Why is Obama inviting Pharaoh to the Inauguration? And what happens when he arrives with his bat-brandishing charioteers? A lot. I wouldn't call it the silver lining exactly, but there's some virtue in getting Warren & Co. out into the open where the culture can see them clearly.
When it became apparent that Obama was likely the win the nomination, and possibly even the Presidency, my editor called to say that Doubleday had decided to bump the release date for my next book from Fall ’08 to Spring ’09. Because that book basically offers a blueprint for the detribalization of the Judeo-Christian God, effectively neutralizing the use of religion as a political or cultural weapon, the general feeling was that it was tailor-made for an Obama era. Now I think the book could end up being used against Obama instead.
I have so many reactions to the Warren choice, none of them positive. But for me the biggest revelation to come out of this whole debacle is also the simplest: namely, that Warren and his ilk don’t realize that they are bigots. Of course, the scriptures have long been used as a buffer against self-knowledge. Thinking that the Bible was necessary for the moral edification of slaves, landholders had it read to them—especially those rare parts that stressed staying put. Apparently it never occurred to them that the Torah itself (that’s your Pentateuch, Mr. Warren) was also essentially an early vintage Moveon manual for liberating slaves.
Warren & Co. don’t realize that they are bigots. They have no knowledge whatsoever of themselves as oppressors, and the significance of this fact, as bald and simple as it is, can’t be overestimated. What’s happening here is nothing short of a complete reeducation of God-fearing, church-going America. Now I’m just waiting for a gay Moses to part the waters and lead his people through the sea. You can bet on it that Warren and his folk will follow. They always do. When the waters rush back upon them, they’ll be shocked and surprised, because it’s never occurred to them for one instant that they’re Pharaoh in this scenario. They’ll feel like they are drowning at first (that’s what self-knowledge is like), but all they’ll have lost from the trip to the cleaner is a bit of hatred and rather large burden of misplaced fear.