It's been a 5 days now since I wrote Mr. Rick Warren

My epistle to Mr. Warren:

Dear Mr. Warren,

The gays point out, accurately, in my view, that one would not invoke "civility" to have a Nazi give an invocation and then provide "balance" with a rabbi giving a benediction. As a Buddhist and a scientist I, too, am deeply troubled by your selection to give an invocation at the inauguration. I have seen you espouse your views, and even if you are doing charitable work, would not your invocation be giving tacit approval to the morally unsavory aspects of your "ministry" ? And please, please do not blaspheme by claiming somehow it's a deity talking and not you. And make no mistake about it when I say "morally unsavory": in your "news and views" segments a heck of a lot of ego comes through, and very little loving-kindness.

I will not tell you to reconsider your presence at the inauguration, but I will ask you to realize that there are people to whom you cannot impose your limited moral views, just as I cannot impose mine. Above all such morality as received by "revelation" cannot be legislated.

I will note in closing that your church's website, like many "evangelical" websites does not represent Buddhism accurately. If civility requires anything, it requires honesty, even if, as Dietrich Bonhoeffer noted, it does not require candor. Please reconsider how your church represents other religious and non-religious views.

Sincerely,

It was never about just the gays; take for example, this "sermon", in which some invited speaker purports to teach Warren's "flock" about "cults and other world religions."

Whenever you see conservative "Evangelical" "apologetics" it basically means "lies about other religions."

The guy on that link goes on and on about "what Hindus believe" and "what Buddhists believe," and most of it is simply false. Including "idol worship."

For the record, this Buddhist is not a "pantheist," because it's a category mistake to attribute deity-ness to anything, as far as I'm concerned. This guy is no more an expert on what Buddhists "believe" than he is an expert in stochastic processes. And people pay him for this.