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I'm an elder at an Open And Affirming Presbyterian church. A few definitions for those unfamiliar:
"Open and affirming" means we don't just "let gays in" but acknowledge they are children of God whose lives, loves, and happiness are entirely important to God and profess that being gay is not in any way sinful. Our minister sanctifies homosexual marriages as well as heterosexual marriages. I skip three nearer churches to go 4 Boston miles to an open and affirming church three times a week (worship, the youth group I volunteer with, and session meetings).
"Elder" sounds more impressive than it is. Presbyterian and reformed churches are run by the local congregations; the session of elders is just anybody who can be conned into coming in and doing the daily business of the church. I know there is a lot of hostility against Christianity on this board, and I'll be the first to say the Church has earned it and then some. We partner with a lot of churches, most of whom are not open and affirming -- not remotely. One of them is a Catholic church in South Boston.
Yeah. South Boston Catholics. If you think Mark Wahlberg or Ben Affleck were making that stuff up, you're wrong. Most of them are homophobic. Incredibly so. And racist. And anti-immigrant (despite the fact that their grandparents were called Micks when they came off the boat).
Why in hell would we partner with this church?
Because they don't have money to keep their boiler running in the winter. People attend mass in three layers of clothing. But they do a meal 3 nights a week for anyone who wants to come eat, and no one is turned away for any reason.
They're wrong about my LGBT neighbors. As an American I can say Constitutionally they're wrong. As a Christian I can say they are wrong in denying God's love to those who happen to be gay. But in the end, I'm not the one giving up heat in order to feed the hungry (even the gay hungry); they are. This doesn't excuse how they are hurting LGBT people. But nothing excuses the evil stuff I do either.
Now, to Warren.
A lot of us on the Christian Left have been watching him for a while. We have no illusions of "converting" him. He's really, really conservative. He's actually more conservative than a lot of fundamentalists. (If any one cares, theologically, Warren is not a fundamentalist, that's a separate movement from his, and he represents a Right-wing analogy of the generational transfer Obama represents to those of us on the Left.) He's wrong about a great many things, which is natural (I am also), but what's worse is that his rhetoric is needlessly hurtful about many things too.
I hope Rick can understand how much the things he has said have hurt our LGBT brothers and sisters, and I hope he will come one day to realize that "marriage" before God means a lot more than "one man one woman". His church has removed some of the more hurtful language from their website. The cynical response is that they didn't want any heat; I'm a cynical guy but Warren makes me pause: I'd at least ask us to consider the possibility that he's realized what they said was causing people pain, and they hadn't realized it before. (Before anyone says it's impossible: look at the threads over the past few weeks. Half of DU didn't realize what words hurt people's feelings. This isn't as easy as we all wish it were.)
Back to the point:
Rick Warren has a prejudice against homosexuals and women. There simply is no denying that. I hope and pray he can overcome it. Until he does, I'll have to accept the fact that despite that glaring, awful flaw, he has been a tireless and passionate advocate for the poor, for the sick, and for those in the third world (who are all too often both poor and sick and gay and women).
Now here's the thing. Warren has taken a lot lot lot more heat for talking to Obama than Obama will ever take for talking to Warren. I've seen several posts saying "Why can't Warren reach out to us instead?". The fact is, he has, and has been doing so for several years.
We elected a President who promised to reach out to "the other side". The "other side" is homophobic, misogynistic, and racist for the most part. But "they" give to charities at a greater rate than "we" do. They are wrong and misguided but not evil, and shutting "them" out serves no purpose.
They are wrong but that does not make them bad people. Rick Warren has risked his career several times over to reach out to us about poverty, climate change, and health care: issues we agree with him on. He is taking a lot of flack from his "base" to go to the inauguration.
As a nation we need to talk. This is the first step of that, but part of that is recognizing that people who are uncomfortable with homosexuality are wrong but are not evil for that discomfort. I wish nobody were prejudiced against homosexuals but the fact is a lot of people are and we're not going to make it go away by wishing it were not so.
Look, I'm not telling my LGBT brothers and sisters not to be angry. You have every right to be angry. For that matter, you should have been a shitload more angry than you have been for the past 30 or so years (not assigning blame, just amazed at your forbearance). 2008 was a kick in the teeth for LGBT America just when everybody else seemed to be doing better. Don't think I don't see and empathize with that.
But Warren is the least of your worries. Warren is more than happy with a legal civil union that offers identical benefits to marriage (yes, I agree that's not enough -- but think about how many light years ahead of his compatriots that view is).
Obama wants Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration. Rick Warren has a lot of flaws and has done a lot of good things. I think it would be good to have a flawed activist speak. I pray I am not remembered for my flaws; they are legion.
I'm sorry if I've hurt the feelings of anyone. I really really didn't mean to. I just want to give a perspective that maybe some people on DU hadn't seen before.
Peace all
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