Much ado about nothing

There has been a lot of chatter over President-elect Barack Obama’s selection of Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2009. The loudest voices are coming from the gay community, which has painted the pastor as a homophobic hate-monger because of his opposition to gay marriage. Not only do they regard Pastor Warren as the devil incarnate, but many of them are souring in their support of the President-elect.
Not to worry. Barack Obama’s invitation to Pastor Warren is nothing more than good public relations—extending the proverbial olive branch to the conservative Christian right, whose support Obama largely did not receive in the election. In fact, one might argue that the President-elect is already thinking four years ahead to the next election. If he hopes to gain support from conservatives, then he will need a feather in his cap. The Pastor Warren invocation is a feather.
The invitation has nothing to do at all with Obama’s political views. If he thought his re-election was already assured without conservatives, he wouldn’t even bother with the olive branch.
Make no mistake: This is a politically motivated and calculated move, and not the betrayal that homosexuals claim it to be.
As far as Christian conservatives are concerned, the invitation to Pastor Warren is a feeble attempt, at best, to woo them into the fold of Obama faithful. Just because the President-elect has invited Pastor Warren to give the invocation at the inauguration ceremony does not mean the former has had a sudden change of heart and is moving to the right of the political aisle. He is neither becoming conservative, nor will he govern that way.
Besides, Pastor Warren isn’t a complete political conservative, either. He tends to be more socially progressive—meaning leftist, left-wing, liberal—and he appears to have bought into environmentalism, in particular man-made global warming propaganda. As such, he isn’t exactly the poster boy for conservatism.
For the gay community to react with alarm and consternation toward the President-elect for Warren’s invitation is unwarranted and, frankly, out of line. It isn’t as though Pastor Warren was chosen for a Cabinet position and will be involved in forming public policy in the Obama Administration. He’s just going to deliver the inaugural prayer, for Heaven’s sake!
For what it’s worth, I applaud President-elect Obama for having the courage to extend the invitation, knowing full well the fury it would cause within the gay community. He could easily have chosen a more liberal and “enlightened” cleric with softened views toward homosexuality. But he didn’t, and for that, I give him kudos—even if it was politically driven.
Giving Obama the benefit of the doubt, I would go even further to say that I appreciate the President-elect’s gesture as an effort to include Christian conservatives in his inauguration.
But that isn’t the way gays see this. To them, Pastor Warren’s mere presence at the inauguration is betrayal of the lowliest kind. It might as well be heresy.
So get over it already.
If homosexuals can’t handle having a Christian conservative present at inauguration; if they can’t tolerate any person who disagrees with their lifestyle; and if they have to resort to scare tactics, fear-mongering and intimidation to confront their opponents, then that just goes to show how open-minded, tolerant and embracing they really are.
Just as a good liberal should be: Open-minded to their views only.
Last I heard, though, Pastor Warren is not in favor of denying Constitutional rights to homosexuals. These are rights they already have and share with the rest of us by virtue of the Bill of Rights. He’s not propagating violence against gays, he doesn’t condemn them, and he doesn’t blame them for the problems of the world.
In fact, he’s committed to fighting against HIV-AIDS, a disease that has infected a large segment of the gay community.
But the mere fact that Pastor Warren does not condone homosexuality automatically places him on the black list.
Truth be told, the gay community is so uptight, so paranoid and so fearful of their opposition that it literally pains them to have to see the faces or hear the voices of anyone who disagrees with them. If you are not 100 percent on board with the gay agenda, then you are part of the problem and nothing more than a right-wing parasite that needs to be silenced. Any opposition—any at all—is tantamount to bigotry and hate-speech, as far as the gay community is concerned.
But there’s good news for gays: A cure for christoconservatophobia does exist. I believe folks on the left call it “tolerance.” They should try practicing it.
On the other hand, they could always give themselves enemas. That is a guaranteed cure for whatever is stuck up their craws.