Posted on 11/28/2006 6:43:50 AM PST by Alex Murphy
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- Church leaders from Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant traditions today expressed disappointment and deep distress over the impending visit of Illinois Senator Barack Obama to the Saddleback Church of Orange County, California, pastored by leading Evangelical Rick Warren.
"Senator Obama's policies represent the antithesis of biblical ethics and morality, not to mention supreme American values," said the Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), president of the National Clergy Council and chair of the Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance, America's oldest association of Evangelical ministers.
Rev. Schenck continued, "As a supporter of abortion, Senator Obama nullifies the first of all human rights, the right to life. Only God gives life, and only God can determine when life ends. Our Founders assured this when they enumerated in the Declaration of Independence the rights endowed to us by our 'Creator,' among them "Life." This first of all rights was later secured by the Constitution. Senator Obama nullifies this foundational principle by his public position on abortion."
The National Clergy Council executive committee made up of clergy from numerous denominations including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Assemblies of God, Baptist (Independent and Southern), Catholic, Charismatic, Evangelical, Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal, Orthodox (Greek and OCA), Presbyterian and Reformed call upon Pastor Rick Warren and the leadership of Saddleback Church to cancel Senator Obama's December 1 appearance.
"If Pastor Warren cannot find the courage to rescind his invitation to Senator Obama, he must at least make clear through a public statement that the Senator's support of abortion stands in contradiction to what the Bible teaches and what the Christian Church has historically taught on the sanctity of life," said Rev. Schenck.
Best Ping Driven Life Now List PING!
And, of course, various naifs will respond that:
(1) He does not take a salary as pastor of Saddleback
(2) He donates 90% of the profits of his publishing to charity.
The real-world meaning of this:
(1) His salary is a tiny pittance of his total compensation and his donation of his entire salary back to the church constitutes an nice little personal income tax break.
(2) Donating profits means little, since "profits" are what is left after paying all operating expenses.
For example, Entrepreneur A could own a company that sells widgets that does $100 million in sales.
The cost of manufacturing and distributing the widgets could be $60 million. Those are operating expenses.
Then the company could pay its employees $29 million in wages - with $9 million going to compensate all the employees except Entrepreneur A, who himself receives $20 million in compensation. Those are also operating expenses.
After paying out $99 million of its sales receipts in various operating expenses there are $10 million in profits.
Say Entrepreneur A has pledged to donate 90% of profits to charity.
So $9 million go to charity and $1 million go to Entrepreneur A, for total pretax compensation of $21 million.
The donated $9 million then goes to a charitable trust whose trustee is Entrepreneur A - who may then pay himself from the $9 million for his service as a trustee.
The $9 million charitable donation helps offset the taxes on his compensation and shields other assets from further tax consequences.
AQnd, of course, the PR value of being able to claim that you are donating 90% of profits to charity is incalculable, as the rubes eat it up and think of you as a special guy - and are therefore more inclined to buy your product since you are such a swell, generous individual.
should read:
After paying out $90 million of its sales receipts.
Placing the Obama visit into historical context, here's a handy-dandy Rick Warren political primer....
Warren says "fundamentalists" are an "enemy"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1555425/posts
Warren's AIDS initiative
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1690558/posts
Kay Warren (Rick's wife) and the AIDS initiative
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1703266/posts
Warren's PEACE plan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1691887/posts
Warren flip-flops on global warming
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1681104/posts?page=4#4
Rick Warren, an "Evangelical Against Torture", believes the US engages in "severe human rights abuses"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1651121/posts
The original "Rick Warren in Syria" article
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1739619/posts
Rick Warren: CFR member
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1741878/posts?page=1#1
PDL - book sales are down
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1680934/posts
Saddleback Church - growth is down
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1693755/posts
Painful Decline - Purpose Driven Ministries, after layoffs, "really doesn't really exist anymore"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/1742301/posts
He is a salesman who sells Jesus as his product.
He carefully repackages his raw product into a group of consumer offerings mediated through books, CDs and DVDs.
he has come up with a number of catchy phrases, buzzwords, slogans and mnemonics.
He relies mostly on viral, word-of-mouth marketing through a brilliant marketing strategy: he sends sales reps - many of them volunteers - into local churches and turns them into licensed franchisees for his product, without necessarily rebranding them as "Saddleback" or "Purpose" products.
Just like the smarter companies are eschewing obvious standalone commercials during breaks in a TV show for clever product placements dropped into the show's narrative flow, Warren's policy is encourage pastors who use his product to drop references to the product into the Sunday service's liturgical flow.
Warren is using a highly refined set of marketing tools.
Thanks for the ping.
Church-Fad INTREP
Warren has said repeatedly that Robert Schuller and Peter Drucker were two of his main mentors. They taught him how to sell and grow his "Christian" product.
Correct.
By donating that 24B he shields it from taxes while placing it in a trust structure over which he and his family have complete control regarding disbursements while providing his relatives and descendants with a constant stream of employment.
His lifestyle is not noticeably compromised, and the IRS never sees a penny.
Precisely.
Wealth and Christianity just don't go well together.
thanks for the ping! Handy list!
I am new to this list - it’s sad to see so much venom. I first met Rick Warren when he was a teen and he was called by God to preach. He was very talented at preaching. I should know, as I grew up with a father who was also a preacher. We never had much money, but we had the love of God in our hearts and home. Later I attended College with Rick - still a great young man - and that is the point - he is a man - he is not a God - he can, and I am sure has, make mistakes, but one thing I know about Rick is that he loves the Lord and he is devoted to spreading the Word of God to a Godless generation. I don’t know that I would attend his church - I am more interested in small church congregations that are more traditional, like I grew up in - but some people thrive in a larger congregation, and those are the people he has reached out to and shared the Lord with. The lifestyle in Southern California suits him. I may not agree with things he does, but I know his heart and he loves the Lord and seeks to do what is right.
Just my two-cents.
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