Pulpit Fiction

It's Monday. I have work.

Last night, I watched a pre-recorded Meet The Press on which David Gregory interviews Pastor Rick Warren. I got so angry I fast-forwarded through most of the interview. What set me off was how he did not answer Gregory's question [paraphrasing]: Will you campaign for prop 8 again, knowing now what you do about AIDS through your charity work? Warren's response sounded rehearsed. He said [paraphrasing]"I'm not a politician. I'm a pastor, and my job is to love everybody.

Pastor Rick continued saying that he has been very clear about his spiritual stand on homosexuality. Chirp! Chirp! Chirp! Mr. Gregory rolled some footage of his stand against the sin of homosexuality from his powerful pulpit that speaks to tens of thousands every Sunday. I just couldn't stomach anymore.

Ms. Bauer, in Not That Kind of Girl, believes in God and arms herself with a message from her Catholic priest that sinning makes us appreciate the grace. At this point in the story she is a 23 year-old assistant, sleeping in a window in Carroll Gardens. She has yet to loose her virginal faith in God but would she have been able to stomach Rick Warren? Her faith in a God is not vengeful but merciful, not bigoted but accepting.

Her ability to love God and live in the world is challenging to me. She has given up on the idea of finding a place to worship and continues to believe in destiny. Her book is beginning to read a bit like a Christian novels teenagers advocating abstinence, thinking for yourself, and staying true to your inner faith. Despite this underlying message, I am enjoying it.

Now to work. Sad face.