{"id":132,"date":"2008-12-18T19:28:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-18T19:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation--a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html"},"modified":"2008-12-18T19:28:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-18T19:28:00","slug":"obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html","title":{"rendered":"OBAMA PICKS RICK WARREN FOR INVOCATION– A STORM OF PROTEST ENSUES"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

In a move that suggests that Obama does indeed intend to try to be everyone’s President, the President elect named Rick Warren to say the invocation at his inauguration. Here is the link to the story— <\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/12\/18\/us\/politics\/18inaug.html?th&emc=th<\/p>\n

The reaction today to this move was predicable as protests came from both the gay and lesbian lobby on one hand and from conservatives as well, but for different reasons. The gay and lesbian lobby of course was angry because of Warren’s strong opposition to gay and lesbian marriage and support for Proposition 8. Some of the vitriolic gay response revealed the ugly face of gay and lesbian stridency and strong arm tactics to try and force their views on the majority of Americans who do not agree with them on their key issues. <\/p>\n

But it would be hard to say that that response was uglier than the response of those Christians who are angry with Warren, their own fellow conservative Christian, for agreeing to PRAY FOR OUR PRESIDENT ELECT, in view of Obama’s pro-choice views in regard to abortion. As Obama said however at his press conference today, Americans need to learn to be civil towards one another, and learn how to disagree without being disagreeable and ugly. In the case of Christians the issue is whether one can disagree and not do it in an unChristian manner. One thing is clear– controversial appointments and actions do indeed smoke out people’s real views and feelings, and often those feelings are subChristian at best, and positively carnal at worst.<\/p>\n

Tell me how you respond to this story.<\/p>\n

BW3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a move that suggests that Obama does indeed intend to try to be everyone’s President, the President elect named Rick Warren to say the invocation at his inauguration. Here is the link to the story— http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/12\/18\/us\/politics\/18inaug.html?th&emc=th The reaction today to this move was predicable as protests came from both the gay and lesbian lobby…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":199,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-132","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\nOBAMA PICKS RICK WARREN FOR INVOCATION- A STORM OF PROTEST ENSUES - The Bible and Culture<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"OBAMA PICKS RICK WARREN FOR INVOCATION- A STORM OF PROTEST ENSUES - The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a move that suggests that Obama does indeed intend to try to be everyone’s President, the President elect named Rick Warren to say the invocation at his inauguration. Here is the link to the story— http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/12\/18\/us\/politics\/18inaug.html?th&emc=th The reaction today to this move was predicable as protests came from both the gay and lesbian lobby…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Bible and Culture\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-12-18T19:28:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/SUrryDvconI\/AAAAAAAABsQ\/A8e7wc1-BvI\/s400\/20080820_obama_33.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ben Witherington\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"OBAMA PICKS RICK WARREN FOR INVOCATION- A STORM OF PROTEST ENSUES - The Bible and Culture","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"OBAMA PICKS RICK WARREN FOR INVOCATION- A STORM OF PROTEST ENSUES - The Bible and Culture","og_description":"In a move that suggests that Obama does indeed intend to try to be everyone’s President, the President elect named Rick Warren to say the invocation at his inauguration. Here is the link to the story— http:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2008\/12\/18\/us\/politics\/18inaug.html?th&emc=th The reaction today to this move was predicable as protests came from both the gay and lesbian lobby…","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html","og_site_name":"The Bible and Culture","article_published_time":"2008-12-18T19:28:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/SUrryDvconI\/AAAAAAAABsQ\/A8e7wc1-BvI\/s400\/20080820_obama_33.jpg"}],"author":"Ben Witherington","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html","name":"OBAMA PICKS RICK WARREN FOR INVOCATION- A STORM OF PROTEST ENSUES - The Bible and Culture","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/SUrryDvconI\/AAAAAAAABsQ\/A8e7wc1-BvI\/s400\/20080820_obama_33.jpg","datePublished":"2008-12-18T19:28:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-12-18T19:28:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/SUrryDvconI\/AAAAAAAABsQ\/A8e7wc1-BvI\/s400\/20080820_obama_33.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_MCBNSn1DlAU\/SUrryDvconI\/AAAAAAAABsQ\/A8e7wc1-BvI\/s400\/20080820_obama_33.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/2008\/12\/obama-picks-rick-warren-for-invocation-a-storm-of-protest-ensues.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"OBAMA PICKS RICK WARREN FOR INVOCATION– A STORM OF PROTEST ENSUES"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/","name":"The Bible and Culture","description":"All Things Biblical and Christian","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/d1fd6c7893819eabc624db38ecfd8426","name":"Ben Witherington","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/75e\/75ec11e1916a2008bc4cc638a0a0de2fx96.jpg","caption":"Ben Witherington"},"description":"Bible scholar Ben Witherington is Amos Professor of New Testament for Doctoral Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and on the doctoral faculty at St. Andrews University in Scotland. A graduate of UNC, Chapel Hill, he went on to receive the M.Div. degree from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. from the University of Durham in England. He is now considered one of the top evangelical scholars in the world, and is an elected member of the prestigious SNTS, a society dedicated to New Testament studies. Witherington has also taught at Ashland Theological Seminary, Vanderbilt University, Duke Divinity School and Gordon-Conwell. A popular lecturer, Witherington has presented seminars for churches, colleges and biblical meetings not only in the United States but also in England, Estonia, Russia, Europe, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Australia. He has also led tours to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan, and Egypt. Witherington has written over thirty books, including The Jesus Quest and The Paul Quest, both of which were selected as top biblical studies works by Christianity Today. He also writes for many church and scholarly publications, and is a frequent contributor to the Beliefnet website. Along with many interviews on radio networks across the country, Witherington has been seen on the History Channel, NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, The Discovery Channel, A&E, and the PAX Network.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/author\/bwitherington"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/199"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/bibleandculture\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}