Rick Warren & the Obama inauguration

Last month’s announcement that the Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., will deliver the invocation at Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration drew anger and outrage.

Warren is a reactionary evangelical minister who proselytizes against lesbian/gay/bi/trans rights and women’s right to reproductive freedom. This past fall he made a series of vile anti-gay statements to support California’s Proposition 8, which outlaws same-sex marriage. Yet Warren also styles himself as an advocate of “social justice.” This is pure posturing.

Warren’s “activism” is a cynical, calculated effort to sow division among oppressed communities, to pit against each other groups that are in fact natural allies in the struggle for justice and liberation.

So the disappointment at Warren’s role in the inauguration ceremony is understandable. The Obama election was a watershed moment in U.S. history because it represented a breakthrough in the struggle against racism. The inauguration will signal a step forward in this centuries-long struggle. There is enormous hope among the masses that the Obama presidency will turn away from both politics as usual and the horrid policies of the Bush administration.

It’s worth remembering, though, that as a candidate Barack Obama stressed that he would listen to “all sides,” include all viewpoints within the spectrum of conventional bourgeois politics, in his administration. His selection of Warren to lead the inaugural prayer is consistent with this stance. So is the fact that the Rev. Joseph Lowery, the longtime civil-rights leader who, unlike Warren, is a firm supporter of LGBT rights, will also have a role, albeit a lesser one, delivering the benediction.

Why is there an invocation anyway? Whatever happened to the separation of church and state? Well, anyone who’s looked at a dollar bill or attended a session of Congress or sat in any courtroom knows the answer to that. When it comes to inaugural preachers, Warren is by no means the worst of the lot. A whole lineup of presidents including Bill Clinton chose Billy Graham, an ultrareactionary who managed to maintain a respectable veneer despite, among other things, being caught on tape spewing anti-Semitism.

Once he takes the oath of office, President Obama’s job will be to lead the imperialist state. When this reality hits home, there will be new challenges for progressive activists. As for the choice of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation, the best to be gleaned from it is a reminder, a lesson for all of us who dream of a world free of racism, imperialist war, sexism, LGBT oppression, exploitation: The only way to create that world is through the class struggle. We can’t rely on politicians to wage that struggle for us. No one but we, the workers and oppressed, can do it. Let’s get on with it.