Obama and the Pastor (no, not that one)

So, I was just reading this article on AOL:

[headline] Obama's Pick for Invocation Under Fire
[first graph] In a move that's infuriated some rights activists and other supporters, President-elect Barack Obama has chosen an evangelical minister opposed to same-sex marriage to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

Has it really come to this? Already? "Activists" are up in arms because someone (a minister) with a point-of-view with which they disagree is going to say a prayer at Obama's inauguration. Really?

I voted for Mr. Obama because I believed him to be thoughtful, balanced, fair and bi-partisan to a certain extent. This choice--as well as a few of his cabinet choices--bolsters my belief in his sense of wanting to include people from all walks of life in his administration, his inner-circle and his contacts in general.

We voted for "change," right? I suppose we could have elected a Democrat who did nothing but toe the party line, but isn't that what we've done for generations up till now? I'm probably not a fan of Pastor Warren (I'm a Catholic Democrat after all) but I'm open to the idea of listening to him and others with different points of view. And I'm open to supporting a new President who will think and behave differently than our previous leaders. He'll make mistakes to be sure; but if he didn't, he wouldn't be trying very hard.

What's the worst that could happen if we listen to a prayer delivered by a pastor who's very popular (apparently) with a bunch of folks? So what if he supported Prop 8? It doesn't mean that Mr. Obama supports Prop 8 or anything like it. It just means he chose a popular pastor to deliver a prayer.

By the way, I can't recall listening to a single pastor, minister or priest with whom I've agreed on every single thing. In fact, I'd guess that I disagree with most pastors/ministers/priests on a lot of very basic, everyday things. And let's face it: These guys (most of them are guys) would be out of business fast if they delivered only the sermons or homilies that people wanted to hear.

But I digress ...

Do we really want another president with a "with-us-or-against-us" attitude on every single thing? I don't.