Let There Be Peace on Earth and Let It Begin With Me!

"Faith and love are apt to be spasmodic in the best minds. Men live on the brink of mysteries and harmonies into which they never enter, and with their hands on the door-latch they die outside." ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Barack Obama continues his amazing efforts at bringing unity to America by making Rick Warren one of his choices to speak at his inauguration. Sure, many don't look at it that way, but it's quintessential Obama to choose a diverse cast, nay-sayers be damned!

And plenty of nay-sayers there are. Conservatives on the right:

“In my view, the new president is trying to exploit Warren,” Gary L. Bauer, the Christian conservative organizer and former Republican presidential candidate, wrote on Friday in an e-mail newsletter. He urged supporters not to take Mr. Warren’s role as an endorsement, calling attention to Mr. Obama’s distance from the pastor on social issues..." ~ NYTimes.com

...and liberals on the left:

"Picking Rick Warren to give THE invocation," wrote John Aravosis on AmericaBlog, "is abominable." ~ Huffington Post

"Let me get right to the point," Joe Solomnese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a harsh letter to the president-elect, "Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans." ~ Huffington Post

Lee Stranahan of the Huffington Post said it well:

"There's something bigger at play here and you can't say Obama didn't warn you. He talked about reaching out, about expanding our politics and that crazy bastard actually meant it. Nobody on the left or right quite knows what to make of it. We want to cram Obama into our old, divisive, two toned ideological and political frame and if he doesn't fit, we'll attack him too."

And attacked he has been. But Obama is nobody's puppet. He'll make his own decisions throughout his presidency, not based on any interest group or political party.

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of extreme, divisive, right-winged Christians. What I like about Rick Warren is that he's looking for common ground. I LOVE that he spoke Saturday night to about 800 members of the Muslim Public Affairs Council at its convention in Long Beach. He pronounced his love for everyone - Muslims, Democrats and Gay and Lesbian folks included. Is that not the CORE of Jesus' teaching? And it may surprise Christians, but Obama is a Democrat AND a Christian!! Unbelievable!! I'm telling you, sometimes I'm hugely embarassed by some very vocal and very visible members of my global Christian family, and now is no exception. I heard that some of these people criticized Warren for even PRAYING with Obama. It literally makes my adrenaline surge and my heart pound to hear poop like that. Absolutely assinine.

Let there be no confusion: I'm pro-life, believe marriage is for a man and a woman, and any silly 'What party are you?' test I take confirms I'm a Republican. That doesn't mean I can't understand the perpectives of proponents of pro-choice and gay marriage advocates. I continue to re-evaluate my political leanings and try to educate myself at every opportunity.

Several months ago I wrote about an NPR interview with Rich Cizik, Vice Pres of the National Association of Evangelicals. Check this out: he was FIRED because of that interview. Read on:

"As noted by Jim Wallis in his "Hearts and Minds" Sojourners post (December 19, 2008) a leading evangelical -- Richard Cizik -- who is progressive on environmental issues and gay rights, was just fired from the vice presidency of the National Association of Evangelicals for only daring to say he is warming up to the idea of gay civil unions.

As Wallis notes:

'Rich Cizik has been a pioneer in the "new evangelical" movement... Rich has helped lead the way to putting "creation care" and climate change on the mainstream agenda of the evangelical movement... because of things he said in an NPR interview with Terry Gross [he was fired]. The controversy of some of Rich's statements, in particular his "shifting" feelings about gay civil unions, admitting that he voted for Barack Obama in the primaries, and implying that he did so in the general election, caused so much controversy in some quarters of the NAE's constituency that the Executive Committee felt they had no choice but to suggest resignation, which Rich quickly but sadly accepted...'

One step forward and two steps back....but maybe now it will be TWO steps forward and ONE step back with Barack at the wheel. We can only hope and continue in our individual efforts at promoting love and unity.