Disagreements on certain social issues
No, that won’t do.
President-elect Barack Obama defended his decision yesterday to give a prominent role at his inauguration to an evangelical pastor who has campaigned strongly against abortion and gay marriage. The invitation sparked outrage among gay and lesbian rights organisations and disappointed liberal and social activist groups across the country. They have questioned why, from all the pastors in the country, Obama chose Rick Warren, who took a prominent role in campaigning in California recently against gay marriage, and who has compared abortion with the Holocaust…”It is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans,” Obama said…”What I’ve also said is that it is important for America to come together, even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues.”
Fine, but that doesn’t entail giving a prominent spot in your inauguration to a reactionary cleric. That’s over-egging the pudding. You can talk to and work with people you don’t agree with, but that doesn’t mean you ought to enhance their power or give them a megaphone.
One big advantage of watching the inauguration on TV. You can mute the ‘invocation’. Who in hell do they think they are invoking anyway!!
Actually, if he is a “fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans,” that is a secret. Last I heard, he wasn’t in favor of marriage equality, but has made some weak murmurings about favoring civil unions. Advocate, maybe, but fierce? Not particularly.
“What I’ve also said is that it is important for America to come together, even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues.”
Is Obama not instantaneously so expecting from the electorate, absolute miracles, by asking of it, despite its differences, to automatically come
together, using the guise of Pastor Warren’s important role at his inauguration to demonstrate this fact.
People virtually need to trash out their differences, even for generations or so, before they can ever dream of coming together.
Instant Peace exists only in fairy tales.
People do not live in fool’s paradises.
If Obama clearly thinks he can mend certain social ills by basically lumping people all together at his important day – well, he has another thing coming to him indeed.
The people in California were not so very long ago slapped extremely hard on one cheek – and I really do not think that they are going to withstand, so soon after, being slapped again on the other cheek. As the sting of the first slap has left its imprint.
To think that the very same people voted for Obama. I think they were duped.
“Advocate, maybe,” Advocate maybe not.
It is easy to say one is an ‘advocate’ if one is looking for votes. It could have lots of meaning.
Pres.-Elect Obama is mistaken if he thinks these differences are restricted to “specific social issues,” or are as easy to solve as giving token nods of approval to so-called “progressive” evangelicals.
Rick Warren is an evangelical Christian who believes the Bible is literally true and inerrant, as do his followers. This belief is the foundation of his opinions, his morals, his ethics, his professional life, his personal life, and his view of others (particularly those who reject the Bible as anything other than true and inerrant). He will never accept a non-believer as deserving of civil rights except when forced to do so by a secular and Godless legal authority.
This is not a “difference of opinion” that can be bridged over by means of a prayer ceremony at a convocation. To truly unite a nation that is as severely divided by religious beliefs as ours will take a sea change in public opinion about the alleged superiority and utility of the religious mindset.
This cannot be done by one man, by one act, or even in one Presidential administration. This is the equivalent of building a bridge across the Grand Canyon and claiming that you’ve united the North and South Rim.