The more Obama’s choice of Rick Warren for the inaugural prayer marinates, the more I agree with sentiments like E.J. Dionne’s:
“[A] more benign view on parts of the religious left casts Warren as the evangelical best positioned to lead moderately conservative white Protestants toward a greater engagement with the issues of poverty and social justice, and away from a relentless focus on abortion and gay marriage.…
“People always say, ‘Rick, are you right wing or left wing?’ I say ‘I’m for the whole bird.’ ” Many liberals hope — and a lot of conservatives fear — that the rise of “whole bird” Christianity will break up right-wing dominance in the white evangelical community….
Obama wants to encourage this move, which would be good for him and good for progressive politics. Fear that Obama’s analysis is exactly right is why so many conservatives are so angry with Warren for blessing the new president’s inaugural.
Although I support same-sex marriage, I think that liberals should welcome Obama’s success in causing so much consternation on the right. On balance, inviting Warren opens more doors than it closes.
Of course it’s easy for me to say, not being the target (well, mostly not) of his homophobic bigotry, so I think anyone who feels angry has every right to.
A debate with similar features is perpetually waged in Quaker circles: whether liberal Quakers should cut ties with the more-or-less heterosexist organization Friends United Meeting. Recently Kody Gabriel wrote an impassioned open letter to his yearly meeting which has been getting a lot of attention. The main point, for me:
“Hearts and minds change through relationship, not rhetoric.”
