Although he initially refused to condemn the draconian anti-gay bill before the Ugandan parliament, last week on http://www.rickwarren.com, Warren issued a "Letter to Uganda's Pastors" that denounced the bill. Warren's letter also contained a bizarre appendix in which Warren protested that he and C. Peter Wagner were not "conspiring to rid the world of homosexuals" and lied both about a 2008 press release from his own publicist that announced the launch of a Purpose Driven program in Uganda. Warren also denied that Wagner was Warren's dissertation advisor. Here are screen shots of Warren's dissertation to demonstrate that Warren's claim is false.

In the same appendix Warren went on to state:

the event chronicled at Angels Stadium in 2005 has been grossly misrepresented.  I was simply arguing that Christians could have a tremendous effect for good in the world if they had the same dedication as the followers of Mao.  I would never argue that anyone should emulate or espouse the views of Mao, Hitler or Lenin.

Rick Warren appeared to be complaining of my coverage of his stadium speech, which I've mentioned in a number of stories and publicized through 2 YouTube videos [1,2]. In the 2005 Anaheim stadium speech, Warren suggested to his audience that if they were as devoted to Jesus as the followers of Hitler, Lenin, and Mao were to their respective leaders, Christians could achieve world control. Warren then encouraged his stadium crowd, estimated at 20 to 30 thousand, to hold up, in unison, pre-printed identical signs that read "whatever it takes."  

In short, Rick Warren is on the defensive and if he does not now pull his official "Purpose Driven" seal of approval from Rwanda, reasonable observers will draw the conclusion that high on the "Purpose Driven" agenda, whether Warren chooses to state it openly or not, is the elimination of gays from society... by any means. Are other societal groups in Warren's Purpose Driven nations also slated for "Purpose Driven" eradication ? : Jews ? Muslims ? Atheists ? Liberals ? Union organizers ?

And besides the threat of Purpose Driven genocide, there are other issues at stake. Uganda was once celebrated worldwide for its dramatic success in bringing Uganda's HIV/AIDS infection rate down through a government effort that promoted marital fidelity and abstinence but also flooded the nation with cheap condoms.

But as American evangelicals such as Rick Warren swept into the nation in the early part of the decade, the Bush Administration turned on the spigot of PEPFAR money with a significant percentage of the funding mandated to go to abstinence-only efforts (such as a program run by Warren's former Ugandan sidekick and anti-gay rights activist Martin Ssempa). In response, the Ugandan government abruptly changed its approach. Condoms disappeared from clinics, and billboards advocating abstinence-only became omnipresent. And, the HIV/AIDS rate started to rise. Now, by some accounts, the epidemic is back in force, and Rick Warren bears some of the blame.

If this were Dickens' "A Christmas Carl," Tiny Tim might be in leg shackles, with Rick Warren yanking the chain.

Ho, ho, ho from Merry Pastor Rick.