Pastor Rick Warren speaks at a December 20, 2008 gathering in Long Beach | AP Photo/Hector Mata
OC Pastor Rick Warren has been in the headlines recently thanks to his upcoming participation in the inauguration of Barack Obama as President. Warren's support of California's Proposition 8 has tarnished Obama's message of hope for many, and now Warren's past statements about same-sex marriage are receiving even more scrutiny. Today CBNNews.com published a series of quotes taken from two video messages Warren put online in October and December, respectively, for his parishioners at the Saddleback Church.
Warren's thoughts include:
- “There are about 2% of Americans who are homosexual or gay and lesbian people. We should not let 2% of the population change the definition of marriage.”“This is not even just a Christian issue. It’s a humanitarian and human issue.”
- “I’m not opposed to gays having their partnerships. I’m opposed to gays using the term marriage for their relationship.”
- “While I believe the gay view of sexuality is contrary to God’s word, I do believe that God gives us free choice and he gives us a choice to obey his word or to disobey it.”
- “Some people feel today that if you disagree with them then that’s hate speech. Either if you disagree with them you either hate them or you’re afraid of them. I’m neither afraid of gays nor do I hate gays. In fact I love gays but I do disagree with some of their beliefs.”
Two days before he posted the second video in response to the media's attention on his stance in favor of Prop 8, Warren told an audience at the 8th Annual Convention of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Long Beach that he loved everyone, including homosexuals. However, he had just prior given an interview in which he put same-sex marriage on par with giving the go-ahead to incest, polygamy, and child abuse.
"Pastor Rick's News & Views" videos are viewable online here.
