Obama gets it. Other Liberals don't.

The newest skirmish in the "culture war" flared up after President-elect Obama's team announced that evangelical mega-church pastor and best selling author, Rick Warren, would offer a prayer at the inauguration.

The controversy surrounds Mr. Warren's public opposition to gay marriage and his support of a constitutional ban on that practice in California:

[H]is role has angered gay rights campaigners, particularly since Warren supported California's controversial Proposition 8, which voters approved in November and defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman - effectively banning gay marriage even though it has previously been legal in the state.

The president of the gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, Joe Solmonese, wrote to Obama saying: "By inviting Rick Warren to your inauguration, you have tarnished the view that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Americans have a place at your table."

This isn't the only group to have criticized Mr. Obama's selection of Mr. Warren. The story is all over the news and, according to those stories, lots of left wing groups have expressed displeasure on this matter.

Of course none of the critics have bothered to talk about Rick Warren's work on AIDS. Here's just one of many articles on his ministry to AIDS-afflicted people.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/religion/post/2008/12/59295588/1

In my view, President-elect Obama got it right in his response:

Obama responded to the furore at his press conference saying: "It is no secret that I am a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans...It's important for America to come together, even though we may have disagreements on certain social issues."

Liberal activists: just because your candidate for President won does not mean you are only the folks welcome to the table. For years, those of you on the left have bemoaned that the United States is not an inclusive place, that people are excluded from the rights and benefits of this country on the basis of race, nationality, religion and sexual preference (and that has been true in many ways.)

No doubt, you miss the irony of calling for the exclusion from President-elect Obama's inauguration of a person who has a different worldview from yours. Those that have cried the loudest about being excluded would love nothing more than to exclude so-called evangelicals from participation in the celebration of Mr. Obama's election for no other reason than they disagree with evangelicals.

You really don't want inclusion. You don't want a nation in which all can participate. You want everyone in this country to say, "Hey, whatever you want to do, however you want to live, that's fine by me."

Expecting -- demanding -- others not to agree with you, and then trying to prvent them from participating in certain events when they do not, is textbook intolerance. Spare me your speeches about tolerance because you don't practice. In fact, you don't even believe in it.

I'm not the a big fan of President-elect Obama. He says all the right things, though, on issues like this. We are all Americans. Somehow, someway, we have to find unity. When there cannot be unity of opinion or belief, at least we can agree to live and let live.

Proud yet gravely concerned

I did not support Barack Obama and I've never made that a secret. I am disappointed that he will be our next President, not because I do not like him as a person and certainly not because of the color of his skin. I disagree with his proposed policies -- his platform -- and fear his lack of experience.

That said, some part of me is delighted that he was elected. The older I get and the more I learn about America's past racial sins, the more I understand the pain, frustration, suspicion and anger of minorities in our country, most notably African-Americans. For good reason, many of our black brothers and sisters never believed they would see this day. Rightly, the felt that America did not have it within her to elect a black man to the highest office of the land, the most powerful man in the world.

With them I celebrate this victory. It proves, yet again, what many of us have been saying for years. In the United States a man or woman should be, and most often is, judged by his or her character and ability, not by the color of his or her skin. Anyone who thinks that is not true must now explain how scores of millions of white men and women elected an African-American to the presidency.

Is racism dead in America? I think institutional racism is dead and has been for some time. Are bigotry and prejudice dead? No. Sadly, they never will be. There will always be someone who hates another because of his religion or ethnic background. But the fact that millions of Americans elected an African-American, of Muslim ancestry, to the White House suggests that bigotry has been pushed off into the corners and recesses of our society.

As please as I am about all that, I have concerns, serious concerns. Obama and the Democratic Congress want America to look like Europe or Canada. We are headed to an expansion of socialist policies and programs not seen since Lyndon Johnson's Great Society. And that makes me squeamish. I also fear that Obama will change the face of the Supreme Court for decades to come. Legislating from the bench and overturning centuries of traditions and values will become the Court's trademarks post Obama.

This is a constitutional republic. The people have spoken. Nay they have shouted! I stand by that. I pray God's blessing on President Elect Obama and all the men and women who will take positions within his government. May the Lord guide and protect them from harm.