Rick Warren and Barack Obama

Rick Warren is giving the Invocation at the Inauguration of Barack Obama as President of the United States.

Good idea?

Bad idea?

Obama's point is admirable. He is deliberately choosing a person with whom his disagrees on some significant issues. It is showing an amazing amount of tolerance on the part of Obama.

It is interesting to note that on the same day that Obama chose a man who was one of the leaders in California in overturning a gay rights law, Obama made his strongest statement ever on his affirmation of gay rights. It was, in fact, the strongest statement ever by an American President.

I really don't know the answer. On one hand, Warren is a fundamentalist and a Calvinist. I could not disagree with him more on his theological positions. Many, if not most of his social positions are very much in line with the Religious Right. On the other hand, Warren has shown greater concern for poverty and climate issues than many from this perspective. He has also been significantly more respectful of people who have differing opinions of him. One commentator opposing him referred to him as Jerry Falwell in a Hawaiian shirt. My sense of Falwell is that he used Christianity as a defense for his own bigotry; and I don't see this about Warren.

Conversely, Obama has been spiritually nurtured by the Religious Left. a perspective that is largely unknown and ignored by the mainstream media. It might have been an amazing thing to have chosen someone from this perspective.

Or, from a purely political perspective, Obama choosing a young face in the Religious Right might mean that he is seeking votes from that portion of the population many of whom are disenchanted by much of the hate and the bigotry that was often promulgated by the likes of Jerry Falwell. It just might be a shrewd move on his part. Or a cynical move. Who knows.

The one thing I do wonder about is this. Obama seems to be demonstrating a great deal of generosity towards a person and a perspective with which he doesn't agree. I wonder if that generosity would be or will be reciprocated.