Editorial: Pastor Rick Warren and President Elect Obama�s Inaugural Invocation

By Deacon Keith Fournier
12/19/2008
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

I ask that supplications, prayers, petitions, and thanksgivings be offered for everyone, for kings and for all in authority.(1 Tim.2:1-3)

The next four years will be a contest over what constitutes true human progress. We cannot be silent when some seek to argue that a return to barbaric practices such as the reaching into the birth canal or into the womb in order to kill our first neighbors is �progressive�.

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WASHINGTON, D.C. (Catholic Online) - President Barack Obama has selected Rev. Rick Warren, the senior pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California, to give the invocation at the Inauguration. The reaction to this choice filled every media source, both pro and con, on Thursday. It has been in the news cycle ever since. There is no question that Pastor Warren is a well known figure in the evangelical world. He is also well respected among Catholics, and even more so since his excellent handling of the Saddleback Civil Forum which hosted both major party candidates during the Primary Campaign for the U.S. Presidency.

I was impressed with the Pastors understanding of the social implications of our shared Christian faith during that forum. He is one of a growing number of evangelical Protestant leaders who are addressing the full spectrum of issues associated with an informed Christian worldview, including our commitment to respecting life from the womb to the tomb, protecting, supporting and promoting marriage and family, exhibiting a love of preference for the poor, promoting true and responsible freedom, being responsible stewards of our environment and practicing Peace in our relationships on the local, national and international level.

Pastor Rick Warren presided over the forum with excellence. His comfortable demeanor and charitable manner evoked candor from both candidates. He showed courage by directly asking the candidates the foundational question in any sincere analysis of inalienable human rights, when those rights attach to the human being. His efforts to provide a forum where we can learn to disagree �without demonizing the other� and to �restore civility� were a breath of fresh air. It is the Christian Church which has been at the forefront of so many of the great social crusades in our shared history, such as ending slavery and eradicating institutional racism. Today, the President elect was out defending his choice of Pastor Warren for the invocation. Three groups seemed most upset and angry.

The Homosexual Equivalency Movement

The President of the Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solomonese, led the opposition from one front. He wrote to the President Elect on Wednesday, �Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual and Transgendered) Americans�[W]e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination.�

The Human Rights Campaign is the leading advocate of what I call the �Homosexual Equivalency Movement� which insists that all Americans recognize a legal equivalency between true marriages and cohabitating practicing homosexuals. They use the Courts and the legislature to force this to happen. They want the Police Power of the State behind their social restructuring. Pastor Warren holds to the position which the Christian church has held for over two millennia that marriage is between a man and a woman, intended for life and open to the bearing and rearing of children. Support of any other definition in any Christian community or by individual Christians is a relatively modern aberration. Pastor Warren will not support efforts to change what is written in the Natural Law and confirmed by Revelation. He is in no way discriminating against those who profess to be homosexuals by taking that position. As a Catholic Christian I applaud his courage on this vital truth.

The Strident Secularists

Next among those decrying the selection of Pastor Warren are the strident secularists. These are people like Rev. Barry Lynn of �(Protestant) Americans United for the Separation of Church and State� who wrongly interpret the Establishment clause to preclude the right role of people of faith in the public square. Rather than following the founders that there should be no National Church but that religious people have a right to fully participate and even seek to inform the public conversation, they want to make religious people retreat behind their church walls. In an interview on Public radio following the Saddleback Forum, Rev. Lynn called Rev. Warren a member of the �Far Right�. He accused him of having only a �veneer� of concern for issues other than abortion. He consigned him to what Lynn considers the narrow �right wing� and he ridiculed him. He dismissed the commendable concerns for the poor demonstrated by Rev. Warren and his congregation and his teaching on other issues such as environmental stewardship as some kind of subterfuge on his part.

Pastor Warren got it exactly right when he began the Saddleback Forum with these words "We believe in the separation of church and state but we do not believe in the separation of faith and politics." He went on throughout the night to underscore the fact that, in ...

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1 - 10 of 16 Comments

Keith
4 years ago
Is giving this invocation at the Inauguration of President-elect Obama something Jesus would do?
Maybe in Pastor Warren�s mind and heart he doesn�t agree with all Obama's radical ideals, but just by his presence in this historic event shows the world that he endorses him.
Yes we all are praying for the President-elect to have a change of heart on many issues, but Pastor should not stand with him.
Turning him down would be a great victory for Christ and would show his courage and loyalty to Christ, followers of Christ, and to His most precious infants.
Many Christians feel this way, especially because of the FOCA legislation that Obama vows to pass into law.
If he would stop for a minute and do some research and he would find that there are thousands of petition letters endorsed by Americans from every state in this country flooding into Washington each day addressed to Senators and Congressmen begging to stop FOCA.
Pastor can say all kinds of good stuff and give people warm and fuzzy feelings, but his actions speak louder, and what he has proclaimed is tainted when he stands with this most pro-abortion President in US history.
Many are praying that he be a true witness for Christ and withdraw his offer so as to send a clear message to all faithful Christians across the globe.

The Lord is now!
Holly
4 years ago
Support everyone in the Right to Life Movement peacefully. It doesnt necessarily have to be monetary if you get to Washington or California walk the walk for life or like I say
E-Mail or write your congressman
about the issue. (If you have a few quid/dollars then send a couple of bucks to one of the legitamate organizations. Ask your Bishop, minister or priest about it. They would be tickled pink and ask them were you can get educated on the subject.) Be peaceful but get your point acrossed in an intelligent manner.
Dont forget if your concerned about other issues right them this to.
Write your Bishops to but also in a non threatening manner. If your uncomfortable about it then talk or write to their ministers and priests.
You cant have an economy if you dont have "life support" to make it quality of society.
They are people to regardless of the rhetoric we spout.
One thing I do know is if you dont care about "We the People" why should they if they dont hear from you.
Dont threaten them tell them what you know about the issues believe or not they see your stuff or will eventually especially if it makes sense.
We do need change because since 1973 and maybe even a little earlier than that we have been disposing of human beings and care more for our dogs and cats which are important but humans are worth saving to in every sense of the word. We neglect our people because its whats come down the pike.
In simple ways without getting into trouble we can make a difference dont be cynical this year try to make a little resolution even if its just this year to support our LIFE people.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR
FZR
4 years ago
Let's hope Obama eventually hears the message Rev. Warren preaches on the sanctity of life. The more exposure Obama has to that message, the better.
Dan
4 years ago
Let me start by saying that I believe Rick Warren to be a good man. However, in this case I think he's doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. He means well. He means to pray for our nation and to bring people together to talk. However, his actions create scandal in this case. How many young Evangelicals will see this and perhaps think that they can ignore the abortion issue and work with these baby murderers on other issues? How many will begin to look past a candidates stance on the greatest moral issue of our time? Rick Warren, although he is a good man, made a mistake in accepting this invitation. If I sound like I'm demonizing the left in this post, I'm not. They have demonized themselves in supporting abortion-on-demand. They have shown themselves to be servents of the old serpent, and Christians have no fellowship with them. Light has no fellowship with darkness. We need to pray for their souls. However, we can't pray with them without addressing this issue.
Ronny Groda
4 years ago
Surely GOD loves us all. He is glad to meet you where your at. Is the GOD of the All to conform to us are we to conform to him? I prefer the latter! For GOD dose not change, Iam grateful
zeny andaya
4 years ago
warren's a perfect choice! godly leaders must put in authority for country's orderliness. only the fear of God can make one's life whole and fruitful.
Peter Rabalais
4 years ago
Obama's Choice of Warren is an astute political move...for Obama. But Obama is not a Christian, nor does he respect our Christian beliefs [that religion we "cling to"]. Obama seeks only to appear to be open and reasonable. We know that he is an unapologetic champion of basic dogmas of the Culture of Death in direct contrast to the truths of the Culture of Life: The Sanctity of Life and the Sanctity of the Family. Obama fully supports the unlimited "right" of a mother to murder her own child in her own womb and will try to make the FOCA the law of the land.

He will also support the final destruction of the institution of marriage with his support of homosexual "marriage". He has contempt for the American people...e.g., when he said "that is above my pay grade" he revealed his arrogance and contempt for both the sacredness of human life and for the people of this country.

Warren's acceptance of Obama's invitation means only that Warren accepts Obama's beliefs and plans as morally legitimate, but they are not: Obama is the antithesis of what a Catholic should hope for. Warren [protestant] will betray the Christian Faith if he speaks. Yes, pray for them both. But pray also for clear thinking. PR
Nasako Madsen
4 years ago
The Catholic Church respects, protects, loves, and cherishes all human life from the unborn to the poor and elderly, handicapped and terminally ill. The Catholic Church, through her social and health services champions all issues concerning human life which includes caring for the poor, hungry, sick and neglected children. We are reminded years after years, centuries after centuries, statistics after statistics of the great corporal works of mercy this "Great" Church and other Christian Churches do for the neglected, abondoned, and marginalized. However, of all these great corporal works of mercy in which Christ uses to reach out to His people, the one and most important one is protecting the fundamental right to life of the unborn child in the womb. "Before I put you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I dedicated you." (Jeremiah 1:5) God has a plan for every child He put in the womb. Who are we to interrupt God's plan? The right to take and end a life belongs to God and God alone.
Nasako Madsen
4 years ago
Comments about equality right for same sex marriages:

I am sorry but Jesus Christ neither accepts nor views same sex marriages as a way of holiness or a "right." In fact, He spells it out in Scriptures that this kind of union is sinful and harmful to the soul! It is a "wrong" doing not a "right." (Read it in the Bible and in the Catechism of the Catholic Church). Please educate yourself on how Christ expect His followers (and all people for that matter) to live their lives for their own good and the good of others. Like every vocation, the purpose of a married life is to grow in holiness and be in heaven with God someday. A husband and a wife are called to lead one another together with their children to heaven. That is why, according to Christ, in heaven there is no such thing as marriage. The goal for the Sacrament of Matrimony is the sanctification of the married couple and their children-the family (known as the domestic Church).

Same sex married couples can't grow in holiness for they are living in sin. If they can't grow in holiness, what is the purpose of their union, then? What is their goal? If I am trying to get to the other side of the bridge, but something is in the way, what is the natural thing to do? Remove whatever is in the way. The same lesson applies to same sex marriages. The union itself is sinful. If they wanted to get to heaven, the natural thing to do is refrain and repent from their sinful act of homosexuality.

God loves all of us, for He is our Creator. He loves us and wants us to live in holiness "repent from our sinful ways and love Him above all things" and be with Him in heaven at the end of our life on earth. Homosexuals and heterosexuals alike must teach themselves self-control, refrain from any impure and unchaste acts, detach themselves from sin, and strive for holiness at all cost. With our human nature, this is impossible; but with God's grace we can do it. It is then very important for us to receive the Sacraments of Holy Communion and Confession frequently, deepen our prayer life and devotions (the Rosary and Eucharistic devotions, especially), open our hearts to God's abundant grace, grow in holiness, strengthen our relationship with Christ and be with Him in heaven-the longing of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
J
4 years ago
Your right Lauren. I agree with you and I'm not sure if you know that the Church is against capitalism. It's in our Catechism of the Catholic Church. We need to keep these leaders in prayer to not be afraid to confront ANY and ALL issues.

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