Rick Warren on Same Sex Marriage: "When The Church Accommodates Culture, It Weakens It'

[Behind the Aegis]

Source: ABC News

Pastor Rick Warren is interviewed on "This Week."

Pastor Rick Warren stood by his opposition to same sex marriage in our conversation this week, saying that he does not believe the church should conform to accept growing support for same sex marriage.

"History shows that when the church accommodates culture, it weakens it," Warren said.

"If I'm unpopular for certain beliefs, well, then I'm unpopular for certain beliefs," he added. "And to me, the Bible is very clear that sex is for a man and a woman in marriage only."


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/rick-warren-same-sex-marriage-church-accommodates-culture-221846801--abc-news-politics.html

[sakabatou]

1. So Rick, what would you say when churches accepted interracial marriages?

[msongs]

2. yep accomdating churches weakens culture alright lol nt

[SharonAnn]

66. When churches accommodate politics, it weakens it.

[BzaDem]

3. Isn't the bible also "very clear" that anyone who curses shall be stoned to death?

[Sherman A1]

4. I really like this quote

"And to me, the Bible is very clear that sex is for a man and a woman in marriage only."

Gee, the Bible is so very clear on so many topics Rick, such as slavery, marriage, work on the Sabbath, planting two different crops side by side, etc one wonders if in Rick's world we should reinstitute it all in the literal (of course there is that question of which version one uses) context.

[IndyJones]

5. He comes out with these interviews every couple of years to keep his name out there.

Gotta keep those tithers happy so they'll keep giving!

[IggleDoer]

51. Oh, Rick ... how was your Easter ham?

Ever ear shrimp?

If so, you're an abomination.

[Botany]

6. History shows that when the church accommodates culture, it weakens it.

Tell that to Galileo Rick.



or to victims of the Klan

Even as a straight man this kind of crap pisses me off because if an all powerful God didn't
like "the gays" then he/she would stop all the babies that continue to be born gay.

[Namvet67]

9. great post!!!

P.S. Jan Jenson from wisconsin....do you work in the lumber yard there?

[Ken Burch]

45. no, but the people he meets as he walks down the streets

wonder how in the heck he got there!

[Namvet67]

68. hahahahaha.......haven't heard that since my mother sang it to me in the late 50's

[Ken Burch]

69. BTW, did you know that some people thought that "Jan Jenson" was a DU poster

and that you were revealing his identity?

That actually caused an alert on your post upthread.

[Namvet67]

71. next I reveal who Carly Simon sings about in "you're so vain"....hahahaha

[rug]

29. That's the Methodist Church in Matamoras where my sons' Boy Scout troop now meets.

Pike County remains heavily republican,

[Turbineguy]

7. Lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine!

[Ken Burch]

47. Away, away with rum, by gum!

With rum, by gum!
with rum, by gum!
Away, away, with rum, by gum!
it's the song of the Temperance Union!

(Please, make this stop before "The Happy Wanderer!" breaks out!)

[whistler162]

8. Three words Mr. Warren Christmas Winter Solstice

Jesus wasn't born on or near December 25th yet we celebrate his birth and have accepted pagan symbols into the celebration.

Mark Twain said it best, "Better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and prove it."

Not to mention the pagan symbolism Incorporated into the celebration of Easter.

[freshwest]

35. You beat me to it. Easter and a fertility ritual.

[Ken Burch]

46. That's why we still do the thing with the mutant rabbits...

...er...so to speak...

[freshwest]

60. I always loved all that stuff as a kid, still do. We danced around the May Pole in elementary, too.

That was public school, we thought nothing of it, anymore than we did Christmas or Easter break. Hey, any chance for a few days off and a party, enjoying being alive and playing around, I'm in! Well, I can't do much of it now, but you know what I mean.

[Ken Burch]

61. You do know what a maypole is supposed to represent, right?

here's a few clues

[freshwest]

63. Yes, another wonderful pagan fertility celebration. We didn't care. People are too fricking serious!

[Ken Burch]

64. Glad to hear it.

Have a nice Monday...I've got to get out of the house for a bit.

[freshwest]

65. You should, it's our second day of full sunshine! Ta Ta!

[polichick]

10. Since organized religion is all about maintaining power over people...

...he may be right that accommodating culture weakens the church.

imo weakening the church is a good thing - especially when it means empowering people.

[customerserviceguy]

11. When and why

did anyone re-start giving a tinker's damn about what this snake oil salesman had to say, anyway? Is it because his wife is pushing that silly-ass book of hers?

[MBS]

12. when the country accommodates radical right-wing ideas as reasonable alternatives,

allows the lies and myths of the radical, delusional far right to be viewed as "truth", and allows the right-wing superpac money to call the shots, our country and constitution is weakened.
God, I'm sick of these people.
Please, let's keep Obama in the White House and win back Congress in November.

[goclark]

23. Please, pretty please

These people are stone cold crazy.

It is amazing ----- these nuts continue to read a different Bible.

They must be reading an upside down, insert your own words and crossing words out Bible.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

13. Hey Rick: Lying, cheating, and bearing false witness. Three of the 10 Commandments!

You have broken every single one of them

[CanonRay]

14. Rick Warren is a complete and utter fraud

just like most of his cohorts. The rest are true religious zealots...which is even worse. A pox on the whole lot.

[shawn703]

15. I don't know why bigots are legitimized

Hopefully Obama won't make the same mistake at his next inauguration.

[link:|

[riderinthestorm]

18. Oh it was just a little prayer, silly! nt

[Jamastiene]

49. +1000000

[Odin2005]

16. Somebody tell this idiot that his Christmas tree is a Germanic pagan symbol.

[Javaman]

17. Nice jacket made from different types of cloth, ricky! nt

[Evasporque]

19. How about a shrimp cocktail....?

The bible is also very clear about eating non-finned creatures of the sea.

[QC]

20. IT'S ONLY GOING TO BE A TWO-MINUTE PRAYER!1!!!!!!11

[Safetykitten]

30. I hear Tim Tebow is the opening act this year. He's so mainstream and popular!

[QC]

33. And sooooooo handsome, in a nonthreatening way! n/t

[Safetykitten]

36. I always like my bigots adorable and able to throw tight spirals.

[truebrit71]

54. So you don't like Teblow then?

'Cos he hasn't thrown a decent pass yet...

[teewrex]

21. Isn't that how we got christmas and easter? That was accomodating culture. I bet he still celebrates

those.

[JaneFordA]

22. "And to me, the Bible is very clear that sex is for a man and a woman in marriage only."

Yeah, like Abraham fathering Ishmael on Hagar (his wife's slave) and Jacob fathering eight sons and a daughter on another wife and two slaves aside from the first legal wife, Leah.

But MY favorite example is Solomon with his 300 wives and 700 "concubines."

Such sterling examples of morality, that gang.

[LibertyLover]

41. And don't forget the story of Ruth

who goes to Boaz on the threshing floor at night and uncovers his "feet". In the Bible "feet" are a euphemism for the genitals. Then, not only does she uncover Boaz' junk, but he spreads his cloak over her and she remains at his "feet" all night. It's only afterwards that Boaz marries her. Sounds like premarital sex to me.

[Jamastiene]

50. Well said. n/t

[Namvet67]

72. When you live to be hundreds of years old, what else are you gonna do?...hahahaha

[Hell Hath No Fury]

24. Religious marriage vs. civil marriage.

Hey, Rick, you and your shitty church can refuse to marry gays and lesbians if you wish - that is your right under the Constitution.

BUT.

It is NOT your right to demand the Country and her citizens abide by YOUR religious views when organizing our civil/secular government.

And Ricky, I better not catch you chowing down on Jimmy Dean sausage any time soon -- your Bible is very clear on that matter.

[MountainMama]

62. Woo hoo!

We have a winner!!!! That is PRECISELY the problem.

[sarcasmo]

25. One of the many charlatans using the weak minded to push their biblical interpretations.

[Swede Atlanta]

26. Rick has no clue........

I attend a fairly mainstream Protestant church. The church ordains women, doesn't fight science and believes in compassion, charity and care for the needy. While we don't have a church-wide mandate to ordain LGBT pastors, the option is there on a congregation-by-congregation basis. We are likely a long way off from supporting or performing same-sex marriages but this will come in due time.

It was so refreshing yesterday at sunrise Easter services to see a number of LGBT couples sitting side by side, an arm wrapped around one another just like the heterosexual couples.

Our church, by offering a non-judgmental environment for LGBT persons, has been strengthened. We have LGBT members serving throughout the congregation as President of the Church Council and serving in many ways. This is a majority heterosexual church by a wide, wide margin.

Interesting enough the sermon yesterday talked about chances and one of the chances discussed was the chance that the single-celled animal from which we all came would evolve the way it did over 4 BN years. We see no tension between the Bible and that which science reveals.

I only with other Christian traditions would start reading the bible for its core message of love, faith, forgiveness and the promise of eternal life and not look for the things that divide and harm them. Those churches only grow because they feed the hatred of their members, not because of the love they have for others.

[Daniel537]

27. Culture? Good grief.

I guess supporting inter-racial marriage is culture too, eh Ricky? Nuts.

[William769]

28. He's unpopular because he's a asshole & a homophobe!

[Safetykitten]

31. Like some demented gopher, he is back. He's in the news, he's being interviewed.

He's legitimate. He gave the prayer at one of the most important ceremonies we have.

Consequences much?

[BlueToTheBone]

32. Me thinks he doth protest too much.

And that beard! He screams "self loathing" in his diatribes.

[UnrepentantLiberal]

34. Asshole.

[Bill McBlueState]

37. Warren's entire racket is about accomodating the culture

There's a reason today's most popular TV preachers sound like armchair psychologists. It sells better than fire and brimstone. The movement, largely led by Warren, toward churches that tell you to feel good about yourself (You have a Purpose, etc.), as opposed to historical Christianity's emphasis on the community is nothing BUT an accomodation of our self-centered culture.

[Fearless]

38. I would say the exact opposite... when culture accommodates religion culture is weakened

Science too.

[QC]

39. I wonder how many of his parishioners at Saddleback are on their second or third marriages.

Scripture condemns remarriage after divorce far more explicitly than it does homosexuality--including a direct statement from Jesus Himself--yet a surprising number of those most critical of Teh Gays are enthusiastic practitioners of serial polygamy.

One of them, a national leader of his denomination's efforts to "preserve the sanctity of marriage" is fond of telling people that "God gave me a second chance" when he met his second and current wife.

He apparently sees no contradiction here.

[stopbush]

40. Note to Rick: The. Bible. Is. Make-Believe. Shit.

Your make-believe shit doesn't get to influence the REAL lives of REAL people.

Now, go fuck yourself, asshole.

[bongbong]

42. Slavery too

The bible says slavery is OK. I wonder how many slaves Warren has?

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

43. Again, dishonest framing of the issue

No one that I know of is asking or should ask any church to marry anyone they don't want to. The only issue is the states and feds should recognize a gay union and the rights it entails.

If another church decides they want to start marrying homosexuals, that's their choice, and none of Mr Warren's concern. His concept of "The Church" shows he's clueless that different denominations have different ideas.

[bongbong]

44. Hey Rick!

You're rich. As Jesus said, you're not going to heaven.

[Smilo]

48. Rick,

"And to me, the Bible is very clear that sex is for a man and a woman in marriage only."

Did you forget that Jesus' mother was unmarried at the time she conceived!!

[dbackjon]

52. Thank you President Obama for giving this hateful Bigot a forum

And you wonder why anyone that is for full equality is suspicious of you.



Time to REBUKE Rick Warren, and call him out for his hatred.

[truebrit71]

53. One more reason why religion poisons EVERYTHING it comes into contact with...

...so pastor, by that logic the abolition of slavery and womans' suffrage weakened the church as well, yes?

[DisgustipatedinCA]

55. Hey Rick...doesn't the Bible also say that your body should be a temple? Nice temple expansion.

[cbdo2007]

56. Doesn't his church "accommodate" divorce??? hahahahahahaa

[Beacool]

57. Rick Warren?

The Rick Warren who gave the invocation at Obama's inauguration?

[Iggo]

58. "it" meaning "the church", right Rick?

[hunter]

59. By "The Church" does he mean Catholic or Orthodox?

Mr. Warren's church is culturally accommodating to the right wing homophobic "Prosperity gospel" of Southern California culture. His tiny splinter of Christianity raises money by sweeping the difficult teachings of Christ under the rug.

“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” Matthew 19:23-24

I find Warren's mushy room temperature Christianity repulsive. The homophobic and materialistic culture that Warren represents is toxic. I much prefer the absolutist fire of the Anabaptist or Oriental Orthodox Churches, the "Love your Neighbor" sincerity of the Unitarian Universalists, atheism, paganism, almost anything but a religion that tells you that you are okay with God when you are violating your neighbor's basic human rights.

Christ had a lot to say about sins regularly celebrated in Warren's church. I think he's a false prophet serving poison fruit.

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves." Matthew 7:15–23

[NYC Liberal]

67. I say, who cares what the Bible says?

So what if it does say being gay is wrong? So what if it says marriage for a "man and a woman only"?

Why should we heed what the Bible says anyway? Aside from not believing in the religious stuff in it, I don't adhere to the Bible's/God's rules because I totally disagree with many of them.

Instead of arguing over what the Bible says or doesn't say, how about we simply reject the Bible as a source of morality or laws?

I'm sure the Klan manifesto (if they have one, which they probably do) says lots of things about interracial marriage being wrong. I simply don't subscribe to it because I think it's bullshit.

[RainDog]

70. Purpose-driven ignorance

This man makes me want to puke. Is he really so ignorant about his own incorporation of modern culture into his thinking?

Why was he parroting right-wing talking points about employment last week if he's not entirely co-opted by modern conservatism?

Is he such a liar or just ignorant?

I think he's a liar.