How's that 'prosperity gospel' working?

Not so well at all, at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church.

A little schadenfreude for Bro. Rick. If not praying harder and believing harder, maybe he needs to preach harder?

Update: Well, Bro. Warren DID "preach harder" and drew in nearly $2.5 million. But, let's see where he's at six months from now. Or 11, at the end of this year.

Rick Warren, chicken

A week after stereotyping atheists, Part of America’s Pastor, Rick Warren, ducked an appearance on ABC’s “This Week.” He was supposedly going to try to address how he lied about not supporting California’s gay-marriage banning Proposition 8 last year when he’s on videotape record as actually doing that.

His excuse for skipping? Via a spokesperson (Sign No. 1 Rick’s about to tell another lie), he claims it was because of Easter week.

You knew where Easter fell on the calendar when you signed up for the booking.

He either never should have signed up in the first place, or else signed up for another date. It looks like he wanted an out.

Rick Warren stereotypes atheists

If I had a dollar for every time some self-anointed atheism psychologist of Christian leadership like Rick Warren claimed atheists are haters I’d be able to bail out AIG myself.

Of course, the author of the Prickhead Driven Life claims we’re angry because we’ve been “hurt.” What about the anger of you and your fellow conservative preachers, Rick?

He then repeats the other lies, like about atheist killings in the 20th century, and including Hitler as an atheist. The reason Christian or other killings of the past are less is because we didn’t have weapons of mass murder 500 years ago, and because the world’s population was one-tenth of today’s.

Two faces of Rick Warren, weak research of Obama

I think most readers of this and similar blogs need little introduction to the idea of a two-faced Rick Warren pretending to be America’s pastor while “playing” to the Religious Right all the time.

The story suggests the Obama team was neive about Warren’s agenda and program, and may not even have been aware of his more outrageous statements, such as comparing homosexuality to incest.

Lemme see … Richardson’s Cabinet nomination, Geithner’s Cabinet nomination,now this.

How often have we seen the allegedly well-organized Obama machine show itself to be anything but? Can we file that idea under political urban legends now?

Happy Boxing Day, White House style-to-be

In honor of the role-reversal part of Boxing Day, I nominate Rev. Jeremiah Wright to take Rick Warren’s place as deliverer of the inauguration invocation.

Or, more realistically, have Rev. Joseph Lowry and Warren switch places.

More seriously, can we drop the “Amerca’s pastor” bullshit? Both for Warren AND Billy Graham?

First, last I checked, we were a secular nation. We don’t HAVE an office called “America’s pastor.” Related to that, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, etc., as well as sociologically irreligious and nonmetaphysician types, don’t have a need for any “America’s pastor.”

Second, we know what Graham once thought of Jews ethnically as well as religiously. We know what Warren still thinks of them, and by extension, those Muslims, Hindus, etc., as well we metaphysically, or even “just” sociologically, irreligious.

Third, last I checked, we were a secular nation. Screw civic religion and get rid of the inaugural invocation entirely.

Rich Cohen weighs in on Obama

Which means that mainstream liberal bloggers will soon weigh in on Cohen, and his “party’s off,” column, where Cohen starts with his gay sister cancelling a pre-inauguration party because of Obama picking Rick Warren for his invocation.

Here’s what will get the MSLBers howling:

The conventional thing to say is that Obama has a preacher problem -- first the volcanic Jeremiah Wright and now the transparently anti-gay Warren. But the real problem has nothing to do with ministers and everything to do with Obama's inability or unwillingness to be a moral leader. Sooner or later, he just might have to stand for something.

(Italics added.)

Indeed. As I’ve noted elsewhere, “outreach” and “dialogue” are NOT political platform planks, let alone elements of a serious political philosophy. They may be words in some extra stanzas added to “Kumbaya,” but that’s a whole different critter.

Of course, there were plenty of Kool-Aid drinkers who were told this six months ago.

Melissa Etheridge also sweet-talked by Rick Warren

Now we know more, beyond his listening to Deepak Chopra, how Juan Cole was bamboozled. Herr Warren must have a pocketful of gold hypnotists’ watches, or Rohypnol spiked with holy water from the Jordan River or something, because Etheridge folded like a cheap house of cards.

In the breathless style so many celebrity bloggers at HuffPost exhibit (probably stemming from the Greek goddess, Arianna Huffington herself), Etheridge tells us;

“I know, call me a dreamer, but I feel a new era is upon us.”

No, I’ll call you a fucking idiot.

Rick thinks you – and your Sufi Muslim singing friend, as well as your lover he helped prevent you from marrying – are going to hell in a handbasket. What’s so hard to understand about that?

Juan Cole – bamboozled by Rick Warren

Along with questions Cole failed to ask

Juan Cole is usually much too hard-headed to get bamboozled. But, there’s a first time for everything and I guess this is it.

Actually, it’s an indirect or bank shot bamboozlement. Cole “Hearts” Melissa Etheridge, and she appeared at the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Long Beach, Ca. with both Cole and Warren.

And Etheridge was bamboozled enough by Herr Warren to ask gay leaders to “reach out” to him. And, Juan is apparently bamboozled enough by her to have a step 2 bamboozlement by Warren.

First, isn’t this the same old thing? Gay leaders or whomever are asked to “reach out”; people like Warren never are.

As for Warren’s AIDS work in Africa, has he given any significant money to AIDS work here?

Next, when did words like “dialogue” and “outreach” become political platform planks?

Juan, and any Obamiacs:

If I want an effing psychologist for president, I'll vote for one.

Of course, at the end of Cole’s post, I fond out where the mushy-headedness started — Deepak Chopra.

Juan, if you think Chopra’s worth mentioning, you can forget about me linking to you on religion-oriented blog posts of yours in the future. And, my opinion of your overall skepticism level just went down.

Rick Warren – the anti-gift that keeps on giving

Has anybody asked Warren, or better yet, asked the Obama campaign if it has asked Warren, his opinion on Prop. 8 backers’ attempt to unmarry legally married Californians?

At the same time, did no Prop. 8 opponents think to raise the “substantiveness” argument against it BEFORE Nov. 4?

Gotta disagree with Sully on Rick Warren

Andrew Sullivan may or may not be right that gay animosity toward Barack Obama’s choice of Rick Warren for the inaugural invocation is misguided. But, whether right or wrong, Warren’s disagreements with Obama go beyond gay rights.

There’s abortion, for example.

And, their differences go beyond even Religious Right hot-button social issues.

Take Warren’s bloodlust for the head of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. (And the pandering to Israel that ultimately lies behind it.)

Or, Warren’s commitment to “social justice,” which sounds nice in the abstract, but would he agree with using government activism to achieve it? Or does he believe in either “success gospel” social justice, per his strain of conservative evangelical Christianity, or else, does he believe in “trickle down” social justice, per the political party he still supports?

Glenn Greenwald has a much better take on how new or not Obama’s Post-Partisan Politics™ is.

As for me, I’m having Post-Partisan Depression™.

Funny aside: A commenter at Wonkette’s post on this issue is exactly where I’m at:

I’m hoping that the Revererend Wright parachutes on stage just as Rick “Pus-Driven Life” Warren is about to give the invocation, and then he says “THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE, BITCHES” and starts spraying machine gun fire. Then he and Hopey make up over Warrens bullet-riddled corpse and they start handing out guns to the crowd from big ass crates marked USSR and “Fidel Forever.” The end.

Dude, I’ll cut Wright a check to make that happen.

Obama lying again – on Warren invite, this time

Salon’s Mike Madden has the details about how the Obama HQ first tried to shuffle info about the Warren invite under the rug, then lied about who issued the invite, and went on from there:

News of Warren’s involvement in the inauguration came out of the congressional committee working on the inauguration instead of from Obama’s own inaugural committee, a wholly separate entity.

At least initially, aides for Obama’s inaugural committee said the decision had come from Congress, not Obama. In fact, that wasn't the case at all.

Free polls from Pollhost.com

Who's the bigger hypocrite?

Barack Obama Rick Warren Let's call it a draw

“That was solely the choice of the president-elect,” said Gil Duran, a spokesman for Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who chairs the congressional committee. Obama'’ staff sent explicit orders for whom to include in the inaugural ceremony up to Capitol Hill, since Congress is, technically, in charge of that part of the day.

“Sen. Feinstein obviously disagrees with the views of Rev. Warren on issues that affect the gay and lesbian community,” Duran said.

As Madden noted, that was the wheels of Feinstein’s bus you heard, at least trying to run over the slippery Obama.

Beyond the lying itself is the nature of the lies of Obama/Obama campaign, speaking of “slippery.”

As I get read for Democrats to again accuse me, a left-liberal, of not being liberal — the lies are Clintonesque, in the same legalistic way. I guess you DO learn a few things at Harvard Law.

Meanwhile, in a mix of irony and petard-hoisting (for someone else, not him), Warren has already told the truth about the invite:

Warren's spokesman, A. Larry Ross, told Salon Obama had contacted Warren to invite him, not the other way around.

In a statement, Warren said, “I commend President-elect Obama for his courage to willingly take enormous heat from his base by inviting someone like me, with whom he doesn’t agree on every issue, to offer the invocation at his historic inaugural ceremony.”

Wrong, Herr Warren. Obama has no imperial-clothing courage after all.

Rick Warren or Barack Obama – who’s the bigger hypocrite?

Poll at bottom


President-elect Barack Obama’s inviting Saddleback Chruch’s Rick Warren to deliver an inaugural invocation raises an open question or two: Who’s the bigger hypocrite, and who’s the bigger toady? Or, per one of my tags, who is the bigger panderer? This is certainly not a slam dunk on the hypocrisy issue, and we could have a split vote between hypocrisy and pandering.

So, let us take a look at the contenders.

In the left corner ...

Warren’s hypocrisy on gay issues is underscored by this statement:

“I have many gay friends. I’ve eaten dinner in gay homes. No church has probably done more for people with AIDS than Saddleback Church,” he said in a recent interview with BeliefNet.

I’m SURE, SURE, SURE Cathedral of Hope here in Dallas has done more for AIDS, Rick. Or, to haul out a controversial ministerial and church name from the recent past, I’ll bit Trinity UCC and Jeremiah Wright top you.

Obama’s was mentioned in the story; it’s his opposition to gay marriage, while also saying he opposed California’s Prop. 8. Veep-elect Joe Biden further highlighted this during the Veep debate, claiming gays would have 100 percent relationship rights, while saying he and Obama opposed gay marriage.

Beyond that, though, is the question of who’s the bigger hypocrite, or, intertwined with it, who’s the bigger toady, issue in broader sociological terms. And, who risks more fallout?

First, let’s look at Warren. Will this affect his standing as the new “America’s minister”?

There’s probably a fair degree of truth that the average under-30 person, or even under-40 in a white-bread megachurch like Saddleback, is there to “fellowship” and plug into the right Christian self-help/success gospel “program” more than talk theology.

But, the average 45- to 50-year-old who has teenagers at a place like Warren's church, and puts a lot more dinero in the offering plate than a twentysomething, I think has a more traditionalist view of religion.

I suspect there's division here. Some may see it as Warren's stealth mission to keep softening Obama up, while others worry about him going over to the dark side, or just letting power go to his head.

As for Obama? Unless the GOP runs someone like Sarah Palin in four years, a lot of LGBT money in particular, and other progressive money in general, will probably sit on the sidelines. So, Obama has very little toadying/suck-up gain here.

That means that, as much as people who are still drinking the Obama Kool-Aid don’t want to admit it — this is the real Obama!

And, per MSNBC (second subhead on webpage), it is clear the Obama Company welcomes the gay-rights attacks; clearly, Rahm Emanuel does. I agree that Obama probably is regarding more ardent gay-rights activists as his Sister Souljah.

More proof on that? The One insists Warren should be all right for the country, and for B.O. questioners, as he changes his song to “Come Together” instead of “Kumbaya.” (With that Doobie Bros. chorus now No. 1A on the hit list, “Kumbaya” falls to No. 3.)

Now, the question from the headline. It’s a toughie, eh? From where I sit, Warren certainly isn’t a hypocrite in his own mind. Obama continues to be Just.Another.Politician.™ despite claiming he isn’t.

And,

Because Obama issued the invite, taking the initiative, AND because he did this just two weeks after saying repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell” would be a priority, he gets my vote hands down. (As for toadyism, it’s Warren by an even bigger margin.)

But, you can vote below.

Free polls from Pollhost.com

Who's the bigger hypocrite?

Barack Obama Rick Warren Let's call it a draw

Obama: Warren is just all right with me

And, he should be all right with you, too, The One insists for the country, changing his song to “Come Together” instead of “Kumbaya.” (With that Doobie Bros. chorus now No. 1A on the hit list, as “Kumbaya” falls to No. 3.)

So, what does Rick Warren invite mean for ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’?

Beyond a general condemnation of President-elect Barack Obama for inviting Saddleback Church’s Rick Warren to deliver an inaugural invocation, gay rights advocates ought to be upping both the organized pressure AND the individualized skepticism on “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

Because, as for DADT, that sound you just heard was the wheels of Obama's bus running over it. And, yep, that is yet another Obama promise you hear being broken in the background.

Meanwhile, The One changes his song to “Come Together” instead of “Kumbaya” and tells activists to, in essence, STFU.

Obama sellout NO. 344 - Rick Warren at inaugural

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church will deilver the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration, despite the two disagreeing on a whole raft of social issues.

First, let this be a sign to you Obamiacs that he was serious when he said he wanted to EXPAND Bush's faith-based programs.

Second, it's yet another argument for electing a non-religious president.

Whom we REALLY need at the inaugural is the Revvv. Jeremiah Wright, saying, “God damn pseudoliberal Barack Obama!”

More posts on this issue coming soon; click the Rick Warren or gay rights tags.

A Godless campaign – fan-dam-tastic idea

Timothy Egan gets a cold star among MSM pundits for this simple suggestion. Ain’t gonna happen, but I’m glad somebody mentioned it.

Teddy Roosevelt, a McCain hero, was prescient on this point as well. He argued against putting, “In God We Trust,” on the currency in 1907, saying it cheapens the divine. “It not only does no good,” he wrote, “but it does positive harm.”

Amy Sullivan will probably whine about this, maybe at Washington Monthly, but tough.

And, meanwhile, Rick Warren gets a big hypocrisy alert kick in the tuchis. He said he did NOT invite a gay group to his church, and, although they’ll be there this Sunday, he won’t.