"For every tree is known by its own fruit"
-- Luke 6:44
-- Luke 6:44
My favorite fat bastard (no; not the guy on the right) has finally exposed himself for what he really is.
Rick Warren is a liar.
Most of you know that I have no use for preachers -- the way I see it, they all lied the moment they decided to bugger truth for money by way of telling people they'd live forever - just as long as they kept paying the bills.
Most of you also know that I've no use for Rick Warren - I've long stated that he's an overfed, overpaid member of a disreputable 'profession'; using his position to influence politics (a clear violation of several laws regarding the tax exempt status of his megachurch).
Today, however, we can link the man to his lies and his actions to his words.
He'd actively campaigned in favor of Proposition 8 in California (the anti-gay-rights proposition, which banned gay marriage and restricted the civil rights of gays in that state). His statement from the video, below, is pretty clear:
"Let me say this very clearly. We support Proposition 8, and if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8."
"There are about 2 percent of Americans are homosexual, gay/lesbian people," he said. "We should not let 2 percent of the population change a definition of marriage that has been supported by every single culture and every single religion for 5,000 years.
"I urge you to support Proposition 8 and pass that word on. I'm going to be sending out notes to pastors on what I believe about this, but everybody knows what I believe about it."
Now, the worm turns. Here's Rick Warren, on Larry King Live just a few days ago:
"You know, Larry, there was a story within a story that never got told. In the first place, I am not an anti-gayI am not an anti-gay or anti-gay marriage activist. I never have been, never will be. During the whole Proposition 8 thing, went to a meeting, I never once issued a statement, never — never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going. The week before the — the vote, somebody in my church said, Pastor Rick, what — what do you think about this? And I sent a note to my own members that said, I actually believe that marriage is — really should be defined, that that definition should be — say between a man and a woman. And then all of a sudden out of it, they made me, you know, something that I really wasn't. … I wrote to all my gay friends — the leaders that I knew — and actually apologized to them. That never got out. There were some things said that — you know, everybody should have 10 percent grace when they say public statements.
Oh, yes. You know, I don't think that the definition of marriage should be changed. Yes. I just never campaigned...I never campaigned for it. I never -- I'm not an anti-gay activist -- never have been. Never participated in a single event. I just simply made a note in a newsletter. And, of course, everything I write it's -- it's (INAUDIBLE). It's very low [on my list of issues]. In fact, I am working with a number of gay organizations on issues that we care about, in saving lives."
Here's the video:
Rick Warren has a reputation with some Christians. He's a friend of the current president (something which disappoints me greatly); at least one person on my friends'-list here actually went to school with the man.
I'm not the least big apologetic for what I'm about to say, yet again -- Rick Warren is a liar.
"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds."
--Colossians; 3:9
"Lying lips are abomination to the Lord."
--Proverbs 12:22
There are several others I could quote without cracking a sweat - but you get the point, I'm sure.
The sad thing?
Warren was likely back at it this past Sunday, tickling everyone's ears up on Saddleback Ridge with his feelgood-message, rakin' in the dough from the collection-plate and downin' a plate o' ribs later with the select few who get to do so. Just like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly, no matter the volume of lies in which the man is caught, he'll continue to have an audience of lemmings who 'believe'.
Why the state of California doesn't pull the guy's tax-exempt status is beyond me. Why his own parishioners don't nail his fat hide to the wall is also quite beyond me - but we seem to have gone quite beyond outrage here in America, even over the most-outrageous.
That very few are capable of critical, objective thought anymore is both a shame and the collective blame of two and half generations of parents, plus the education system they funded. As was pointed out to me the other day, those of us who paid attention in class - and are subsequently outraged at this sort of thing -- are in a minority; if we try to point these things out, we're shouted down, or (worse), the Lemmings will (in the words of another here on my friends'-list) '...find a big Bull Lemming to sort us out for good...."
Dante said, "Abandon all hope; ye who enter here" about the gates to Hell.
Why is it I've got that same feeling about America lately?
