Commentary: Rick Warren needs to evolve

[Hazumu]

By Mary Sanchez | The Kansas City Star

One of the reasons so many Obama supporters are outraged by Warren's role in the inauguration is that in the last election campaign, the preacher lent his weighty support to Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative to place a constitutional ban on gay marriage. Warren has said he supported Prop 8 because he fears being charged with hate speech for preaching against homosexuality. That's another argument in bad faith. Warren can preach whatever he likes in the name of religion. He may face the sting of public backlash, but the First Amendment will always protect his right to preach that homosexuality is sinful. He knows this.

I suspect what Warren really fears is that the public will recognize him for what he is: an old-time religionist with old-time beliefs about issues on which American attitudes have, so to speak, evolved. In recent days Warren has said: "I have many gay friends. I've eaten dinner in gay homes. No church has probably done more for people with AIDS than Saddleback Church," referring to his mega-church and the many efforts it has made to aid HIV suffers in Africa.