The last time we heard form our friend Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor Obama invited to give the swearing in at the inaugural, Warren was claiming that he never compared gay marriage to pedophilia and incest. Uh huh. Well, Warren went on Larry King, and the lies were flying. Even more so than last time. I think Mr. Warren is hurting from having his homophobia exposed. Though I’m not sure a religious “leader” should be resorting to lying in order to clear his record.

First, Warren told King that he never compared gay marriage to incest and pedophilia:

I was asked a question that made it sound like I equated gay marriage with pedophilia or incest, which I absolutely do not believe.

Yeah, THE QUESTION sounded like Warren was equating them. Let me share with you THE QUESTION, and then Warren’s answer

Steven Waldman: One controversial moment for you in the last election was your support for Proposition 8 in California. Rick Warren: Eight, yeah, yeah. Steven Waldman: A couple questions about that. First, just to clarify, do you support civil unions or domestic partnerships? Rick Warren: [long answer about civil unions] Steven Waldman: What about like partnership benefits in terms of insurance or hospital visitation? Rick Warren: Not a problem to me. But the issue to me is, I’m not opposed to that as much as I’m opposed to the redefinition of a 5,000-year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister be together and call that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that a marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage. Steven Waldman: Do you think, though, that they are equivalent to having gays getting married?



Rick Warren: Oh I do.

Yeah, did you catch how the QUESTION tried to TRICK Rick Warren into equating gay marriage with pedophilia and incest? The question was so tricky, in fact, that the questioner never even vaguely mentioned incest or pedophilia until Warren himself brought it up, and shocked, the questioner asked, do you really believe that they (incest and pedophilia) are equivalent to gays getting married – and Warren responded “Oh I do.”

So Rick Warren is now lying, again about the details of an interview that any of you can watch yourselves online.

But it gets better. Warren also is now claiming that he was never an anti-gay-marriage activist, and in fact, the only statement he ever made about Prop 8 was to send a “note” to his congregation:

I never once went to a meeting, I never once issued a statement, I never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going. The week before the vote, somebody in my church said, ‘Pastor Rick, what do you think about this?’ And I sent a note to my own members that I actually believe that marriage is really should be defined, that definition should be say between a man and a woman, and then all of a sudden out of it they made me something that I really wasn’t.

In fact, Warren didn’t just sent some words on a “note” to his parishioners. He created a public video message urging people in California to vote for Prop 8. And again, surprise, heres the video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7o4QqGbQmU0]

And in the video – which is clearly not just a “note” – it’s clear that Warren isn’t responding to some question, or giving a generic answer to his views on gay marriage. The video is about Prop 8, Warren brought Prop 8 up all on his own (there was no “question” he was responding to), and he decided to use the very public video to urge Californians to vote for Prop 8. That makes you an anti-gay-marriage activist, Rick. It also makes you a huge liar.

So why did Rick Warren outright lie – again – twice – on Larry King about what he has said and done on gay issues? That’s between Rick Warren and his God. Whoever that God is. Because if Rick Warren were worshipping my God, my Lord wouldn’t be very happy about one of his “leaders” outright lying, twice, to millions of Americans during Holy Week.