Regarding “Southern Baptist,” that’s a term applied to just about every Baptist church, none of which are obligated to accept one theology passed down by elistist central leaders.

The whole uproar could end up being a positive for everyone concerned.
On the other hand though, it seems Evangelical leaders have a tendency towards the freaky side concerning their own personal lives. We have the Jim Baker and Tammy Faye’s, the Jimmy Swaggart’s, and the Elmer Gantry’s seem common place in the Evangelical Movement.
Rick Warren seems to be a solid, you get what you see, type of Evangelical Preacher but one never knows. The last “Evangelical to the President”, Ted Haggard, who directed his own Mega-Church and was President of the 30 or 40 million member National Association of Evangelists ended up getting busted and outed as a Gay man himself, who for years made clandestine visits to a homosexual Call Boy who used to score Methamphetamine for him.
Uh Oh! I hope Pastor Rick Warren was properly vetted by the Obama people.

In truth this Warren thing is a win-win for Obama AND his gay critics. Prop 8 and Warren’s support for it were fading from memory and Obama put Warren back in the center of the controversy and made the critique of Warren very public again. I have no idea if this was his intention and it hardly matters, but at the same time Obama’s getting a symbolic “imprimatur” for his presidency from a member of the “neo-religious right” that should cause more consternation in their ranks than in ours.

Having critics on his left is very, very useful for Obama. I would be very disturbed if his every move was praised by The Nation. We’d be on our way to a shipwreck. As it is, the right is totally disoriented and increasingly irrelevant – even on gay rights, if one doesn’t ascribe too much significance to the word “marriage” as opposed to the legitimacy of gay “unions.” Prop 8 was a predictable setback, but it was the loss of a battle in a war that’s clearly being won. Presidents governing in critical times must pick their battles and narrow their choice of enemies. President Obama has huge responsibilities to the country and the world that most of us can barely imagine shouldering. If he can bring the Rick Warren crowd along on a least some of his agenda, he’ll be a success. Consider that Rick Warren is “blessing” an event that features a gay and lesbian marching band. Who is being “punked” ?