One last thought on Warren

To borrow a term from Ta-Nehisi, it's probably weak-sauce to snag a comment someone else made somewhere else, and use it as the body of a blog post.  But it's my party, and I still have cleaning to do, so I'm gonna go with it.

I'm a (pathologically) frequent commenter over at The Plank, and I came across the following comment by fellow frequent commenter jhildner in one of their frequent threads about Obama and Warren:

 

Hmm, in my view, the true cause of the controversy is that Warren is anti-gay (homosexuality is a sinful lifestyle choice disqualifying you from Saddleback memebrship), anti-science (rejects evolution), adheres to conservative evangelical priorities (in 04, he provided a checklist of non-negotiable issue items for the election that consisted of abortion, gay marriage, stem cell research, cloning, and euthanasia; helping the sick and needy was apparently negotiable), adheres to the belief that the Bible is the literal, inerrant word of God, which leads to division and irrationality, is on the wrong side of church-state matters (eg., Prop. 8 and Terri Schaivo), and still buys hell and end times.  He is not the best of America or the best of Christianity, and providing this general honor -- holding him out as a figure of reverence -- suggests that he is.  His ministry is, at best, insipid and vulgar, and, at worst, insidious.  Obama didn't need to do this, and I wish he hadn't.  I don't hate him for it, and I'm not generally disillusioned or anything like that.  Indeed, I heartily endorse his instincts in favor of reaching out to traditional opponents to find common ground.  But this wasn't the right way to do that.  [Apologies for any errors; had some trouble importing this text.]

I think this is just about right.  Warren hawks a particular kind of Christianity that, while perhaps in keeping with what a large number of people believe, is not in keeping with the kind of administration that (dare I say?) Obama was elected to create.  We supported him precisely because he didn't seem to believe this kind of thing.  And, while I understand the importance of bridge-building and haven't changed my mind from before, I continue to feel let down by this choice.