Dr. Warren now Pro-Abortion!

Proof: He prayed at Obama's inauguration!

Ok, that's a little weak on the proof-o-meter. In fact, it doesn't prove anything at all. No one on the pro-abortion side thinks that Dr. Rick Warren is now the slightest bit more pro-abortion, pro-gay, or pro-anything else he was against yesterday, just because he gave the invocation at President Obama's inauguration. And there's no reason they should.

And there's no reason we should, either. Which is why I think this letter to Dr. Warren misses the mark. And misunderstands the nature of scandal. I could be wrong, and I am very open to correction or at least interesting discussion on this point, but it seems to me that people tend to give a little too much weight to symbolic communication, but not enough either to actual communication, or to actual ... well, action. I don't think we can say that Rev. Warren is morally complicit in anything Obama will ever do just by his presence at Obama’s inauguration. And the asserted scandalous symbolic message that he somehow supports Obama in some way is easily averted by actual, non-symbolic communication of his own views where they diverge from Obama’s.

Scandal, as I understand it in the Catholic tradition, comes about when people weak in the faith are too attached to a person or are too dependent on that person for their faith (as children are toward their parents), and that person does something that seems to represent or suggest a position outside the faith (like eating meat sacrificed to idols, or committing a public sin, or publicly advocating a specific sinful action), and it is likely those people will not find out or understand the person's real reason for being there (assuming they haven't actually left the Faith). Because if there was a good reason and the weak learned of it, the danger to their faith is now gone, right?

But if someone’s faithful views are already known, you can’t then cry scandal just b/c he associates with the bad guys in public. The nature of politics is maintaining relationships with people who disagree with you, even if those relationships are public. And we are called to work in the world as a leaven, as long as we do not allow ourselves interiorly (our intentions, etc.) to be of the world.

The lapsed in Augustine’s day weren’t condemned because they were merely present at a ceremony, but because they broke down and actually performed a ceremonial action specifically construed to communicate only one thing: that in their hearts they were willing to give to a man the worship due to God alone. So unless you honestly think Warren has changed his views and is now willing to be silent when it counts, e.g., when some abortion law comes up for a vote, then you are not experiencing scandal. Rather, you have created your own angst not through weak faith, but misinformed faith. (This makes it a problem of formation, not of weakness).