An unnamed aide to Rick Warren has sent out an email defending the liar. I’m sure you’re completely shocked by the news that his valiant defender is also a liar, yes?
The key part of the defence regarding Prop 8:
When Pastor Warren told Larry King that he never campaigned for California’s Proposition 8, he was referring to not participating in the official two-year organized advocacy effort specific to the ballot initiative in that state, based on his focus and leadership on other compassion issues.
Because he’s a pastor, not an activist, in response to inquiries from church members, he issued an email and video message to his congregation days before the election confirming where he and Saddleback Church stood on this issue.
What Warren actually said was that he was not anti-gay and he had not endorsed Prop 8 which is a lie. Warren issued a video statement to his church which recently trained 2400 new members in one day and has an average attendance rate of 22,000 per week wherein he clearly expressed support for Prop 8 and encouraged his followers to do the same. The video is here.
America’s culture warriors are not happy with Rick Warren lying about his support of Prop 8, his homophobic remarks and general bigotry against gay people.
Bryan Fischer of Idaho Value Alliance had this to say:
The minimum the Christian church should expect from its spiritual leaders is clear and unapologetic adherence to this biblical standard, especially from pastors who tell us that the Bible is the “rule of faith and practice.”
So if you want to understand why we are losing the culture war, you probably don’t need to look any further than Rick Warren, he of the famously seeker-friendly model of tepid Christianity.
“For Pastor Warren to say that shoring up marriage is not something that’s on his agenda is just something that’s hard to believe for somebody who believes the Bible is our rule for faith and practice,”
Another culture warrior, Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., is quoted as saying that Warren’s lying is “aiding and abetting a deception” and that his public disownment of his own words has done serious damage to their theocratic movement.
Personally, I think Jackson is being a bit dramatic, but I’m enjoying the show all the same.
Rick Warren must still be smarting from the outrage Obama provoked when he chose the despicable jackass to speak at his inauguration as he is still lying about his support for prop 8.
WARREN: Larry, there was a story within a story that never got told. In the first place, I am not an anti-gay or anti-gay marriage activist. I never have been, never will be.
During the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once issued a statement, never — never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going.
Rick Warren’s video of himself endorsing Prop 8:
In the video Warren is shown talking about how four guys overthrew the will of the people thus forcing the need for proposition 8. Warren then makes it a point to say this:
“Now let me just say this really clearly. We support proposition 8. And if you believe what the bible says about marriage, you need to support proposition 8.”
If it looks like an endorsement and sounds like an endorsement, shouldn’t we call it an endorsement?
Warren was not finished though. He went on to say that he was also lied about when some of us brought up his comparison of marriage equality for gay people to paedophilia and incest.
Warren stated:
There were some things said that — you know, everybody should have 10 percent grace when they say public statements. And I was asked a question that made it sound like I equated gay marriage with pedophilia or incest, which I absolutely do not believe. And I actually announced that.
Rick Warren: But the issue to me is, I’m not opposed to that as much as I’m opposed to the redefinition of a 5,000-year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister be together and call that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.
Steven Waldman: Do you think, though, that they are equivalent to having gays getting married?
Rick Warren: Oh I do. …
And you know what the sad and horrible thing is? It’s quite possible that Warren doesn’t actually believe the shit that’s come out of his mouth. He could just be in it for the money, the attention or whatever it is he’s chasing after.
Now that it’s facing an investigation into it’s behaviour prior to the passage of Prop 8, it looks like the Mormon church has decided to fess up: The Mormon church has revealed in a campaign filing that the church spent nearly $190,000 to help pass Proposition 8, the November ballot measure that banned gay marriage [...]
Not long after the passage of Prop 8 I wrote this post about boycotting pro Prop 8 businesses. Since then I’ve been accused of being anti-Mormon and told that my support for such boycotts is, in effect, a hate crime. Bullshit. Mormon owned businesses that supported Prop 8 are not being boycotted because they believe [...]
See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die As someone who’s several years into a second marriage, I utterly loved that divorce was brought up sans the personal attack on those of us who found the escape hatch and have no regrets about it.
Alright folks, break out your violins. James Dobson just fired 202 of his bigoted employees. This is just weeks after the passage of Prop 8, which Focus on the Bigotry put $600K into. Focus on the Family announced this afternoon that 202 jobs will be cut companywide — an estimated 20 percent of its workforce. [...]
The passage of Prop 8 has been stressful lot of people, gay, straight and otherwise. Thankfully, we’ve got people like Jesus General around to remind us to laugh. In his post “Voted Yes on Prop 8” the general shared this video from GodTube:
While I do not like Keith Olbermann, his recent special comment on the passage of prop 8 in California is excellent, to the point and, dare I say it, a throwback to before the primaries when Olbermann actually seemed to give a damn about something beyond his own reflection.
Just days after succeeding at removing the civil rights of gay people, the Mormon church has issued a statement calling for “mutual respect” and declaring that “no one on either side of the question should be vilified, harassed or subject to erroneous information”. This from the group that donated $20 million of a total of [...]
The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality. — George Bernard Shaw
