Warren and Obama: Strange Bedfellows

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com/2008/12/21/warren-and-obama-strange-bedfellows/

[Culture Watch] 22 Dec 2008--It was recently announced that Barack Obama has asked megachurch pastor Rick Warren to pray at his inauguration. Warren has accepted the invitation to deliver the Inaugural Invocation. He released a press statement saying this:

“I commend President-elect Obama for his courage to willingly take enormous heat from his base by inviting someone like me, with whom he doesn’t agree on every issue, to offer the Invocation at his historic Inaugural ceremony. Hopefully individuals passionately expressing opinions from the left and the right will recognize that both of us have shown a commitment to model civility in America. The Bible admonishes us to pray for our leaders. I am honored by this opportunity to pray God’s blessing on the office of the President and its current and future inhabitant, asking the Lord to provide wisdom to America’s leaders during this critical time in our nation’s history.”

Given the decidedly anti-Christian positions Obama holds on many issues, including abortion and homosexuality, what is a Christian to make of all this? Should Warren have said no? In his defence, Warren mentions the biblical obligation to pray for our leaders.