So Rick Warren, the pastor-turned-celebrity who seems to be replacing Billy Graham as Rev. Icon, will give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration.

It’s a choice that will be analyzed to death.

Many will say, no doubt, that Obama’s selection of Warren instead of a classically liberal minister signals that he will indeed try to present himself as a centrist.

And, hey, Warren has a HUGE following.

Liberal standard-bearer People for the American Way is already blasting Obama’s choice:

Pastor Warren, while enjoying a reputation as a moderate based on his affable personality and his church’s engagement on issues like AIDS in Africa, has said that the real difference between James Dobson and himself is one of tone rather than substance. He has recently compared marriage by loving and committed same-sex couples to incest and pedophilia. He has repeated the Religious Right’s big lie that supporters of equality for gay Americans are out to silence pastors. He has called Christians who advance a social gospel Marxists. He is adamantly opposed to women having a legal right to choose an abortion.

The headline is Rick Warren’s Dark Night of the Soul. Oooohhhh…

I haven’t had a chance to watch the video (I will, I will), but Beliefnet released a set of talking points that are quite juicy, as far as these things go. I’m going to paste the whole thing, as it’s worth skimming:

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Most Likely to Infuriate Liberals:
Gay marriage is morally equivalent to allowing brothers and sisters to marry.
He opposes torture but didn’t try to convince President Bush to change course because “I never had the opportunity.”
A possibly veiled slap at Islam: “He could have made us all puppets. … He could have put us on strings and we’d pray five times a day and we’d have no choice.”
“Abortion reduction” efforts are mostly a “charade.”
His historical argument that “social gospel” Protestantism was “just Marxism in Christian clothing” and that “the mainline [Protestants] died.”

Most Likely to Infuriate Conservatives:
He supports partnership rights for gays including insurance and visitation benefits. This appears to be a similar position to that which just prompted the resignation of a top official of the National Association of Evangelicals.
His declaration that it’s a “no brainer” that divorce is a bigger threat to the American family than gay marriage, and that Christian leaders focus on gay marriage instead because “we always love to talk about other people’s sins.”
Religious conservatives have misled people into thinking Christ’s message was primarily about conservative politics and that politics is the primary way to change culture.
The Bush administration seems to have engaged in torture, which he condemned.
While condemning abortion as a Holocaust and abortion reduction as a “charade” he nonetheless said he would support those efforts, which he equated to Schindler’s list—a way of reducing the harm of an overall evil.

Most Likely to Titillate Theologians:
While your behavior doesn’t determine whether you get into heaven, it does determine what you do once you’re there.
His statement that “I really don’t know” whether people who don’t know about Christ will be blocked entry into heaven.
“God’s will is not done most of the time on earth. When people go, ‘oh, that hurricane must have been God’s will’ – baloney!”

Most Likely to Inspire and Challenge:
The story of his daughter in law’s brain tumor and its surprising lesson the family learned.
His relentless commitment to awakening Americans to African poverty.
His personal Christmas prayer.
His argument that the economic collapse comes from abandoning Biblical principles of thrift.