SAY WHAT? Pastor Rick Warren Is Drowning In His Own Words

On Sunday morning, ABC’s George Stephanpoulos and the staff at “This Week” were left scrambling, when Pastor Rick Warren cancelled his scheduled appearance moments before air time. Warren’s official excuse was that he was “sick with exhaustion.” It can be exhausting keeping your stories straight, especially on issues that your exceedingly loyal parishioners feel strongly about.

Warren, who founded the Saddleback Church 30 years ago, claims the church is one of the largest multi-site mega-churches in the country. It is, by all reports, founded on tenets of traditional conservatism. In the inevitable cross-pollination that happens these days between evangelical dogmatism and hot button political issues, Warren has come forward more than once with his views on gay marriage. Unfortunately, every time he speaks of gay marriage, he peppers the statements with his work with AIDS groups. Why is it, I wonder, that a smart man like Warren cannot understand that these are individual, starkly different issues? And why is it that Rick Warren blatantly contradicts himself on his views of gay marriage?

Here is what Warren said about gay marriage before the vote in California on Proposition 8, which essentially banned gay marriage:

Warren left no doubt in the minds of those who heard his statement. Oddly, a few nights ago on Larry King, Warren had this to say about gay marriage:

In fairness, Warren should not be pigeonholed on one cultural issue. He has spoken out on many issues, and he has led the charge on some important work in his career. But he is clearly in the hot seat right now on the cultural shifts regarding gay marriage, and in at least one of the statements you just heard in these videos he is not being truthful. Based on Warren’s historical anti-gay marriage stance, it would appear he was less than honest with Larry King.