The Rick Warren Saga: Its not that serious!

President-Elect Barack Obama has decided to have the pastor of Saddleback Church in California deliver his invocation at his inauguration. Rick Warren has one of the best selling books in history, The Purpose Driven Life and is regarded as one of the leaders of the Evangelical Christian movement. His role at the inauguration would be fairly minimal. He would be blessing the ceremony and essentially that would be it. While his role is minimal, it is regarded as an important one by many.

Gay rights activists and others have become enraged at Obama's selection of this man to deliver the invocation. Many regard his stance against homosexual marriage as the number one issue as to why they are against him. Others decry his stance on abortion as another reason that he should not deliver the invocation.

My opinion is that anyone Obama picked to deliver his invocation would be a huge issue. As long as you are picking someone who is a religious figure, more often than not their stance on homosexuality and abortion would be antithetical to those that support those two issues. More often than not, religious figures by nature of their positions stand opposed to gay marriage and abortions. The more popular the religious figure, odds are that they stand in opposition even more. Now I believe that all who are upset have valid reasons. If you stand in support of gay marriage and the right for a woman to have an abortion, then obviously you would be upset that someone who stands against these things would have a roll in the Obama inauguration. But I ask the simple question: How important will Rick Warren be to the Obama administration? And isn't it crucial that people of various beliefs be represented in this new age of politics.

One of the main reasons that I voted for Obama, and this is true for many was that he was able to bring people of all faiths, sexual orientations, nationalities and beliefs together. His ability to appeal to such a large cross section of America was what made him so appealing to so many. This was very important after the past eight years of Bush's partisan politics. I knew that there would be people that Obama would have in his cabinet or in his circle, or even around him, whose beliefs differed to mine. It was my belief that this is exactly what the country needs at this time. So having Rick Warren participate in the inauguration does not bother me.

I also believe that those who are against Warren are not taking into consideration some of the good works that he has done. He has helped considerable people around the world, especially in third world countries get vital necessities. He champions causes that many around the world do not pay attention to. Just because he doesn't believe in a few things does not mean that he should be discarded as a non-entity. I hope that over time people realize this.

It is my hope and belief that people save their time and energy for more pertinent issues that will no doubt arise in the Obama presidency. They arise in every one so he will be no different. Having Rick Warren participate in the invocation is exactly what the country needs at this time. It represents the diversity of America by having someone who doesn't necessarily fall under the liberal umbrella have a role in the inauguration. That to me is what diversity is all about.