Men like Rick Warren are direct contributors to the high suicide rate among gays.

[IndianaJones]

Its not just a prayer or 2 minutes to some people. Its their life. People are dying because of guys like this.

[QC]

1. Yep! Some of us who grew up in fundamentalist churches like his

spent years wanting to die and still deal with self-hatred.

Of course, it's probably too much to expect some people here to understand that: only issues that affect them personally actually matter.

[The Magistrate]

2. It Is A Prayer, And It Is Two Minutes, My Friend

The effect of the man you describe exists quite independently of this current imbroglio, and will continue to exist independently of it, and his hatred would have exactly the same effect if he had not been invited to play this small ceremonial role.

Argument by hyperbole is rum fun, but people have to remember they are employing a rhetorical device, and often under the weight of repetition and habit they forget this, and come to take their exaggerations for effect as statements of fact. That can lead to some very strange statements indeed....

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. What is strange about that statement? It's entirely true. I'm not gay myself, but I still

felt the weight of the conservative evangelical church so heavily in my teens that I contemplated suicide as well.

"It's just 2 minutes."

Would those 2 minutes be ok if they were allotted to a racist? A murderer? A child molester?

That's all people are saying here.

[The Magistrate]

5. Parade Of Horribles Does Not Move Me, Ma'am

The man is in my view an unregenerate villain, a bigot and a grifter of the worst sort.

His appearance at the inauguration of President Obama is a far from the most important thing in our present political, economic, and social situation.

[sandnsea]

3. So use this as an opportunity

to draw attention to the issue. Where is the ad campaign? I've got next to no money, but if some organization launches an effective ad campaign, I'll contribute.