works best in a free market society” in combination with the visibly expensive lighting setup used to shoot this video indicate how important a steady cash flow is to his church. Well, those things and the fact that the “Resources” link on Saddleback’s website takes you not to a useful listing of web texts, but to a page full of curricula-for-purchase costing hundreds of dollars each.
Christianity ought not be for profit, Pastor Warren! I’m no expert, sure, but I think I should get a say if you’re planning to make money on my oppression. And oppress me, he will. Though he outright lies about it (see, evidence presented by The Maddow herself), he not only opposes gay marriage - which I don’t want for myself, but still - he does not allow LGBTQ people into his congregation unless they repent their homosexuality!
Mr. President Elect, what were you thinking with this guy?! I don’t want to let Pastor Warren thwart my otherwise magical relationship with Barack Obama, but it’s not looking good…
