Open Letter To Pastor Rick Warren

Pastor Rick Warren
Saddleback Church
1 Saddleback Parkway
Lake Forest, CA 92630

Dear Mr. Warren:

I'm writing you today regarding your recent efforts concerning the AIDS crisis in America and around the world. You have certainly done a good job of getting publicity for your efforts. I saw you and your wife Kay on CNN explaining why you were jumping in to the AIDS cause, and something she said struck me. At one point during the interview she mentioned that for too long the evangelical community has been "absent from the debate" about HIV/AIDS. I believe you need to speak with your wife about her revisionist history. If you remember back to the beginnings of the AIDS epidemic, one thing that evangelicals were not was "absent" from the debate. Silence on the issue is what Ronald Reagan gave us. What the evangelical community gave us was so very much worse. Not only did many evangelical leaders state their happiness that gays were dying, but most claimed that it was God's punishment for being a homosexual. A few choice comments:

AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. To oppose it would be like an Israelite jumping in the Red Sea to save one of Pharaoh's charioteers . . . AIDS is not just God's punishment for homosexuals; it is God's punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals. (Jerry Falwell)

[Homosexuals] want to come into churches and disrupt church services and throw blood all around and try to give people AIDS and spit in the face of ministers. (Pat Robertson)

There are many more like that, as I'm sure you know, but you see my point. The fact is, rather than being "absent" from the debate about AIDS, evangelical leaders have been very vocal over the years spreading their vile bigotry toward the homosexual community. Your wife's claim about absence from the issue is either ignorance of history, or worse, a conscious downplaying of past actions from the evangelicals in this country.

I point this out not to shame you or others in the evangelical community. You have your opinions and are entitled to them. No, I'm writing to you to ask you to please stop. If you wish to do some good for the AIDS community just give established organizations your money. It is too late for you to take on a leadership role in this issue. You made your decision years ago to ignore the pain and suffering of these victims of disease. There are wonderful organizations who have been fighting this fight from day one, they are the ones you should be supporting. What good do you possibly think you can do anyway? Will you teach scientifically proven safe sex to help stop the spread of HIV? Will there be condom distribution at Saddleback sponsored events? I would guess that abstinence education is the only kind you'll consider. Which works about as well as "just say no" did for drugs. What about needle exchange programs? They have shown to help stop the spread of the virus, but will you offer your church as a place for addicts to get clean needles? What about your teachings on homosexuality? I noticed that your conference had a program entitled "How to love homosexuals as Jesus would." I would hazard a guess that this program did not call for the support of the rights of homosexuals to marry and raise children. Like most evangelicals I'm sure you are teaching that homosexuality is a sin, but that we should,"love the sinner and hate the sin." And it is this reason, more than any other, that I request that you get out of the HIV/AIDS game. It is this kind of teaching that causes so much harm. It is exactly this bigotry that caused the epidemic to be ignored in the beginning, because it was only "fags", lesser people than us that were dying. Until you are ready to stop teaching that homosexuality is a sin and/or a disease, you are just teaching hate and intolerance. Smiling and wearing a colorful shirt while you call gay people sinners doesn't make you any better than Fred Phelps holding up signs with the message "God Hates Fags" at Matthew Shepard's funeral.

You want a cause to get involved in? Why don't you preach to the world the evils of the blood diamond industry that your fellow evangelical Pat Robertson makes millions on? Leave the AIDS work to the activists and health care workers who have been there from the beginning and can dispense real solutions (and condoms) in non-judgmental settings.

I know your natural reaction to this letter will be to write me off as an angry gay or something, so let me make sure we are clear. I am a happily married straight man. While I have spent much of my time around gay people in my adult life, I have never felt the inclination to turn gay, nor have any of my gay friends tried to recruit me. Despite what you evangelicals think, they don't actually try to do that. One friend has had a particularly profound impact on my life as a teacher and mentor. He has been there for me in ways my family never was. I can always count on him for advice or a shoulder to cry on. And guidance. And understanding. He has always encouraged me to be myself and have faith in myself. A college professor who gives most of his time to his students and always has a project underway, yet he somehow has found a way over the years to raise thousands of dollars for AIDS charities and work as a tireless volunteer for projects like The AIDS Memorial Quilt. When you call gay people sinners or claim that what they are is an abomination, I take it personally. That's my family you're attacking.

So please, go away. I realize that, 25 years in to the epidemic, enough straight, white people have died for this to become a safe cause for you to champion now. But people infected with HIV should not be pawns in the push to publicize your church or to sell more of your books. Even worse, you are using sick people to push your homophobic agenda. I don't need a bible to tell me that's just wrong.

Sincerely,

Out Of Tune
Boston, MA

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