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Warren apologizes for support of California’s marriage amendment

The above headline is the original headline for the linked article. It is something I almost passed over unread. Rick Warren isn’t that interesting to me, but the claim of his supposed apology pulled me in for a read.

Now, I have watched some clips of the Larry King interview, and my take on Warren isn’t quite the same as Fischer’s. I didn’t take it so much as an apology as it was Warren’s attempt to paint himself as less of an evil homophobe. He really got raked over the coals- rightly or wrongly- and now he is trying to get back to what was his real agenda all along. Granted he was never very pro-gay, but in my opinion, he never deserved the intense backlash he received either.

But the guy is really in a bind, as would be any pastor who holds the Bible up as the last word on anything. Many theologians have over time seen this black hole, but now in 2009, today’s evangelicals are falling into it at an alarming rate. Even the Jewish faith, has since the beginning (???) known that the Bible required interpretation- that’s what Midrash is all about. It is truly a fool who believes that every word of it can be taken literally. Much wiser are those who see it as a starting point, and take from it ideas and meanings integrated with thought, science, history and experience. But that really is another post.

This ultimate confrontation to the Bible is pretty new. It isn’t like same-sex marriage is the first social change where the Bible seems irrefutable. How about Slavery? How about divorce? But here we are in 2009, and the ultra right wing fundamentalists see this as a last stand. I’m working on another blog post about that, hopefully for tomorrow.

But now, two things are happening:

1) People like Warren, who wish to work within the religious arena for social change, are having to come face to face with these contradictions. As the number of Americans who are involved in Religion continues to drop, people like him are scrambling to remain viable and meaningful.

2) Many average people are being willing to stand up and say that we do not live in a Christian  theocracy! We live in a democracy where there is a separation of church and state.

Warren apologizes for support of California’s marriage amendment.