This is ironic because, when the President-Elect picked pop-pastor Rick Warren to handle the in-God-we-trust bit at the inauguration, I was outraged — as you might have gathered if you’ve been reading along. At the time, I said to a friend that Mr Obama could have made a wiser and less divisive choice … [several expletives deleted] … it’s not like I was expecting Obama to choose the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop Reverend V Gene Robinson of New Hampshire!
Well, sometimes it pays to dream a little bigger. Page One Q’s Nick Cargo informs us that President-Elect Obama has selected Bishop Robinson to deliver the invocation for Sunday’s kickoff inaugural event on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
According to Christian Broadcasting Network News Senior National Correspondent, David Brody, the radical religious right isn’t exactly pleased with the pending pastor roster:
From CBN News:
Obama Chooses Gay Bishop for Big Inaugural Event
And now the latest installment in “As Obama’s Faith World Turns”
President-Elect Barack Obama has chosen a controversial gay bishop to give the invocation this Sunday at the big inaugural event at the Lincoln Memorial. Obama will be in attendance.
More from the Politico below and then get my analysis.
The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, who became the Episcopal Church’s first openly gay bishop in 2003 and last year entered into a civil union with his gay partner, will deliver the invocation for Sunday’s kickoff inaugural event on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, with President-elect Obama in attendance. The event is free and open to the public. An Obama source: ‘Robinson was in the plans before the complaints about Rick Warren. Many skeptics will read this as a direct reaction to the Warren criticism – but it’s just not so.’ Robinson has been referred to as ‘the most controversial Christian in the world.’ A Sewanee graduate!
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If you line up ten Evangelicals on the street, my guess is that eight of them would say it doesn’t surprise them that Obama would choose an openly gay Bishop to deliver an invocation like this. But this cuts both ways to a degree. Obama took heat from the left on Warren and will no doubt take heat from the right on this pick. It’s a tough position for Obama to be in. He wants to reach out to all Americans but in the process he’s probably going to tick off a lot of people of faith. When you pick a controversial gay bishop that has been in the headlines for years and has come to symbolize gay rights (for some), it’s bound to get under the skin of conservative minded Evangelicals, many of whom may be ready to cut Obama some slack. But you don’t want to push their buttons if you’re interested in building a broader coalition. Same thing with Warren. Obama pushed some hot trigger buttons on the left.
My pastor scorecard shows three liberals to one conservative so far. OK, so Warren gets the big prize but Obama definitely seems to be reaching out to the left side of the faith spectrum.
Name one “conservative minded Evangelical” willing to cut Obama some slack. Wildmon? Dobson? Perkins? Dream on.
UPDATE (01/13 09:30 am) A great big secular thanks to Porno Pete LaBarbera, of Americans for Truthiness Against Homosexuality, for demonstrating just how “Christian” the radical religious reich really is with his post: Obama’s Choice of Homosexual Bishop (Vicki) Gene Robinson to Pray at Inaugural Event Is a Slap in the Face to Christians.
Comments
2 Comments so far. Comments are closed.“Obama definitely seems to be reaching out to the left side of the faith spectrum.”
But what about those of NO faith? We just get ignored as always? That’s change we can believe in, alright. This is supposed to be a secular country, god damn it! With all the “invocations” and pastors involved, this is turning into more of a revival than an inauguration!
Good point. In a truly secular country, we wouldn’t be doing any religious invocation, and we’d probably see rioting Christians as a result.
When I wrote the post, I tried to imagine what would happen if a non-believer, say Sam Harris, was tapped to fill the slot. Would there simply be a moment of silent reflection? That didn’t seem wholly inappropriate and had a nice zen-like quality.
The other criticism that was raised in a conversation last night, was that in celebrating Bishop Robinson’s selection to do the invocation on Sunday, at what’s technically a pre-inauguration rally, we GLBT folk were once again settling for a back seat or as one friend put it “the low hanging fruit.”
It’s a step in a right direction. It’s change. I still contemplating if we can/should believe in it. But it’s always a pleasure to see the radical religious reich with their undies in a knot.