Rick Warren used Obama

[TeamJordan23]

Rick Warren, the pastor brought Barack Obama and John McCain together last summer for a "faith forum," was one of the strongest proponent of Prop 8 smears and lies. His megachurch, Saddleback has been particular of helping propagate misinformation about the CA Supreme Court ruling about gay marriage, including that gay marriage would have to be taught to kindergartners.

Rick Warren attempted to hold his faith forum with the candidates to seem like a moderate and increase his viability and popularity. I believe he was successful with this as the news organizations covered that forum like it was a debate. He then used his increased popularity to advocate for the Prop 8 ban, including with smears. He probably knew that Obama was going to win anyways; so his big goal became to pass Prop 8.

I also believe he tried to bring down Obama at the faith forum. I hope Barack Obama does not go to his church again and give them any sort of credibility.

[RollWithIt]

1. I LIKED him going there

Even if he wins over just 1 out of 20 in the audience, thats 1 out of 20 we wouldn't have had before. Plus I think he learned from the experience and did better in the debates.

[Mike Nelson]

2. I hope Obama refuses any additional

Rick Warren appearances. The elevation of Mr. Warren was despicable.

[bklyncowgirl]

3. ...and Obama used Rick Warren to try & reach out to Evangelicals

Let's call it a moment of mutual utilization. May have even won him some votes among the less hard core.

[bunkerbuster1]

4. Agreed, and Obama learned something from the experience.

He recovered from what a lot of observers on both sides felt wasn't a very strong performance, and never got sandbagged by a stupid question like "at what point does a BABY get human rights" again, henceforth.

Rick Warren may not have intended it, but he did us all a favor by sandbagging Obama like that.

[saltpoint]

5. I agree that Warren is a manipulative snake, and that's on a good day.

The fundamentalist iconic model is a dangerous model for contemporary Christianity, IMO. There are the organizational snakes like Dobson and Wildmon and Perkins, and also the pseudo-rogue celebs like Franklin Graham and the "media-savvy" Rick Warren.

Snakes, all of them.

The redeeming feature of the next 4 years is that President Obama very likely knows his Bible as well or better than any of these snakes who profess to represent it.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

6. Not all of them. Jim Wallis and Obama have been friends for over 15 years.

Wallis is the founder of the Sojourners Christian Evangelical magazine. He is a progressive Evangelical. I think Jim Wallis is one of only a few progressives in the Christian movement that has been brave enough and has stood up against Proposition 8 and has frequently voiced his support for gay/lesbian civil rights. Sadly, he has been shunned from the majority of the Christian right. But that's o.k. Obama did exceptionally well among Christian Evangelicals, especially the younger groups and Wallis views this as progress. Wallis works and lives in D.C. and I hope to finally get a chance to meet and speak with him when he makes his various appearances.

[saltpoint]

7. There are exceptions to the fundies, yes, and I'm for more of 'em.

If they retain their book-burning, witch-hunt ways, I think they make their own case less advance-able and put even more strain on the GOP, which foolishly let them into the castle gates.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Warren is unethical to the core

Let's not forget that Warren lied to the American people, saying McCain was in a sound proof isolation booth at that sham forum, when McCain was not in the building and not at all in a controlled environment. Warren is a liar, with a cross around his neck. And he spews hatered and promotes discrimination against my family.
Obama's relationships with the hate set still make me nervous. I hope now that he has his reward he will start to show some spine, not start to show a deeper religous bent in the White House. Bigotry is bigotry.