Why I Hate People: part of a continuing series

[tahnan]

You know, when Rick Warren was invited to speak at Obama's inauguration, I kind of shrugged. It didn't bother me deeply, and, sure, I didn't agree with his views, but he didn't strike me as the enemy of gay people some people were describing.

But when a former associate of Warren's in Uganda proposes legislation to punish homosexuality with life imprisonment or death—sorry, punish it further, really, it's not like Uganda is currently a bastion of human rights in general and gay rights in particular—here's the wrong response:

The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations.

The. Hell. You. Say. You smug pseudo-Christian bastard, when another nation considers a law that violates fundamental human rights like this, it damned well better be part of your personal calling to condemn it.

Comments

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

What I want to know is how someone can make that statement and then live with themselves afterwards. I just don't get it.

Of course, his personal calling as a pastor in America is to get rich and be wealthy, so...

fucker.

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

Ironic from a man who views it as his personal calling as a pastor in America to comment and interfere in the political process of OUR nation. Asshat.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the Newsweek piece (http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thehumancondition/archive/2009/11/29/pastor-rick-warren-responds-to-proposed-ugandan-legislation.aspx) I got the quote from didn't hesitate to point out that Rick Warren, in spite of saying on Meet the Press that "As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides", went ahead and took sides on abortion.

Asshat.

[foldedfish.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he deserves what Dan Savage did to his church's name.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard that one. I think I'm with you on this.

[jydog1.livejournal.com]

Tool. Not much more I can say about that.

[jadelennox]

what's interesting about this if it is explicitly using the language of a politician when he says that. It is without question the calling of a pastor to comment on morality in general, and while some pastors and religious leaders choose to limit their moral commentary to themselves, their own flock, or people of their own denomination, Rick Warren has never been such a person. Once a religious leader chooses to make general moral commentary about people, national boundaries have NOTHING to do with the scope of that commentary.

One could argue that a moral relativist pastor (which Rick Warren is not) could say that he can't comment on the moral decisions made by people in foreign-to-him cultures. But first of all, he is not a moral relativist, and secondly, he specifically says he can't comment on the political process of other nations. So he's not drawing a line based on cultural ignorance, he's drawing one based on national boundaries, which again, are not the purview of a religious leader.

But this is perfectly reasonable commentary from a political leader. I wouldn't necessarily agree with the political leader who said that he or she couldn't comment on the political process of other nations, but it's an arguable statement, especially depending on what office that political leader held. So I find it extremely telling that Warren uses the language of the politician to define himself that way.

[aumshantih.livejournal.com]

It really is appalling.

[jangler-npl.livejournal.com]

Utterly irrelevant, except that it's also political...

I've started going to various pub trivia competitions with some other math grad students. I missed yesterday's, but the team captain e-mails the questions to people who didn't attend. One of the questions from last night was: "Name one of the two newspapers who recently broke the story of scientists falsifying evidence of global warming."

Except, no evidence was falsified. No data was lost. It's an entirely bogus scandal. But apparently it's fact now.