Editors' note: This week, The FundamentaList will begin featuring news not just from the religious right but from the religious center and left as well. The controversy over President Barack Obama's selection of Rick Warren to lead the inaugural prayer brought into sharp relief the fact that under an Obama administration, a broader array of religious voices will be clambering for visibility and political influence. The FundamentaList will be your essential guide to the unfolding struggle for dominance and, as always, your eyes and ears for the religious right's activities in Washington and beyond.
1.Invocations Heard and Not Heard.
After the Right Rev. V. Gene Robinson's invocation at Sunday's "We Are One" inaugural kick-off at the Lincoln Memorial was not broadcast by the exclusive television provider, HBO, the Presidential Inaugural Committee decided to re-air the entire We Are One event on the JumboTrons during the inaugural festivities on the Mall and on television tonight -- this time with Robinson's invocation.
Warren's invocation was higher profile and seen by far more people around the world, which is a disappointment considering how it (especially compared to the Rev. Joseph Lowrey's benediction) lacked grace, intelligence, insight, or a sense of history. Unlike Robinson's, Warren's prayer was frankly Christian, with a recitation of the Protestant version of the Lord's Prayer, an unimaginative and exclusive choice. If we must have prayer at these ceremonies, it should at least be inclusive.
It's possible to interpret Warren's request for God's forgiveness for "fail[ing] to treat our fellow human beings with the respect they deserve" as a reference to some of his own worst rhetoric and actions about LGBT people, women, Jews, nontheists, and social-justice gospel Christians. But it's just as easy to interpret the request in a different or even generic way. Given the historic nature of the moment, it would have been a relief to hear -- if not in the invocation, in other public comments -- Warren own up to his prejudices. But in our current climate, popular evangelicals like Warren are given a pass because they claim God's blessing. Regrettably, I don't expect that to change anytime soon.
2.Rick Warren: From Ebenezer to Inauguration. Is He Like King?
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Rick Warren was the keynote speaker at the official King Center celebration at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where King once pastored. At Religion Dispatches, Michael Elliott noted Warren's effort to compare himself to King; Warren claimed that he, like King, is unpopular for his political views. "What was remarkable, in fact, was that he managed to water down the social vision of both Rick Warren and Martin Luther King into something bland and universally palatable. He talked a great deal of King's fight against racism without mentioning King's protest against Vietnam or his critique of capitalism that would inspire the Poor People's Campaign. He talked about God's love of diversity-60,000 species of beetles!-but never explained how that squared with his intolerance of homosexuality."
Elliott hones in on how Warren noted that King was reviled for his radicalism -- yet Warren is welcomed into official circles for being bland and is criticized by people out of official power. He's not reviled for seeking to subvert societal injustice; he's reviled for perpetuating it. But around King's birthday, even the most reactionary conservative activists claim to honor his legacy.
3. Third Way Governing Agenda Angers Religious Progressives.
When the Democratic centrist think tank Third Way, partnering with Faith in Public Life (FPL), unveiled its "Governing Agenda," it angered progressive religious leaders, who say their genuinely progressive point of view was ignored in crafting what was billed as a step forward in ending the "culture wars" by finding "common ground" between evangelicals and progressives.
The Rev. Debra Haffner, president of the Religious Institute on Sexual Morality, Justice, and Healing, called the Governing Agenda "false advertising" and was critical of the lack of inclusion of religious progressive voices. "Where are the voices of the people who were present around every progressive issue? Where are the mainstream churches that support abortion and gay rights?" echoed Elizabeth Sholes, the director of public policy for the progressive social-justice group California Council of Churches/California Church IMPACT. Sholes added, "How we can talk about this as reconciliation is appalling. … We're the people who marched with King, who ran the underground railroad, who were anti-war, pro-civil rights; you can trace our roots back to [abolitionist William] Wilberforce and beyond. We haven't changed, and we haven't gone away."
Activists like Sholes and Haffner are hungry for a faith-based debate with the FPL coalition, particularly, Sholes said, because of how Obama's social-justice vision meshes with their own. "We represent a strong voice for justice and a soft voice for our neighbors. I don't think you can do any better than that," Sholes said. "Obama has opened this door, of talking about compassion and common good and justice. … So can't FPL have a genuine conversation between progressives and conservatives, as compared to conservative voices alone? It's fundamentally dishonest, and it's not advancing understanding."
4.The Heart of the Matter: Homosexuality.
The Third Way/FPL coalition took only one baby step on LGBT issues, affirming their support for including gays and lesbians (but not transgender people) in the protections of the federal statute prohibiting discrimination in employment, but offering silence on civil unions, repeal of the military don't-ask-don't-tell policy, and repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act. These are just a handful of initiatives the Obama administration has made clear it supports in order to advance LGBT equality.
At the core of the Third Way/FPL baby step is the refusal of the evangelical centrists to take a hard, self-critical look at how evangelicals continue to condemn and marginalize LGBT people. The evangelicals I questioned last week, Joel Hunter and Sam Rodriguez, both members of the board of the National Association of Evangelicals, did not respond to my request for their reaction -- in light of their claims to not be homophobic -- to the NAE resolution on homosexuality. The resolution, first adopted in 1985 and reaffirmed in 2004, according to the organization's Web site, calls homosexuality, among other things, "a deviation from the Creator's plan for human sexuality," and asks homosexuals to "pray for deliverance" and seek reparative therapy.
Both Rodriguez and Hunter prayed with Obama at the service at St. Johns' Episcopal Church just before the inauguration.
Rodriguez, who a few weeks ago told me that evangelical centrists were threatening to push Obama to not enact the Freedom of Choice Act or repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, this week took Robinson to task for being critical of Warren. Rodriguez told Christianity Today, "Gene was very apprehensive, very condescending, and totally against the selection of Rick Warren. I think that was wrong. Rick, on the other hand, responded in such a Christ-like manner when he was made aware of Gene Robinson's selection."
Was it Christ-like when Warren compared same-sex marriage to pedophilia and incest, or when he called social-gospel Christians "Marxists," or when he injected himself into the battle within Robinson's own denomination between anti-Robinson conservatives and the rest of the church?
5.Can Progressive Christians Mobilize?
On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I went to a service at All Souls Universalist Unitarian Church in Washington, organized by the Olive Branch Interfaith Peace Partnership, commemorating King's 1967 speech, Beyond Vietnam. There was an array of civil-rights icons and younger progressive faith leaders, all speaking on racism, militarism, and poverty, echoing King's call to action in that landmark speech. The Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou brought the overflow crowd to its feet with impassioned preaching on racial justice and sexual equality, and the evangelical Rev. Andrew Marin, author of the forthcoming book, Love Is An Orientation, delivered an amazing confession of being a former "Bible-thumping homophobe" until his three closest friends came out to him.
Sitting there at All Souls, I couldn't help but think that this is the kind of religious experience, as opposed to Rick Warren-style Christianity, that influenced Obama's earlier activism. Even 10 years ago, this type of religious experience didn't conflict with his advocacy for gay marriage.
But for Pastor Dan Schultz, the progressive blogger, minister, and activist (and also a critic of the Third Way/FPL Governing Agenda), some of the pre-inaugural festivities highlighted the failure of liberal Christians to get their message out.
While many Americans reacted positively to Robinson's inclusive invocation, Schultz found it utterly unsurprising," and commonplace in mainline Protestant churches. "Yet there are many progressives who are floored to hear such inclusiveness, such gentleness, come from a Christian leader."
Schultz lamented, "We have failed America, we liberal Christians. We have failed to speak up loud and long enough to be heard over the din of our right-wing brothers and sisters so that our neighbors can hear the real message of Christianity: faith and hope and love."
Contact me at tapthefundamentalist at gmail dot com.
