Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, Calif., has been accused in Internet reports of backing off on his support for last fall’s California marriage amendment.
Various reports say Warren apologized to homosexual friends for his support of the amendment, popularly known as Proposition (Prop.) 8, and said he now claims he never endorsed the ballot measure, when, in fact, he did.
During an April 6 interview on CNN’s “Larry King Live” talk show, Warren said, “During the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once issued a statement, never — never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop. 8 was going.”
One of Warren’s critics, however, produced a transcript of remarks they say Warren made to his congregation two weeks before the vote on Prop. 8. That transcript quotes Warren as saying, “Now let me say this really clearly: We support Proposition 8 — and if you believe what the Bible says about marriage, you need to support Proposition 8. I never support a candidate, but on moral issues, I come out very clear.”
One Warren critic said that amounted to Warren “abdicating his biblical role as pastor.”
But Warren told King he drew a distinction between endorsing the marriage amendment to his congregation and publicly campaigning for the ballot initiative. When King asked if Warren encouraged his congregation to vote for Prop. 8, Warren replied, “Yes. I just never campaigned.”
Warren also told King he is not “an anti-gay or anti-gay ‘marriage’ activist.” When King then asked whether that meant Warren would not criticize or comment on the recent Iowa court decision to permit gay “marriage,” Warren said, “That’s not even my agenda.”
Responding to critics’ charges that he apologized to homosexual friends for his support of the amendment, Warren told King that he apologized to homosexual acquaintances because his support for Prop. 8 resulted in homosexual activists saying he equated “gay marriage” with pedophilia and incest.
“There were a number of things that were put out. I wrote to all my gay friends — the leaders that I knew — and actually apologized to them,” Warren said. “I was asked a question that made it sound like I equated gay ‘marriage’ with pedophilia or incest, which I absolutely do not believe. And I actually announced that. All of the criticism came from people who didn’t know me.” (BP)
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