Posted on 08/16/2008 11:59:35 AM PDT by XR7
LAKE FOREST, Calif. — When John McCain and Barack Obama appear on the same stage today, they will vividly demonstrate the reach that has made the Rev. Rick Warren among the most significant evangelists of his generation.
He's a megastar who leads the nation's fourth-largest church and reaches thousands of ministers through the Internet and crusades against poverty and AIDS. That globe-trotting work and his successful book — "The Purpose-Driven Life: What on Earth Am I Here For?" — puts him at the vanguard of a movement that inspires young, socially conscious Christians.
But his willingness to soft-pedal political issues once central to U.S. evangelicals, such as opposition to abortion, has opened him to criticism that he has strayed from his calling to spread the Gospel.
Today's forum also is a sign of religion's importance in the 2008 presidential campaign, and the emergence of a new style of evangelical leadership on the national stage that is not tied to a single party and has broadened its social agenda beyond that of the religious right.
"This is absolutely a changing of the guard, and it suggests that the new guard of the evangelical movement is able to generate the attention and focus of both parties," said D. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University and author of "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite."
Warren personally invited the two candidates — "friends of mine" — via their cellphones. His event at the Saddleback Church will be broadcast live on CNN and Fox News Channel and streamed on the Web. It has among its aims "helping the church regain credibility and encouraging our society to return to civility," he said.
It's likely that fans and critics will be watching closely...
(Excerpt) Read more at seattletimes.nwsource.com ...
Love this answer. McCain doesn’t just pontificate about adoption & helping orphans - he’s lived it.
That 148 million number is suspect. It works out to more than one in every fifty human beings on the planet is an orphan child.
Does not compute to me!
I love that . Obama toast..ha
LOL
I thought the same
He mentioned 1 1/2 million people work for EBay ????????
I say: more applause and much louder .. I think
he’s hit several home runs ... whew and thank God!
LOL--agreed, and I live here...
Never have I seen him do this well.
Grand slam.
WORD.
It irritates me, too, but not nearly as much as listening to Obama say "uhhhhh"....
Adoption not abortion
Why do you want to be president?
“I want to inspire a generation of Americans to serve a cause greater than their self-interest.”
What inarticulate mumbo-jumbo was Obama’s response to that question?
I wonder what he said when his wife showed up at the airport with the baby from Mother Theresas? LOL
Ditto. The MSM is going to have to work hard to make sure Obama doesn’t get slaughtered in the debates.
I think he was saying that 1.5 million folks were making a living using Ebay.
All Obama has is his racist, America-hating pastor.
No he said 1 and a half million make a living from E bay.
ROFL ... thweet little Lindsey in a vest!!! OOh my.
LOL
I thought the same
He mentioned 1 1/2 million people work for EBay ????????
1.5 million make a LIVING from eBay, not employed there.
Probably because it is used repeatedly in the nonsense intro to ‘Plan Nine from Outer Space’
and remember friends...future events such as these may affect you in the future!
Goober in the audience is about to burst!
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