U.S. President George W. Bush gestures in a conversation with Pastor Rick Warren during the Saddleback Civil Forum on Global Health during World AIDS day in Washington December 1, 2008. (Jason Reed/Reuters)
OH!!! He's intolerant! A Christian preacher! Who ever heard of such a thing?
To me, the real scandal is that, for some reason, it's still necessary to have representatives of an ancient, Middle-Eastern resurrection cult open and close the inauguration, period.
Christianity, like Islam, like Judaism, etc., etc., is a terrible leftover of our ignorant, pre-scientific past, the appendix of our brains. I don't see much difference between a "nice" preacher and a "bad" preacher; they're all responsible for keeping the destructive, counter-productive, dangerous and divisive lies alive.
So, you know, Rick Warren? Whatever.
24 comments:
Well said, PSP. The best justification for having any of these holy men present is that it is an apparently-still-necessary tip of the hat to the superstitious. They're all liars, frauds, or sadly deluded, so it hardly matters which flavor you invite.
But still, those chin-whiskers: ew.
Yeah, how does this fit in with the whole 'separation of church and state' thing?
I'm with you, Pony.
A two-minute prayer given by some fat evangelical jerk is no sweat off my back.
It's enough time for a bathroom break and maybe a snack.
P.S.
In the photo, I see Bush is already doing publicity for his next venture.
He's opening a rival to Subway and advertising his new $5 foot-long.
Amen.
I agree 100%. I like to think that if everyone who shares this view of religion wasn't afraid to speak up, these people would eventually find themselves marginalized and finally irrelevant. Unfortunately, the ditherers in the "center" who don't really believe this junk are too afraid to admit it to themselves or of offending someone by saying so.
Religionists of any kind deserve to be taken no more seriously than the wacko standing downtown on a crate spouting inanities.
Thank goodness I can keep my sanity by coming here and clicking on "incredible hairdos".
Finally! A sane viewpoint. This desert religion hangover is getting harder and harder to take.
Yeah, I'm down with you, PSP, but there's bad, and then there's REALLY bad.
Oh, PSP...I needed your wisdom at this moment. I can now walk out of my bedroom and face those evangelical step-children in my living room.
Yes! Thank you, PSP.
Right on, Princess!
PSP,
You forgot to mention that these fakers also want your money.
Additionally, WTF is a "Mega-church"?
Mega-Church = Mega-Money. Many of them teach Prosperity Theology (I'm not making this up).
Silly me, I thought that tithing meant to give 10% of your income to the church. Apparently what it now means according to some of these con artists is to give 10% of the amount you want to attain to the church (I'm not making this up, either; heard it from one of those TV preachers).
So, for example, if you want $100,000 to make your dreams come true, you'd better write a check for $10,000. Otherwise, I suppose, Jesus just can't be bothered.
Prosperity, all right, but theirs, not yours.
Glad someone else in the Vast Hairdresser Conspiracy doesn't care about Rick Warren. We care so much that it hurts in California. Righteous indignation causes cankers, you know?
BTW folks, remember when Obama said that he was elected president for the 47% that voted against him? This is what he means. Remember "disagree without being disagreeable"? This is what he means. Remember that while Warren is giving the opening prayer, Joseph Lowery is delivering the closing prayer?
FWIW I am not one of those who think that science is, will, or can supplant(ing) religion. Or that having a prayer delivered at a ceremony constitutes anything to do with religion commingling with government.
I disagree with a lot of Rick Warren's politics, but I don't believe that him praying over the new president will all of a sudden cause gay men to become polygamists... God forbid! (by definition they'd have to be polyandrists...)
well, acutally Rick Warren reverse tithes. 90% of his considerable income goes to charity and 10% he keeps.
Breath of fresh,rational air coming this site.
Actually, Rick Warren does not take a salary, but that's another story. Saddleback donates 90% of the profits from its publishing business to charity.
That is a huge difference from "90% of his considerable income", as stated above. The key word is "profits". That's what is left over after expenses, and it has not been unknown for companies to run expenses up to near income. Even if it's a fair amount of money, it's not so impressive now, eh? I'd be interested to see just how much is actually donated and to what charity.
Donating to charity is good, unless the charitable recipient deals in hate and discrimination.
I suspect whatever charities Warren gives to are not charities that could help my lesbo butt in any way, shape or form.
PSP is the best. Warren in nothing.
Ha ha Rick Warren. Whatever. Nicely said.
http://democralypsenow.blogspot.com/
Well, I've been kicking up a fuss for one reason only: To keep alive the debate as to why in the world we still have prayer involved with public office. It is insane to still have these superstitious fools squawking in public. Enough already.
Well said, PSP. Don't be afraid to offer more of this trenchant social commentary in the future (I'm being serious, not mocking you.) Rick Warren is a hateful, demagogic thief, getting rich off vulnerable people's fears. Much like W, I seriously doubt he believes half of the BS he spouts. If it makes him rich, he'll say anything. Short of murderers, this is the most despicable type of human being.
Much of the purpose of talking about this, in my opinion, is to keep the issue of LGBT rights and respect in the public eye, and to make sure the people in charge know what the public considers important. Rick Warren is, ultimately, just a tool (insert joke here) people are using for this right now.
I do agree with you about the religious thing, of course. But then, I'm not sure there's ever been a president that wasn't a Christian, and many people believe there'd be an openly gay president before an openly atheist one. For a country with an official policy of "separation of church and state", America certainly has a lot more religion going on throughout the whole of its society.
Actually, Celia, many of our this country's founders and early presidents were Deists. The religious right would have us believe that this country was founded as a Christian nation, but it's just not true.
Anyone who's interested should do a little study of Deism on the internet. It will go a long way towards putting our history in proper perspective.
I'm an atheist, so I'm not promoting Deism here, just history.
PSP: Best Post Ever. And that's saying something.
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