“[Y]ou will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.” Jesus, in Matthew 10:22-23

I’m going to give evangelical pastor Louie Giglio a lot of slack. After all, what would you have done had you been threatened with public shaming, humiliation, vitriol, and, no doubt, inevitable threats to your life and limbs made by opportunistic sociopaths?

Pastor Louie Giglio of Atlanta’s new Passion City Church and a graduate of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, was invited to offer the benedictory prayer at the January 21 second inaugural ceremony for President Barack Obama. Then, almost as soon as the announced engagement was made public by the official Inaugural Committee, Pastor Giglio issued a statement saying he had withdrawn from the program, explaining his prayer would be overshadowed by the discovery of a more than decade-old sermon he had preached calling homosexuality a sin.

Now, I don’t know Louie Giglio and I’m not privy to the exact details of what transpired, but I’ve been in Washington for 18 years. I’ve been through three presidential administrations–have met those three presidents–and I know plenty of people that have worked in presidential inner circles. I also know about the politics of inaugural committees.

Pastor Giglio was already inside the Obama circle when he was invited to this event. Obviously, the presidential handlers thought he either deserved thanks for something he had done for them, or, he could make the President look good. As I understand it, the Pastor had taken part in some of the meetings of clergy that the White House has hosted over the last few years. (It may come as a surprise to you, but President Obama has actually hosted more gatherings of pastors than his predecessor, George W. Bush, did while in office.) Pastor Giglio was not only among those that ministered in one way or another to President Obama, but he was admired for his work on ending human trafficking. Knowing how things work in the rare air of White House pastoral calls, I have no doubt President Obama and his handlers genuinely liked Pastor Giglio. In my analysis, they only came to dislike him after some of their most ardent and valuable supporters, namely gay activist groups, registered displeasure with the Inaugural Committee’s pick.

Alright, what I’m about to say may upset you, so, if you’re looking for a feel-good moment, quit reading now. Otherwise, take a deep breath, squint your eyes, and read this–but I ask you to give me some slack now:

I don’t think Barack Obama is a big fan of things “gay.” I know . . . many will disagree with me. I just think the President sees gays the way he sees Christians: as yet another politically useful group. For the President, embracing gays is just cynical politics. In reference to his re-election, gays were an indispensable group. He needed their energy, their money, and their time and talent. He got it all when he made his somewhat sheepish announcement that his view on same-sex marriage had changed and he would endorse it. That’s when all the gay political and activist groups came fully aboard. Like any president learns, though, the people who propel you to the top can also slam you to the bottom.

The next development in this drama was probably when the White House took some calls from high-level gay political operatives protesting the selection of Giglio. Deciding there was no way the Obama White House could afford to infuriate such important patrons, I can imagine a call was made from the White House to the Inaugural Committee, which then in turn called Giglio. The latter call probably went something like this:

Pastor, you know how much the President admires your work on human trafficking, but we have a problem. Apparently some people are upset about a sermon you preached issuing your opinion on gays. As you can imagine, this is a big problem that threatens to overshadow your good work and this administration’s commitment to inclusiveness. That leaves us all in a bad spot, and we’d hate for that to negatively affect you. The best thing you can do for yourself and your ministry is to remove that possibility. Do you understand what I’m getting at Pastor?

Read all of that, If you know what’s good for you, you’ll spare the President any further embarrassment and withdraw.The implication being, If you want to preserve any access to the White House, Pastor, back off. Now.

I could be wrong about all this, and I’d love someone to set me straight, but this is how I know the game is played. If I’m right, and Pastor Giglio was led to believe he would be kept in the President’s company if he was a good soldier and fell on his sword, he can forget it. Pardon my vulgarity, but Pastor Giglio is now on the White House poop list. How do I know? Because I’m on the same list! That’s a another story too long to tell, but I know of what I speak. Washington–and presidential Washington in particular–is a rough place. The games played here are the modern-day equivalent to the ancient Roman blood sports. If you’re going to climb into the arena, be prepared to be at least maimed, if not obliterated.

The dis-invitation of Pastor Giglio was a clumsy, awkward, and rakish way for the President’s people to deal with the profoundly complex matter of what to do when popular culture clashes with the wisdom of the ages and with religious revelation. That agonizing question will not be resolved in this instance. Unfortunately, President Obama has staked his claim on the territory occupied not by the religiously faithful, but, instead, by those who oppose historic Christianity. These are the groups that wish to ban the morality of the ancients from the public square. This exclusion encompasses a lot of people. Not only do observant Jews, Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Amish, and other Biblical believers adhere to the same moral theology that Pastor Giglio espoused in his offending sermon, but Mormons, Muslims, and many other religious believers do as well.

The President’s exile of Louie Giglio creates a big problem for him. In order to be “inclusive,” President Obama had to become “exclusive.” That nuance will be lost on most people, but those of us who do see it need to call out the President on this. The segment of Americans that the Obama culture just threw under the bus with Pastor Giglio represents far more than the 47% Mr. Romney dissed during his campaign.

Louie Giglio probably did the best he could in this prickly circumstance. Again, pardon my language, but he was damned if he did and damned if he didn’t. Pastor Giglio is definitely on the outside now, but had he stood his ground and forced the committee to officially cut him from the program, he would have been reeeeelllllyyyyyyy on the outside.

Of much greater importance to me than the loss of Louie Giglio to the Inaugural program is the message this incident sends to the country: If you’re a faithful Jew, a faithful Christian, or even a faithful Mormon or Muslim, you are of no value to the Obama Administration.

The White House may not have intended this incident to be an invitation–but it is–for all of the above named to respond to the President’s message with a plea for clarification: Mr. President, are you inclusive enough to include us? Or are you only exclusively inclusive?

Let the conversation begin . . .

Rob +

PS: I’m very curious about what will happen should the White House and the Inaugural Committee discover that Jim Cymbala, the famous pastor to their featured musical guests, the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, lumps together homosexuals with junkies and prostitutes in an article published just two years ago!* Will they mete out similar punishment? My guess: No. Why? Because the very powerful New York senator, Charles Schumer, brought the choir to the table. Case closed.