Pastor Warren’s foreign policy ideas are equally disturbing (and unmentioned)

by on January 8, 2009 1

Steve Walt's new blog points out that Rick Warren is not just scary about gays, but about Ahmadinejad: 

Appearing on Fox News on December 3, Warren openly endorsed host Sean Hannity's declaration that "we need to take him [Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad] out." As one might expect, Warren invoked the Bible as his justification, saying that it says that "evil cannot be negotiated with. It has to just be stopped....The Bible says that God puts government on earth to punish evildoers."

I'm all for inclusiveness, but this bit of foreign policy advice is more than a little disturbing... I agree that some of Ahmadinejad's public statements are deeply offensive, ignorant, and stupid, but what exactly is the "evil" he has committed that warrants our "taking him out?"

There is in fact a well-established norm against the assassination of foreign leaders -- including all-time "evildoers" like Stalin, Mao, Hitler, Pol Pot, and the like -- and good reasons to keep that norm intact. Indeed, given recent American behavior, this is one Pandora's Box we do not want to open

Important distinction there, between offensive statements and evil. And why hasn't anyone objected to this part of Warren's agenda? Walt, it's the Israel lobby...

About Philip Weiss

Philip Weiss is Founder and Co-Editor of Mondoweiss.net.
Posted in Beyondoweiss, Iran, US Policy in the Middle East, US Politics

{ 1 comment... read it below or add one }

  1. LeaNder says:
    January 8, 2009 at 11:34 am

    It's not really new to me now to see a pastor with hawkish views or whatever priest choosing citations out of context to support his warrior views. I watched many, many of these peculiar ideologues on the net in post 911 times and strictly it is not a new phenomenon either.

    BUT that Obama's people choose this guy for the inauguration is a really, really bad omen. Sorry, cockeyed optimist.

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