Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church, was at the center of a hornet’s nest of controversy when he was invited to deliver the invocation at President Obama’s inauguration.

LGBT groups howled in protest, because of Warren’s public anti-gay statements. At the center of the controversy was this interview with Steve Waldman, the editor-in-chief of Beliefnet, where Warren expressed his sentiments about gays marrying:

WARREN: The issue to me, I’m not opposed to that [some partnership rights] as much as I’m opposed to redefinition of a 5,000 year definition of marriage. I’m opposed to having a brother and sister being together and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to an older guy marrying a child and calling that marriage. I’m opposed to one guy having multiple wives and calling that marriage.

BELIEFNET: Do you think those are equivalent to gays getting married?

WARREN: Oh , I do. For 5,000 years, marriage has been defined by every single culture and every single religion – this is not a Christian issue. Buddhist, Muslims, Jews – historically, marriage is a man and a woman.

Of course, no one in the LGBT community appreciated being likened to pedophiles, bigamists, or people committing incest, which wasn’t just an interpretation of what he said, it’s what he said.

Now, in an interview with Christianity Today, Warren talks about the backlash against his invitation to participate in the inauguration, and slips and slides around, parsing his language. Here’s his take on the interview exchange above:

In a Beliefnet interview, which was an hour long, Steve Waldman asked me about gay marriage. I said I believe marriage, that term, should be reserved for a man and a woman. I’m not saying same-sex couples don’t love each other. I gave some examples of what I think shouldn’t be considered to be marriage, like an older guy with a younger woman. Then [Waldman] said, “Are you saying that those are the same thing?” I said, “Oh sure.” It made it sound like I was equating homosexuality with pedophilia and incest. I don’t believe it, never have, and never would.

And just to futher confuse things, here’s Warren on Larry King Live a couple of nights ago, claiming he’s not against gay marriage:

However, just before the election, he made this video for his congregation, endorsing Proposition 8:

(Side note to Rick – next time, sit farther away from the camera, please.)

Will the real Rick Warren please stand up?

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