WASHINGTON, DC (JCCIC)--Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies, today announced the program for the 56th Presidential Inauguration, which will take place on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2009.
"I am delighted to announce this superb line-up of participants in the 2009 inaugural ceremonies," said Senator Feinstein. "The inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama will be an event of historic proportion. It is appropriate that the program will include some of the world's most gifted artists from a wide range of backgrounds and genres."
The announcement continued that Dr. Rick Warren will lead the Invocation at President Obama's inauguration. The program announcement had this to say about Pastor Warren:
Dr. Rick Warren founded Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, in 1980 with one family. Today, it is an evangelical congregation averaging 22,000 weekly attendees, a 120-acre campus, and has more than 300 community ministries to groups such as prisoners, CEOs, addicts, single parents, and those with HIV/AIDS. He also leads the Purpose Driven Network of churches, a global coalition of congregations in 162 countries. TIME magazine named him one of "15 World Leaders Who Mattered Most in 2004," and in 2005 one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World."
Dr. Rick Warren is becoming the Billy Graham of this generation within the emerging church. As you recall, Pastor Warren hosted both presidential candidates at his church during the presidential election, now he has been invited to give a prayer to Our Heavenly Father, asking God to give wisdom, aid, protection, and guidance to the 44th President Barack Hussein Obama.
Dr. Rick Warren, just maybe the next Spiritual Ear to the U.S. Presidents, this generation's Billy Graham. Liberals are not happy about this decision by Barack Obama and one group in particular is mad as hell.
Gays are furious over this decision, in fact, 
Joe Solomnese, the president of the Human Rights Campaign, has sent a blistering letter to President-elect Obama, accusing him of delivering a "genuine blow" to the gay community in choosing Rev. Rick Warren to give the formal invocation at next month's inauguration.
Dear President-elect Obama,
Let me get right to the point. Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bi-Sexual, & Transexual) Americans. Our loss in California over the passage of Proposition 8 which stripped loving, committed same-sex couples of their given legal right to marry is the greatest loss our community has faced in 40 years. And by inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans have a place at your table.
Rick Warren has not sat on the sidelines in the fight for basic equality and fairness. In fact, Rev. Warren spoke out vocally in support of Prop 8 in California saying, "there is no need to change the universal, historical definition of marriage to appease 2 percent of our population ... This is not a political issue -- it is a moral issue that God has spoken clearly about." Furthermore, he continues to misrepresent marriage equality as silencing his religious views. This was a lie during the battle over Proposition 8, and it's a lie today.
Rev. Warren cannot name a single theological issue that he and vehemently, anti-gay theologian James Dobson disagree on. Rev. Warren is not a moderate pastor who is trying to bring all sides together. Instead, Rev. Warren has often played the role of general in the cultural war waged against LGBT Americans, many of whom also share a strong tradition of religion and faith.
We have been moved by your calls to religious leaders to own up to the homophobia and racism that has stood in the way of combating HIV and AIDS in this country. And that you have publicly called on religious leaders to open their hearts to their LGBT family members, neighbors and friends.
But in this case, we feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination. Only when Rev. Warren and others support basic legislative protections for LGBT Americans can we believe their claim that they are not four-square against our rights and dignity. In that light, we urge you to reconsider this announcement.
Sincerely,
Joe Solmonese
President
Human Rights Campaign
Mr. Obama is quickly learning you cannot please all of the people all of the time. Be careful, the Bible has a warning about a woman's scorn, what about Gay scorn?, if the display of outrage in California over Prop 8 is any indication, Mr. Obama, just watch your back.
-LEX REX
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