The other inaugural pastor will probably make Rick Warren look rather pathetic
Thu, Dec 18, 2008
Maybe Barack Obama is a genius after all.
If I were Rick Warren, I’d have the nuts to turn down the invitation to deliver the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration, simply based on decency. But even further, if I were Rick Warren, in the interests of my own ego, I’d be smart enough to avoid comparison of my Celebrity Driven Life with that of the Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, who’ll be giving the benediction after Barack’s speech.
That comparison fails on one mere fact.
In 1965, King named Lowery to deliver the demands of a planned Selma-to-Montgomery march for voting rights to then-Alabama Governor George Wallace. In an event that shocked the nation, police tear-gassed and clubbed the peaceful marchers at Edmund Pettus Bridge.
For anyone who forgets what happened on that march, watch this.
Thirty years later…
Wallace apologized to Lowery in 1995 as Lowery led the 30th Anniversary reenactment.
Rick Warren will never be the man that Joseph Lowery was 50 years ago, when he founded the SCLC, or the man who marched across the Edmund Pettus Bridge 43 years ago, let alone the man Lowery is today. Rick Warren would never have the courage, the stature, or the righteousness to sit across from George Wallace and demand a jelly donut, let alone his own civil rights.
Oh, Rick. Rick, Rick, Rick. You’re kinda fucked here.
You just put yourself in Rev. Lowery’s wheelhouse.
It won’t be lost on Rev. Lowery just how small a man Rick Warren is, nor just how enormous a moment is this inauguration. Rev. Lowery is not likely to leave anything sitting on the table. Anyone who saw his remarks at Coretta Scott King’s funeral, with George W. Bush sitting right behind him, will attest to that. I remember watching this live, and couldn’t believe my eyes.
Watching this again now, the outrage I feel at Rick Warren’s presence in the inauguration is suddenly seeping away. I almost feel sorry for him now. Because Rick Warren is about to get steamrolled, like a gnat against a windshield, on the biggest stage of the last 50 years by a man who helped shape those 50 years, and to whom a guy like Rick Warren is lint on his suit.
Rick….you probably want to gracefully bow out.
December 18th, 2008 at 11:39 pm
No way he declines. No way!
Rick is an attention-seeking narcisist just like every other mega-church preacher and this is a national stage.
He’s loving the attention.
I heard he might even buy a suit that actually fits for the occasion.
December 19th, 2008 at 6:03 am
Joseph Lowery is false just like Rick Warren.
December 19th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
it’s still beyond me why anybody pays attention to any of these religious hucksters and they get so much play in the american media generally. most civilized countries wouldn’t even give warren a stage. but nope, here in the good old us of a, one of the most religious countries on earth, we are asked to give credence to all these delusional religious wackjobs.
oh well. i’ve grown to hold this country in so much contempt that it actually lightens my heart to realize that most of the world laughs at us. jeebus!
December 19th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
mvirenicus, I’m with you. I wish people didn’t pay attention to “spiritual” leaders. BUT, I think Dr. Lowery has proven he is much, much more than just a mouthpiece for a god who may or may not exist. He is a legitimate American hero.
December 19th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
you’re right, notorious. i’d heard of this funeral speech before but never saw it until tim posted it. it was pretty cool. i suppose i could have chosen a better post to respond to with my invective. hang in there.
December 20th, 2008 at 2:46 am
Nothing wrong with invective between friends.
December 22nd, 2008 at 3:27 pm
1. Whatever happened to Sep. of Church & State ? Why only CHRISTIAN speakers?
2. Inaug day = Warren gets BOOED & it’s an awkward moment for the USA.
Lowery gets a satnding ovation, cheering for 5 full minutes. He wins the day.
3. B.O. made a doody on picking Warren, & now they both stink.
4. We faulted Bush for refusing to admit he made a mistake, ever. BO should admit that having hateful Warren on this day is wrong, & he’ll prove he’s better than GWB.
January 20th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Now that the inauguration is complete, I think it was good to have both Warren and Lowery. Why pit one against the other? It’s time to do as King envisioned and now as Obama envisions. It’s time to unite as one people. As Obama said, “We are a country of many religions, races and creeds, etc. It is our strength, not our weakness.”
Let us all draw upon our strengths as being different but also as Americans, having a dream of freedom for our children and our grandchildren. Leave the hate, leave the dissent, leave the bigotry, it is time for us to unclench our fists and extend our hands to one another.
Let us now be a new and united country.
Amen!