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 ...
Warren's too smart to take positions that will alienate the evangelicals he's trying to deceive. Rather than advocate abortion and gay rights, he just takes the issues off-the-table completely and replaces them with universalist issues like the environment, poverty, AIDS and torture. That's how he operates.
Post #73 is a very eye-opening look at the type of "religious leaders" Rick Warren identifies and associates with.
Rick Warren freely admitted that he never preaches against homosexuality or abortion. He stated that he believes abortion is wrong, but he would never say it from the pulpit. Warren considers himself to be a marketer, salesman, and preacher. He says that we must always accentuate the positive and that worship should be fun.
On page 104 we read, “Try praising God without using the words ‘praise, hallelujah, thanks, or amen.’” He says to substitute other words.
On page 267, Warren says, “God uses money to test your faithfulness as a servant. That is why Jesus talked more about money than he did about either heaven or hell.”
Warren says on page 300 of his book, “Shift from local thinking to global thinking. God is a global God.”
Warren does not seem to like the Authorized King James Bible, and you will be hard-pressed to find a verse from the KJV in his book. His book contains 1200 verses from 15 versions. On page 325 of his book Warren says, “First, no matter how wonderful a translation is, it has limitations.” In other words, he is saying there is no one true Word of God! What rank blasphemy! What brazen treason to God’s Kingdom! God only wrote one book and promised to preserve it. The Authorized King James Bible is the only true Word of God in the English language, period. Warren also said on page 325, “English-speaking people should thank God that we have so many different versions to use for devotional reading.” Mr. Warren, they all say different things! God is not the author of confusion!
Dear Rick,
Senator Barack Obama record on abortion
Barack Obama is a co-sponsor of the “Freedom of
Choice Act” (FOCA), a bill that would
nullify virtually all federal and state limitations on
abortion, including the types now permitted by
the Supreme Court, such as parental notification
laws and waiting periods. It would also make
partial-birth abortion legal again.
While in the Illinois State Senate, Barack Obama
voted against legislation that prohibited taxpayer
dollars from being used to pay for abortion. His
campaign has stated that he “does not support”
the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer
funding of abortion through the Medicaid
program.
Barack Obama voted to block a bill to require an
abortionist to notify a parent before performing an
abortion on a minor who lives in another state.
Barack Obama voted against an amendment to
allow states to provide federally subsidized health
care insurance for an unborn child (within the
SCHIP program). The amendment would have
written explicit language into the SCHIP
statute to guarantee that a covered child
“includes, at the option of a State, an unborn
child.” The amendment further defined “unborn
child” as “a member of the species homo sapiens,
at any stage of development, who is carried in the
womb.”
Barack Obama sharply criticized the Supreme
Court for its 2007 Gonzales v. Carhart decision
upholding the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. He
said, “I strongly disagree with today’s Supreme
Court ruling...I am extremely concerned that this
ruling will embolden state legislatures to enact
further measures to restrict a woman’s right to
choose, and that the conservative Supreme Court
justices will look for other opportunities to erode
Roe v. Wade, which is established federal law and
a matter of equal rights for women.”
While a member of the Illinois State Senate,
Barack Obama opposed the proposed “Born-Alive
Infants Protection Act” (BAIPA). The measure
was very similar to the federal BAIPA, which
President Bush signed into law in 2002. Obama
opposed the legislation for three straight
legislative sessions and twice spoke against the
bill on the Senate floor. He voted against the bill
twice in committee and once on the Senate floor.
Both laws were intended to provide protection for
babies who survived abortions equal to protection
received by babies who are spontaneously born
prematurely.
Since his election to the Senate in 2004, Barack
Obama has compiled a 0% voting record on prolife
issues scored by the National Right to Life
Committee. By contrast, he has a 100% rating
from NARAL Pro-Choice America.
FRiends dont let FRiends watch TV Twits...
:)
Rick Warren self-promotion opportunity.....tightenin’ up with the candidates.
I'm good for the night.
May We pray also for The National Enquirer to break their story on Rick Warren and his xxxxxxxxxx! as well:-)
Two interviews. One world view.
We should see a chance for McCain to wax eloquent on why democrats are better than republicans.
TIME magazine...
The Real Losers in the Obama-Warren Controversy
Friday, Dec. 01, 2006
By DAVID VAN BIEMA
This week two very smart Christian believers — one by extending an invitation, the other by accepting it — have helped the fight against AIDS and burnished their respective reputations. But in the process, they also created a defining dilemma for the Religious Right.
Rick Warren, megapastor of the Saddleback Church in Orange County and author of the mega-seller The Purpose-Driven Life, along with his wife Kay, invited Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to speak today at the second annual AIDS conference at Warren’s church.
That Warren should lend him a lectern has infuriated the pro-life activists and general hard-liners on the religious right.
nor any Jew, IMO.
It is time... can you hear me? tap , tap, tap...
Ok. I’m in, cannot read the posts now, but marking for later! Let the games begin!
November 28, 2006
The Illinois Democrat, an enthusiastic supporter of abortion, is scheduled to speak at a seminar Dec. 1 called, “We Must Work Together” at Warren’s 30,000-member California church. The seminar is about coordinating efforts to address the AIDS crisis worldwide.
“You cannot fight one evil while justifying another,” a joint statement from dozens of leaders of Christian groups said in condemning Obama’s support for abortion and Warren’s support for Obama.
Operation Rescue, one of the front-line organizations battling abortion today, said Obama “is disqualified from speaking from a Christian pulpit” because of his “blatant disregard for human life.” The senator, the group said “lacks moral credibility to speak about AIDS victims.”
“Sen. Obama comes to Rick Warren’s church believing that abortion should be kept, ‘safe and legal,’” the group continued. “Sen. Obama actually supports the barbaric practice of allowing abortionists to kill babies by allowing them to be partially born, their skulls punctured and their brains sucked out. … Killing a child at any stage of life is a violation of God’s clear command, ‘Thou shall do no murder.’”
“In the strongest possible terms, we oppose Rick Warren’s decision to ignore Sen. Obama’s clear pro-death stance and invite him to Saddleback Church anyway. If Sen. Obama cannot defend the most helpless citizens in our country, he has nothing to say to the AIDS crisis,” the group said.
The leaders also noted Obama’s solution to AIDS isn’t a biblically-oriented standard for monogamous relationships, but includes condoms.
“The name of the seminar at which Senator Obama will be appearing is entitled, ‘We Must Work Together.’ No, Mr. Warren, Mr. Obama, we will never work with those can support the murder of babies in the womb.”
Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese-American who wrote “Because They Hate,” and founded the The American Congress for Truth, suggested Warren’s comment about Syria’s status as a “moderate” nation would better have been left unsaid.
“Rick Warren can do us all a favor and keep his remarks and opinions to himself. When you don’t stand up against and condemn evil, let alone say misrepresented facts about an evil regime, you become an enabler and defender of evil, plain and simple,” she said.
Brigitte Gabriel
“Rick Warren’s comments about Syria are an insult and a slap on the face to every Christian who ever lived under that regime or suffered from Syria’s evil dictatorship not only in Syria but also the Christian Lebanese,” said Gabriel.
“Rick Warren needs to speak to some of the Christians who fled Syria because of the oppression of the Syrian regime and are now here in America. They can tell him about the Syrian troops storming their Christian schools when they were children and burning (the schools) because they were Christians.”
Ergun Mehmet Caner, president of the Liberty Theological Seminary at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Va., agreed. He said what Warren saw in Syria was “religion toleration.”
After an hour of listening to Obama, most folks tuning in will not even stay tuned to hear McCain ... and the setup was approved by McCain! What a fool his campaign staf allows him to be! Alternating fifteen minute segments would have been far more effective. But then the idea was to give Obama an advantage and pretend he actually gives a flying poo about God.
“King James Version Only” proponents are religious kooks.
Putting up shutters tomorrow..........got batteries, candles, cheesy poofs............
RW already starts out as a smart ass
In a way, he does... he thinks he is God.
RW “Mac is in a cone of silence” “Both these guys are my friends” “Both are patriots”
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