Posted by
Billy email MADBillyD@aol.com on Thursday, December 18, 2008 9:10:05 PM
President-elect Barack Obama has chosen a pastor who opposes gay marriage as a speaker at his inauguration, creating a commotion over what inclusiveness will mean for his administration. ( Obama's next pastor controversy - at inauguration )
Obama chose Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor of the southern California megachurch Saddleback, to give the invocation when he takes office in January.
The president-elect on Thursday said that he held views "absolutely contrary" to Warren on gay rights and abortion and described himself as "a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans."
"During the course of the entire inaugural festivities, there are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented. And that's how it should be, because that's what America is about. That's part of the magic of this country is that we are diverse and noisy and opinionated," he said.
Warren is known as an evangelical focused on fighting poverty and disease, including AIDS in Africa, but he also advocated California Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban passed by voters last month.
(Good for Presidnet Obama for picking a Pastor who not only teaches the Bible but has done quite a bit to help those who are fighting the terrible illness of HIV. Shame on these groups. If they truly cared about fighting HIV they would look up to Pastor Warren. If these gay groups want to decide who prays for the President at the inauguration, they should run for office. )
