Brendan Halpin on Rick Warren.
Intellectually, I understand this, and I can even appreciate it as good political strategy, and I understand that this middle finger raised to gays and lesbians and those who care about them may, in the long run, actually lead to a progressive coalition that will make life in this country for gays and lesbians better.
None of this changes the fact that it's wrong. Pandering to hatred is always wrong, denying people's humanity is wrong, and standing against love is wrong. It wasn't the intellectual appeal that got me to open my wallet; it was the fact that this campaign was able to overcome my cynicism and make me believe there was actually something different going on.
It will be very interesting to see how the crowd responds to Warren. Various actions are being floated: turning your back, singing We Shall Overcome (my favorite), but unfortunately nothing has coalesced yet, which makes me suspect we're in for a handful of boos, a larger handful of people booing the booers, and pundits commenting that The Gays have apparently decided to give Obama a pass... for now.
