Rick Warren: Part Deux

Well, I went back the the Saddleback Web Page and, to my amazement, tons of stuff have been taken down. Like, what they believe about homosexuality, marriage, abortion, etc.

Even one of the videos which always popped up when you googled his name is gone.

There may be lots of reasons for this, and not all of them are good or noble, but I'm willing to entertain the notion that bigotry and prejudice never hold up well under the harsh glare of public scrutiny.

It may also be true that there is a method in what appears to be the madness of Obama's selection of Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration.

I'm thinking he and his advisers are thinking, "Hey, you thought Jeremiah Wright was bad. Take a look at this good ole White boy."

Eating crow is never tasty. Eating the LGBT equivalent to 'Jim Crow' segregation has to go down sideways. Denying civil rights is, well, denying civil rights. And, it is undeniable that LGBT people are being denied our civil right to marriage. Why else would you need to change the constitution?

Pastor Warren has, apparently, recently met with Melissa Ethridge which left the poor woman gushing and hopeful. She wrote about it at Huffington Post entitled "The Choice is Ours Now." (Hat tip to David of Montreal for sending it to me.)

Here's how she ends her essay:

"When we met later that night, he entered the room with open arms and an open heart. We agreed to build bridges to the future.

Brothers and sisters the choice is ours now. We have the world's attention. We have the capability to create change, awesome change in this world, but before we change minds we must change hearts. Sure, there are plenty of hateful people who will always hold on to their bigotry like a child to a blanket.

But there are also good people out there, Christian and otherwise that are beginning to listen. They don't hate us, they fear change. Maybe in our anger, as we consider marches and boycotts, perhaps we can consider stretching out our hands. Maybe instead of marching on his church, we can show up en mass and volunteer for one of the many organizations affiliated with his church that work for HIV/AIDS causes all around the world.

Maybe if they get to know us, they wont fear us.

I know, call me a dreamer, but I feel a new era is upon us.

I will be attending the inauguration with my family, and with hope in my heart. I know we are headed in the direction of marriage equality and equal protection for all families."

Okay, Melissa, you are a dreamer. Nothing wrong with that. If we cease to dream, we live without hope and life without hope is, well, life as we have known it for the past eight years.

And, goodness knows, we could all do a lot more to help bring hope into the world - to be vehicles of hope in action.

The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS is one good example. Melissa's right: a much better protest than an angry vigil around his house would be for 'the great homosexual unwashed' to show up at one of his ministries and volunteer to work.

And no, I don't think Rick Warren has experienced a personal transformation.

I'm betting that he still wants that for you, however. I have not doubt, that he is already thinking the same hopeful thoughts about Melissa as she is thinking about him.

(It's fascinating to me but while many evangelical (and non evangelical) heterosexual, white men of privilege find themselves repulsed by gay men of any color, they are positively fascinated by lesbians. I guess it's the old thing of wanting most what you can not have.)

Even so, I think Rick Warren is at least beginning to change the way he is perceived publicly. Or, at least, wanting to change his public persona.

If he can do that, well, it might not exactly be a chink in the old Evangelical armor, but it might move him to find other ways of thinking and being.

Clearly, he wants to be on "Team Obama."

It will be interesting to see how much of his social-religious capital he's willing to spend for his time in the political spotlight.

It will be even more interesting to see what sitting at the table with LGBT people, breaking bread with us, getting to know our families, understanding the normality of our lives, will do to soften his heart.

It just might change his mind. Eventually.

Okay, I don't trust him completely. I trust that creating a climate of change can, actually, change things.

There used to be a popular song by Destiny's Child which went, "Free your mind and the rest will follow." That may be true, but I think it was Vaclav Havel who said that "the transformation of the world begins with the transformation of the human heart."

One human heart at a time. Rick Warren's heart is a good enough place to start.

This nation is dedicated to the idea of a 'more perfect union'.

Not perfect.

'More perfect.'

We are perfected in the doing. One day at a time. One person at a time. One human heart at a time.

Let's do it.