Stance about-face at issue
By Julia Duin
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Expect to see another
shoe drop from Mister Warren in the not too near future. When such a radical
sea change occurs in the words, doctrine, or teaching of a preacher something
far more sinister and dark has occurred in his life that has become the primary
impetus of this mans sudden conversion to supporting Gay Rights.
Evangelical
leaders say they are bewildered and stunned by the Rev. Rick Warren's apparent
turnaround on gay marriage after the famous
Mr.
Warren told CNN's Larry King on Monday that he "never once even gave an
endorsement" of the proposition, which said marriage in the state could only involve one man and one woman. The measure
won at the polls last November by a close margin, in effect negating an earlier
California Supreme Court ruling allowing gay marriages.
Proponents of the proposition had gathered from earlier
comments that Mr. Warren stood with them on the issue, and they reacted
vigorously to his CNN interview.
"I
was extremely troubled by the way he appeared to be so anxious to distance
himself from the same-sex issue and to make clear he was not an 'activist' and
that he'd only addressed the issue in a very minor way," said the Rev. Al Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary in Louisville, Ky.
Wendy
Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said his denial is
"absolutely baffling."
"Whether
he supports Proposition 8 now, after the fact, is overshadowed by the bizarre
claim that he did not say what the evidence so clearly proves he said."
What
Mr. Warren said he did do was send out a video to his 22,000-member church
explaining his position the week before Proposition 8 went before state voters
on Nov. 4.
"Now
let me say this really clearly: We support Proposition 8," he said on the
video, "and if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to
support Proposition 8. I never support a candidate, but on moral issues, I come
out very clear."
In his conversation with Mr. King, Mr. Warren said,
"All of a sudden out of it, [opponents] made me something that I really
wasn't. And I actually there were a number of things
that were put out. I wrote to all my gay friends the leaders that I knew
and actually apologized to them. That never got out."
Named in 2005 by Time magazine as one of
He was placed even more in the spotlight when newly
elected President Obama announced that Mr. Warren would deliver the opening
prayer at his inauguration. Gay activists condemned the selection chiefly
because of the pastor's apparent support of Proposition 8.
At the time, the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's
largest gay rights organization, cited Mr. Warren's opposition to gay marriage
as a sign of intolerance.
"We feel a deep level of disrespect when one of the
architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the
pulpit of your historic nomination," the group said in a letter to Obama,
asking him to reconsider.
Christianity Today magazine on April 7 pressed Mr. Warren
about whether his CNN remarks contradicted the video sent to his congregration.
"It was a pastor talking to his own people," he
replied. "I've never said anything about it since. I don't know how you
can take one video newsletter to your own church and turn that into all of a
sudden I'm the poster boy for anti-gay marriage."
Still, evangelicals point to a bigger issue brought about
by Mr. Warren.
"This is a major distraction in this battle for the
culture we are experiencing," said Bishop Harry Jackson, pastor of Hope
Christian Church in Beltsville and founder of the High Impact Leadership
Coalition of 5,000 black and Hispanic evangelical leaders. "I really
respect Pastor Warren, but his stance will hurt the evangelical church. He is
being politically correct instead of biblically courageous."