Rick Warren resembles a giant teddy bear. Just look at the man. He looks like that big, fuzzy uncle you always wish you had. Not the creepy “let’s me know you a game played in the basement”, or the loud drunken kind. But the cool kind – the one that you talked to because there was no way you were going to talk to your parents about sex or which college to go to.  He’s got the goatee, the fuzzy brown hair on top, the casual shirts. Like “Uncle Buck”, without the John Candy.

I want to like the man. I really do. I read about his reverse tithing, where he now gives way 90% of his proceeds to charity. His invocation at Obama’s inauguration was a bit vanilla side, but I’m actually glad he showed some restraint.

As Pee Wee Herman said, though, “Everyone has a big but. Tell me about your big but.” My big “but” with Mr. Warren is – he’s still kind of a jerk. At least if you’re gay. Or an atheist. Or, it seems, perhaps anything but a “died in the wool” Jesus fan.

I wouldn’t mind if the guy showed some consistency.  First you have him endorsing California’s Proposition 8 stripping marriage rights from homosexuals. So right here, we have a gentleman who has no problem telling his followers “Hey, there’s this law out there that deals with homosexuals, and I’m going to speak out on it.”

Kind of a jackass move, but hey – free speech and all. He gets to say that. Of course, I’m certain he’d have no problem speaking out about other government actions. You know – like Uganda’s law that sentences people to lifetime in prison for one homosexual act, or offers the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”, which includes if you “use alcohol or drugs.” That’s right – if two gay people meet up in a gay bar, and one buys another a drink – they can be sentenced to death if the two of them are caught hooking up later.

Surely something that draconian, that clearly “Old Testament” style that goes against Mr. Warren’s beloved Jesus, the man who forgave the woman caught in adultery from being stoned to death – surely he’d speak out against such a rotten, horrid law?

“But Warren won't go so far as to condemn the legislation itself. A request for a broader reaction to the proposed Ugandan antihomosexual laws generated this response: "The fundamental dignity of every person, our right to be free, and the freedom to make moral choices are gifts endowed by God, our creator. However, it is not my personal calling as a pastor in America to comment or interfere in the political process of other nations." On Meet the Press this morning, he reiterated this neutral stance in a different context: "As a pastor, my job is to encourage, to support. I never take sides." Warren did say he believed that abortion was "a holocaust." He knows as well as anyone that in a case of great wrong, taking sides is an important thing to do.” (Source: Newsweek, The Human Condition Blog, emphasis added)

Bullshit. This from the guy who has no problem speaking out about 146,000 Christians he claims were killed without anyone speaking out on it (I wonder if 45,000 of those are because they lack insurance?). He has no problem telling his flock how moral it is to keep people who love each other from enjoying the same legal benefits as everyone else who gets the word "married"next to their names."

Mr. Warren has taken sides in the past on a great many political issues, as we’ve already seen. He wants to point to the cross, tell us to think “What would Jesus do”, and then when confronted by the reality of something that Jesus would oppose (like "sexual preference genocide") – his response boils down to “Well, I guess I don’t have an opinion when it comes to defending fags as opposed to condemning them.”

Perhaps he’s just a coward who doesn’t want to lose whatever foothold so-called Christian groups (and I use the term lightly) such as The Family have in Uganda, which has been a source of this horrific legislation. Maybe he’s afraid that if he admits that, yes, even “teh gays” has as much a right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – then perhaps they could get married and then all of society would collapse or something.

Whatever the reason, I’d like for Rick Warren to be that cool Uncle Buck guy. Problem is, I don’t think Uncle Buck was a bigot. And at least he was honest enough to tell you what he really thought, instead of hiding behind Jesus to disguise his prejudice.