Should Obama have Picked Rick Warren for Inauguration?

Recommend (2) Comments (11)

By Tony Perkins

President-elect Obama has asked the Reverend Rick Warren, pastor of California's Saddleback Church and bestselling author of The Purpose-Driven Life, to deliver the invocation at Obama's inauguration next month. I'm heartened by his choice of one of America's leading evangelical pastors-who is pro-life and pro-marriage-for this honor.

It was magnanimous of Obama, in light of the fact that his debate with John McCain at Warren's church in August was one of the high points of the campaign-for McCain. (This was the event where Warren asked, "When does life begin?" and Obama replied that the question is "above my pay grade.") Warren has distanced himself from the "religious right" by emphasizing issues more popular with liberals, such as AIDS relief and global warming. But he has also been consistent in his support for the unborn and for the natural definition of marriage.

This has led left-wing groups like People for the American Way and the Human Rights Campaign to complain about Obama's invitation to Warren. In a letter to President-elect Obama, Joe Solmonese challenged the selection of Warren saying, "Rick Warren has not sat on the sidelines in the fight for basic equality and fairness. In fact, Rev. Warren spoke out vocally in support of Prop 8 in California saying, 'there is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population ... This is not a political issue -- it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about.'

Furthermore, he continues to misrepresent marriage equality as silencing his religious views. This was a lie during the battle over Proposition 8, and it's a lie today." Solmonese's desire to exclude Pastor Warren from the inaugural, based upon his religious convictions, proves the validity of the concerns over the homosexual desire to silence the Church. Let's hope that Rick Warren will use his channel of communication to the new President to press him for more pro-family policies-rather than simply being used by Mr. Obama to make political inroads with evangelicals.