This is my first entry, so I'll probably make plenty of newbie posting mistakes.
I welcome all feedback. I only ask that you show the strident "Wingnuts" out there (Anne Coulter, Sean Hannity, et al) how to have a discussion/debate based on reason, as opposed to rage.
The uproar over Rick Warren reminds me of one of my favorite movie scenes, one which offers a life lesson I've tried to keep in the forefront of my mind.
In "Ragtime," a film set in the early 1900s, the protagonist is a black man, Coalhouse Walker. Some racists, jealous that Walker drives a fancy car, leave a pile of dung on the car's fine upholstery. Furious, Walker goes to an African-American lawyer and asks him to sue the perpetrators. The attorney sympathizes with Walker, but shows him a thick stack of folders. The folders hold cases of racial injustice more horrible than Walker has experienced: widows put out of their homes, children forced into poverty. The attorney tells Walker he just doesn’t have time to help him with something that pales in comparison to these evils. He then begs Walker to channel his hurt and anger into something more constructive: work for me, he says, help me with this heavy load. Walker, however, refuses. He can't see beyond the personal injustice he's experienced. Thus begins the hero’s self-destructive spiral, a tragedy that destroys even the lives of people who love him.
Right now we have a nation -- indeed, a world -- descending into disaster on many fronts, largely because of George Bush and a failed political philosophy. But now some people want to brush aside the tragedies of war, starvation, and economic collapse, because of their anger over a preacher who wants to deny gays the use of the word "marriage" in their domestic partnerships. (This preacher will be counter-balanced by another one who supports gay rights, and also by a gay organzation which will participate in the inaugural parade.) Is Rick Warren's role in the inauguration an insult to some? Yes. But is there a stack of much greater injustices facing both heteros and gays right now? Most definitely.
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AMENDED DIARY ENTRY --
Great comments, overall. I do want to clarify something: I'm not suggesting that fighting for the right to marry isn't worthwhile. Rather, it's the fight over Rick Warren's role in the inauguration that I believe is the comparatively smaller issue that threatens to derail more important matters. Some folks have suggested this one issue is worth ignoring all others. Just as the lawyer in "Ragtime" wanted to focus his energy on fighting real hardships rather than insults, so I want to suggest we do the same.