Rev. Rick Warren is being criticized
for saying he has many gay friends.
The 58-year-old Warren is the founder
and senior pastor of the Lake Forest, California-based megachurch
Saddleback Church – the eighth-largest church in the United States
– and the author of the best-selling book The Purpose Driven
Life.
As part of a media tour to promote an
updated edition of his book, Warren told The Huffington Post
that he's not homophobic because “I have many, many gay friends.”
The statement drew the ire of pastor
Kevin Swanson and Dave Buehner, co-hosts of Generations Radio.
“I don't say, 'I have many, many gay
friends,'” Swanson
said. “It's almost like saying, 'I have many, many gay
fornicators;' 'I have many, many gay liar friends;' it's just
craziness. I just interviewed this guy who goes into maximum
security prisons and he interviews serial killers and I appreciate
this guy, he's actually had an opportunity to talk to a number of
them and he says some twenty-five percent of them actually do repent
he thinks, and it's wonderful to see their lives turn around. So I
mean, you know, what does this guy say: 'I have many, many serial
killer friends.' I don't think he says that, he doesn't say that. I
think he says, 'it's a shameful thing to be a serial killer.' You
wouldn't want to wear that on a t-shirt, you wouldn't want to say 'I
have many, many friends who kill people.'”
“'I have many, many cannibal
friends,'” Buehner said. “'I have many, many molester friends.'
Just pick the abomination.”
“You just don't want to wear that on
a shirt,” Swanson noted.
“'Many of my friends are wife
beaters,'” Buehner added. “Would I say that?”