Here's a 20-minute video Rick Warren did for his church people, to answer questions about the controversial over his upcoming prayer at Barack Obama's inauguration.
In this video, posted on December 22, Warren discusses at length his views about marriage, gay partnerships, and related issues. "We must champion civility even when people are hateful toward us....Our nation is becoming more and more rude....Today our nation is being destroyed by the demonization of differences....I disagree with a lot of people, but I don't have the right to turn them into a caricature of what they are."
He also talks at length about Barack Obama and controversies surrounding his upcoming inaugural prayer.
"The fact that the gay community would disagree with me me--that's not news....The real story is that a couple different American leaders have chosen to model civility for the rest of the nation...that we can disagree without being disagreeable....We're both willing to be criticized in order to try to bring American into a new day of civil discourse."
"God has never made a person he didn't love. God has never made a person Jesus didn't die for."
Career-wise, I've been hanging around and writing about and cheering on churches and pastors for the past 25 years as my denomination's Communications Director.
I really like that last quote from Warren. This is an opportunity for the Gospel. As more people check out Warren, they will surely discover more about his faith.
At the same time, I hope this doesn't cause un-informed Christians to take this as a blessing on what Obama stands for and believes in. If it did, then as a follower of Jesus, I would really have a problem with Rick Warren. I hope Warren preaches to 'em!