Obama Defends Selection Of Rick Warren To Speak At Inauguration

Main Category: Abortion
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 22 Dec 2008 - 2:00 PDT

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President-elect Barack Obama on Thursday defended his selection of evangelical pastor and author Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at the inauguration ceremony, saying that there should be room for "dialogue" on social issues such as abortion rights and gay marriage, which Warren opposes, the Washington Post reports (Salmon/Slevin, Washington Post, 12/19). USA Today reports that Obama's selection of Warren -- founder of a Southern California megachurch and bestselling author of "The Purpose Driven Life" -- has "riled" some gay-rights advocates, liberal groups and religious leaders. Warren supported California's Proposition 8 -- a ballot measure banning gay marriage that voters approved in November -- and he has equated abortion to the Holocaust, according to USA Today (Hall, USA Today, 12/19). The Post reports that Warren "is credited with expanding the evangelical agenda beyond such issues as abortion and gay rights, even though he sticks to his Southern Baptist roots in opposing them" (Washington Post, 12/19).

At a news conference on Thursday, Obama said, "We're not going to agree on every single issue, but what we have to do is be able to create an atmosphere where we can disagree without being disagreeable, and then focus on those things that we hold in common." He added that there will be a "wide range of viewpoints that are presented" at the inauguration and noted that the Rev. Joseph Lowery, cofounder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, also will speak. Obama said that Warren has invited the president-elect to speak at his church in recent years despite the pastor's "awareness that I have views that were entirely contrary to his when it came to gay and lesbian rights, when it came to issues about abortion" (Parsons/Janega, Chicago Tribune, 12/19). Warren in a statement 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" (Meckler/Sataline, Wall Street Journal, 12/19).

Kathryn Kolbert, president of People for the American Way, said that it's a "good thing" that Obama is reaching out to conservatives but "that's different from giving [Warren] a seat of honor at one of the most historic events of the century" (USA Today, 12/19).
Some conservative groups also criticized the selection. Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said, "It certainly doesn't help the pro-life movement to ... participate in this kind of public way in the inauguration for one who holds to a very radical pro-abortion position" (Wall Street Journal, 12/19).

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