Thursday, December 10, 2009

The H8 Continues | Politics as Usual


By now I’m sure you’ve heard of a proposed bill in Uganda which would authorize the execution of homosexuals. And you thought Prop 8 was bad! Obviously opposed by gay groups, I think that anybody with two brain cells to rub together should be outraged about this legislation that’s actually being taken into serious consideration. Pastor Rick Warren of the Saddleback Church has come under fire for his very own influence – intentional or not – on the matter. Apparently his books “inspired” religious leaders and lawmakers to come up with this bill. It took him a while to come up with a statement, but it’s finally here:


The message is great. But is this just rhetorical propaganda/face-saving PR? I suspect that he’s saying one thing, and doing another “behind closed doors” as he would put it? I hadn’t heard of Rick Warren until the previous election cycle when Barack Obama and John McCain were to debate one another at Warren’s church. Oddly enough, it wasn’t a debate at all but rather an interview scrutinizing each candidate’s political views as they relate to matters of interest to Christians in specific: gays and abortion. It was called the “Purpose-Driven Debate”. The purpose, of course, to put Obama on the hot seat. Unsurprisingly, Obama was selected to be questioned first. I still wonder to this day if McCain was able to watch the first segment of the “debate” and anticipate the questions he’d be asked. Oh, wait – no I don’t! It was fairly obvious. Aaaanyways…

While Rick Warren can talk the good talk, his walk is up for discussion. Rick Warren’s mentor and advisor, a man by the name of C. Peter Wagner, is a part of this controversy as well. As Bruce Wilson of Talk to Action points out in an eye-opening piece, Wagner’s “dominionist” credence of allowing the church to take control over society is worrisome and relevant to what Uganda’s government is trying to do. C. Peter Wagner is the presiding Apostle of the ICA (the International Coalition of Apostles), a network which includes a pool of virulently anti-gay religious leaders, some of which were actively involved in the push for California’s Prop 8 last year. The ink from Prop 8 is still on Rick Warren’s fingertips. In the end, there’s not much evidence to lead us to believe that Warren’s beliefs – on the issue of the Ugandan bill or others – varies at all from this medley of Bible-thumping wackos.

Religious fanatics really crack me up because they try to juxtapose 21st century living with the outdated writings of “religious and political hustlers”, as George Carlin called the authors of “holy scripture” /s. An archaic book written with a primitive mindset should hold no clout in the world today. And even when they try to liberalize, so to speak, the harsh credence of the Testaments, they still end up getting caught by their own Good Book. Technically, homosexuals do deserve the death penalty according to the Bible. So why is Pastor Rick Warren against it (if he really is)? Secular humanism or bust…