Rick POS Warren Won't Condemn Proposed Law To Execute Gays in Uganda

[stopbush]

Rick Warren, the pastor who delivered the invocation at President Obama's inauguration, is once again on the defensive -- this time for his work with a Ugandan pastor who would like homosexuality to be punishable by death.

Newsweek tried to get Warren's reaction to the anti-gay work of Martin Ssempa, a Ugandan pastor who has come to his Saddleback Church multiple times. (Warren has distanced himself from Ssempa in general terms, saying the Ugandan minister does not represent him or his church.) Warren wouldn't reject the idea:

But Warren won't go so far as to condemn the legislation itself. A request for a broader reaction to the proposed Ugandan anti-homosexual laws generated this response: "The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations." On Meet the Press this morning, he reiterated this neutral stance in a different context: "As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides." Warren did say he believed that abortion was "a holocaust." He knows as well as anyone that in a case of great wrong, taking sides is an important thing to do.

Ssempa has also burned condoms "in the name of Jesus," helping roll back a highly successful anti-AIDS campaign in Uganda.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/30/rick-warren-refuses-to-co_n_373605.html

[xultar]

1. Why would anyone expect him to? Be serious Warren is an extremist.

[WCGreen]

2. A wolf in shees cloth...

[Taverner]

4. But...but he's a Moderate Extremist

:P

[xultar]

14. True. And I look like Halley Berry except for my pink afro.

[polichick]

3. I wonder if the prez thinks his elevation of Rick POS Warren paid off for him. nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

5. Not his "personal calling"?

What the hell is that anyway? God sends out orders with border limits?

I bet his personal calling would extend beyond the border if they were for killing christians.

[LiberalFighter]

6. Inform the Uganda government that everyone of Rick Warren's faith are gay.

Then they need to execute anyone that visits Uganda to minister.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. That is totally irresponsible.

Warren is in a position to influence people who are considering murder, but that would be 'interference' according to him. If this becomes law, Rick Warren will be an accessory in those murders.

[get the red out]

8. $$$$$

You don't think that he has any books for sale in Uganda do you???? Naw, couldn't be. Greed is a SIN afterall. :sarcasm:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. that is despicable and a perfect example of someone who talks

the talk but will not walk the walk. Rick Warren is an unprincipled Liar. Rick Warren is the antithesis of Jesus.

[MNDemNY]

10. Maybe he can sit down and talk it out with Obama, over a beer.

[Bolo Boffin]

11. Rank hypocrisy.

The Holocaust was a "political process" of another nation. I'm quite sure Warren could weigh in on the morality of the Holocaust.

Or perhaps he thinks the Holocaust was a tragedy insofar as it was killing people other than homosexuals? Or would he prefer not to comment solely on that aspect of the Holocaust while condemning the rest of it?

Bloody, baleful hypocrite!

[patrice]

12. Foreign religious political interference IS something to be avoided.

How do you like the pope dog-whistling on our political and social issues?

[stopbush]

13. Only religion could imagine that gays are to be executed for being gay.

Only religion could imagine that abortion is murder.

When religion tries to impose it's BS on politics, it's time for the better angels of religious believers to step in and say, "wait a minute. Religious beliefs cannot be the foundation of secular law."

But that doesn't happen because religious people want it both ways.

[charlie]

15. Uh huh. Wanting to kill Ahmadinejad isn't "taking sides", I suppose

This asshole's Jimmy Swaggert moment can't come soon enough.

[Shallah Kali]

16. Please don't forget Doug Coe's The Family of C Street's involvement in this law

Meet the U.S. Politicians Who Want to See Gay People Dead in Uganda
http://gayrights.change.org/blog/view/meet_the_us_politicians_who_want_to_see_gay_people_dead_in_uganda

Speaking yesterday on NPR’s Fresh Air http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=120746516 , Jeff Sharlet – who wrote a best-selling book documenting the political influence of the family – noted that many U.S. politicians, straddling both sides of the political aisle, are involved with “The Family.” Sharlet spoke about how members of “The Family” have been quite active in Uganda, including Ugandan Parliamentarian David Bahati, who is a member of “The Family” and one of the legislators behind the Anti-Homosexuality Bill of 2009. http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=49189

“{Bahati} appears to be a core member of The Family. He works, he organizes their Uganda National Prayer Breakfast and oversees a African sort of student leadership program designed to create future leaders for Africa, into which The Family has poured millions of dollars working through a very convoluted chain of linkages passing the money over to Uganda,” said Sharlet.

Not only that, but The Family has long considered Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni to be their key point man in Uganda, according to Sharlet. And President Museveni, it turns out, is one of the biggest advocates for killing gay people in Uganda. He also just met with a bunch of Ugandan youth and urged them to resist the forces of homosexuality.

That’s a pretty direct, not to mention abhorrent, connection between U.S. evangelical political leadership and Ugandan human rights abusers. Do U.S. politicians like Congressmen Bart Stupak really want to have on their consciences the murder and imprisonment of gay people in Uganda? Urge his office to condemn this proposed bill now.

The facts on the Ugandan Anti-Homosexuality Bill are clear cut http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/10/15/uganda-anti-homosexuality-bill-threatens-liberties-and-human-rights-defenders . Here’s what the bill will do if passed into law: it will create a criminal violation known as aggravated homosexuality, and anyone convicted of it will be sentenced to death; it will send anyone supporting gay rights to prison, even if they’re straight; it will imprison parents of LGBT children if they don’t rat out their kids to the government; and it will sentence people to life in prison for talking favorably about same-sex marriage.

Maybe it’s all part of Uganda’s new tourism campaign: Come for the lush wildlife, stay for the brutal repression.

For Congressmen like Joe Pitts and Bart Stupak to have ties to politicians who want to murder gay people is earth-shattering. But the scary part is that “The Family” has a membership far beyond just these two politicians. Sharlet has documented a whole boatload of U.S. leaders involved in “The Family,” including Sen. John “How Much Money Will it Take to Keep My Mistress Silent” Ensign, Sen. Tom “Blackmail is the Best Way To Stay in Political Power” Coburn, and Gov. Mark “Buenos Aires is the Best Place for Adultery” Sanford. The list goes on: Sen. Mark Pryor, Sen. James Inhofe, Sen. Chuck Grassley, Sen. Mike Enzi, Sen. Sam Brownback, Rep. Heath Shuler, Rep. Mike McIntyre, and Rep. Zach Wamp. And that’s not an exhaustive list!

Do all of these folks want to see gay people murdered in Uganda?

If not, they sure better go on record condemning this bill. Rep. Tammy Baldwin http://www.gaypolitics.com/2009/10/31/baldwin-urges-clinton-to-condemn-ugandan-anti-gay-bill/ has already urged the U.S. State Department to condemn the bill. What would be stopping these “Family” politicians from signing her letter as well?

[Meshuga]

17. Yes, Rick Warren is a POS

And his excuses not to condemn the proposed law is telling.