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TheCenterLane.com offers opinion, news and commentary on politics, the economy, finance and other random events that either find their way into the news or are ignored by the news reporting business. As the name suggests, our focus will be on what seems to be happening in The Center Lane of American politics and what the view from the Center reveals about the events in the left and right lanes. Your Host, John T. Burke, Jr., earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Boston College with a double major in Speech Communications and Philosophy. He earned his law degree (Juris Doctor) from the Illinois Institute of Technology / Chicago-Kent College of Law.
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No Jews Allowed In Rick Warren’s Heaven
December 22, 2008
There has been quite a bit of attention focused on Barack Obama’s choice of conservative evangelical minister, Rick Warren, to deliver the invocation at the Presidential inauguration ceremony on January 20. Most of the outrage over that choice stems from the fact that Warren was actively involved in promoting Proposition 8, the controversial California ballot initiative banning same-sex marriages.
A large number of objections to Warren’s participation in this historic ceremony are coming from Hollywood. As Tina Daunt reported in the December 20 Los Angeles Times, the entertainment community’s reaction to Warren’s role in the inaugural was “swift, angry and bitter”. Her article quoted Hollywood publicist, Howard Bragman who said the following about Barack Obama:
Meanwhile, back at the nation’s capitol, Barney Frank, the openly gay Senator from Massachusetts, had much to say about Warren’s role in the inaugural ceremony. As Jason Blum reported on December 21 at the Bloomberg website, Senator Frank said this about the inclusion of Warren in the event:
I particularly enjoyed the piece written by Christopher Hitchens for Slate on December 19. I thought the televangelist lobby would have been run out of Washington in the wake of the 2008 elections. Chris Hitchens appears to be sharing my disappointment over that group’s enduring presence on Capitol Hill, despite the efforts of many to preserve the separation of church and state. The most impressive point made in this article concerned Warren’s insistence that there are no Jews allowed in heaven:
Similarly, Time magazine’s Joe Klein had this to say in his December 16 posting on his Swampland blog at Time.com, concerning Warren’s insistence that Jews can’t go to heaven:
Regardless of the controversies over Proposition 8 and same-sex marriage, is it really appropriate to have a man deliver the invocation at the Presidential inauguration ceremony, when that man professes that Jews are not allowed into heaven? Does Warren believe that there is a big “No Jews Allowed” sign at the pearly gates? Has heaven been getting away with something that American country clubs have not been able to do, since the 1970s?
There is obviously plenty wrong with having someone of Warren’s ilk speaking at the Presidential inauguration. Gay weddings constitute just one of many issues these characters have on their list of things to not tolerate. Chris Hitchens suggested three questions to be asked of the Obama transition team, before the inauguration proceeds:
Remember John McCain’s old expression, “agents of intolerance”? Who would have thought that one such agent would deliver the invocation when Barack Obama is sworn in as our next President?