Here, I thought Rick Warren was going to be nothing but an embarrassment at the invocation. Turns out, his prayer was a great addition to the ceremony: classy, elegant, touching. Reminiscent of the Christians of old.

What was I worried about? Silly me.

h/t Pharyngula

Mr. Warren, you are testing my patience:

“I could not vote for an atheist because an atheist says, ‘I don’t need God,’” Warren preached, according to the Los Angeles Times. “They’re saying, ‘I’m totally self-sufficient by [myself].’ And nobody is self-sufficient to be president by themselves. It’s too big a job.”

What he is ostensibly saying here is that god provides special assistance, or guidance, or insight to Christians that he withholds from the non-religious. We should be sincerely worried if our leaders are making policy decisions based on divine revelation. Even if you are religious, and believe that god does talk to people, there is no guarantee that it would be Yahweh whispering you his secrets, and not the early stages of dementia.

We should seriously consider whether being religious makes you a better decision maker, as Warren would suggest — if the evidence bears out that fact — because I have a sneaking suspicion that it doesn’t. There are all those well attested statistics about religious states having higher divorce rates, higher violent crime rates, more spousal abuse, and so on and so forth.

Another thing worth noting, is that in the population at large, around 10% are atheists, while among the educated (academia, doctors, lawyers) only 10% are not. What that means is that if we exclude atheists from consideration, we are excluding precisely the people who are most likely to be qualified for the job.

One final thing that bothers me about the Christian mindset (especially of people like Rick Warren, who has made a fortune telling people that “god has a plan for you“) is the inherent contradiction that lies in simultaneously maintaining that it is obscenely arrogant to be spiritually “self-sufficient,” and at the same time that god has mapped out your life from beginning to end because you are an agent of the creator of the universe. I mean, come on. Christians are so important that the person who created the vastness of space, and trillions of stars and galaxies, and the laws of quantum mechanics gets bent out of shape over the goings on in their bedrooms, but I am arrogant for believing in evolution? Get real. Presumably Warren wanted to say that the president should be humble — someone who doesn’t fancy themselves god. With that, I can agree, and by extension, I don’t want someone in office who thinks themselves a hand of the creator, because that is a slippery slope to divine right to rule. In that respect, atheists are more qualified for public office, because humanism is by nature humbling. We recognize that this life is a precious gift, because it is all we get. We also appreciate the sheer insignificance of life, when compared with the size of the universe, so I think we manage to pass the humility test.

I therefore think it unfair that Warren bars atheists from consideration for elected office, and I feel a little discriminated against. But I guess you can add me to the ever growing list.

h/t Andrew Sullivan

You know, I hate Rick Warren. I hate everything he stands for: his bigotry, his mega-church, his shitty books that unfailingly show up at any event considered remotely milestone-ish, his fat neck, and his religion. But the more I think about him speaking at the inauguration, the less I care.

When we were in the thick of the election, and there was all that business about Obama and Reverend Wright, and Bill Ayers, and the “clinging to guns and religion” comment, we liberals (I still have a bit of trouble calling myself that) got together and said “Listen, here is a guy who has some shady associations, and may have made some divisive, if not hateful remarks, but he can do some good, so let’s get behind him.” We did, and we asked his detractors to do the same. And now that guy is going to be the president.

But, as much as I hate Rick Warren, he is exactly that kind of person. He has Christianists eating out of his hand, and I think we can put aside the ideological differences long enough to let him have this speech. The unifying potential here is too great not to make the compromise.

I am anticipating that my 1.5 frequent commenters may say that we can’t negotiate with hate, but let me point out that we are not electing this scumbag as president. We are letting him make a speech. Believe me, if Warren were ever up for any position of authority, I would be right there with you protesting it every step of the way.

I will probably plug my ears when he gets up there and starts in with “Purpose Driven Life for the President,” and gets all mushy-wushy about the sky god, but you can’t win ‘em all. The important part is, I really don’t think there is anything to be gained on the secularization front, or on the gay rights front from making a row about this speech.

When I first read this headline, I had to do a doubletake to make sure it was December 1st and not April.

I mean seriously, this president is leaving office with the second lowest approval rating of all time, the nation at war(s), a failed economy, and having drastically lowered America’s world standing, but there are still people willing to give him awards? Oh, right, Christians.

Rick Warren, mega-pastor and master of irony, invented this award specifically for the occasion. I guess we should expect nothing less from a man whose claim to fame is as a leader of self-described “sheep,” who consider it a virtue to ignore reason.

The medal is to be awarded for

“alleviating…pandemic diseases, extreme poverty, illiteracy, self-centered leadership and spiritual emptiness”

Well, I sure as hell can’t speak for everyone, but here on the home front diseases are up, poverty is skyrocketing, literacy is down, I am feeling pretty ignored by my leadership, and lack of spirituality is at a lifetime high.