Lord, have mercy!
Surely you'll remember the hullabaloo that followed the selection of Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren to deliver a prayer at the upcoming presidential inauguration? Well, the tables (or altars) have been turned.
New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly gay minister, will deliver an invocation at a Sunday event celebrating the inauguration. He will deliver his prayer on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
"President-elect Barack Obama says he wants to unite Americans, and yet he chooses the most polarizing person in the Episcopal Church, Bishop Gene Robinson, to offer a prayer at one of his inaugural events," said Catholich League president Bill Donohue.
Well... ahh... that kinda sounds familiar.
"If President-elect Obama's selection of Rick Warren to give his inaugural invocation is intended to send a message to America that he will be an inclusive leader, then he has clearly made a decision that the exclusion of the LGBT community is acceptable," said Darrel Cummings, L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center chief of staff.
Wait, there's more...
"President-elect Obama campaigned on a theme of inclusivity, yet the selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation is a direct affront to that very principle," said Rea Carey, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director. "This was a divisive choice, and clearly not one that will help our country come together and heal. We urge President-elect Obama to withdraw his invitation to Rick Warren and instead select a faith leader who embraces fairness, equality and the ideals the president-elect himself has called the nation to uphold."
After uttering a few not-so-nice things about Robinson's personal life as well as calling the Bishop out for supporting women as priests, Donohue concludes his remarks on this latest selection by saying: "In other words, Obama has chosen a man who offends Catholics as much as he does Protestants. If that's his idea of inclusion, he can keep it. The only saving grace is that Robinson says he will not use a Bible next week. It would be news if he did."
Whoa. I haven't heard snarky name-calling and pouty insults this good since my teenage daughter got into a spat with one of her friends.
Knowing Warren's view that domestic violence isn't reason enough for a woman to end a marriage (#30 here, if you need to hear it for yourself), all of the readers of this blog know which minister I'd want to sit beside at dinner.
I think my friend Amy, a practicing Catholic, said it best when she explained to me how she balanced her more liberal thoughts with the teachings of her conservative priest. "He'll be praying and I'll be there with my head bowed and having my own conversation," she said. "He'll pray for this and I'll interject that I'm not praying for that thing, and then I'll toss out what I'm praying for."
Ever since that conversation -- and I've never properly thanked Amy for the enlightenment -- prayers don't bother me so much. Just because some person is speaking out loud doesn't mean that his/her voice is getting to a higher power any more quickly than my own silent wishes and thoughts.
Surely you'll remember the hullabaloo that followed the selection of Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren to deliver a prayer at the upcoming presidential inauguration? Well, the tables (or altars) have been turned.
New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, an openly gay minister, will deliver an invocation at a Sunday event celebrating the inauguration. He will deliver his prayer on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
"President-elect Barack Obama says he wants to unite Americans, and yet he chooses the most polarizing person in the Episcopal Church, Bishop Gene Robinson, to offer a prayer at one of his inaugural events," said Catholich League president Bill Donohue.
Well... ahh... that kinda sounds familiar.
"If President-elect Obama's selection of Rick Warren to give his inaugural invocation is intended to send a message to America that he will be an inclusive leader, then he has clearly made a decision that the exclusion of the LGBT community is acceptable," said Darrel Cummings, L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center chief of staff.
Wait, there's more...
"President-elect Obama campaigned on a theme of inclusivity, yet the selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation is a direct affront to that very principle," said Rea Carey, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force executive director. "This was a divisive choice, and clearly not one that will help our country come together and heal. We urge President-elect Obama to withdraw his invitation to Rick Warren and instead select a faith leader who embraces fairness, equality and the ideals the president-elect himself has called the nation to uphold."
After uttering a few not-so-nice things about Robinson's personal life as well as calling the Bishop out for supporting women as priests, Donohue concludes his remarks on this latest selection by saying: "In other words, Obama has chosen a man who offends Catholics as much as he does Protestants. If that's his idea of inclusion, he can keep it. The only saving grace is that Robinson says he will not use a Bible next week. It would be news if he did."
Whoa. I haven't heard snarky name-calling and pouty insults this good since my teenage daughter got into a spat with one of her friends.
Knowing Warren's view that domestic violence isn't reason enough for a woman to end a marriage (#30 here, if you need to hear it for yourself), all of the readers of this blog know which minister I'd want to sit beside at dinner.
I think my friend Amy, a practicing Catholic, said it best when she explained to me how she balanced her more liberal thoughts with the teachings of her conservative priest. "He'll be praying and I'll be there with my head bowed and having my own conversation," she said. "He'll pray for this and I'll interject that I'm not praying for that thing, and then I'll toss out what I'm praying for."
Ever since that conversation -- and I've never properly thanked Amy for the enlightenment -- prayers don't bother me so much. Just because some person is speaking out loud doesn't mean that his/her voice is getting to a higher power any more quickly than my own silent wishes and thoughts.
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