January 7, 2009: Rick Warren: women have no “right” to divorce abusive husbands
For Immediate Release
January 7, 2009
Contact: Amy Siskind
NewAgendaPress@yahoo.com
(484) 844-2996
Rick Warren: women have no “right” to divorce abusive husbands
Teachings on domestic violence demonstrate Warren is the wrong choice for Inauguration honor
The New Agenda calls upon President-Elect Obama to withdraw his selection of controversial pastor Rick Warren in light of his dangerous advice to battered women.
“Victims of domestic abuse are frequently alienated by their friends and family when they gather the courage to seek help. By instructing victims of abuse to go back to their abuser, Rick Warren is taking away another important form of support: their religion,” said Amy Siskind, co-founder of The New Agenda.
Warren, Obama’s choice to deliver the Inaugural Invocation, teaches his parishioners that “God hates divorce” and that the Bible says physical abuse is no excuse for getting a divorce.
“If you are in this kind of a situation, I strongly recommend that you take advantage of our lay counseling ministry,” Warren says in an audio clip on the page Questions and Answers on the Bible in the Saddleback Family website. “Go in and talk to someone and let them minister to you.”
The New Agenda expressed dismay in Obama’s choice at a time when our country is in the midst of a crisis of violence against women. As reported recently by Human Rights Watch, a new government reports shows a 42 percent increase in reported domestic violence and a 25 percent increase in the reported incidence of rape and sexual assault over a two-year period (2005-2007). In 2007, at least 248,300 individuals reported being raped or sexually assaulted in 2007, up from 190,600 in 2005.
Siskind said comments and feedback reflected on The New Agenda Web site, e-mail box, and radio show demonstrate the outrage many women and men feel about the selection of Warren.
The New Agenda co-founder Nina Miller added: “We are concerned that Warren’s dangerous comments about domestic abuse have largely been ignored and will only be ratified in homes across America and used to perpetuate even more violence against women. If President-elect Obama is concerned about women’s safety, he will revoke this historic privilege and give it to someone with more productive, healing, unifying messages for our nation.”
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