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 ...
He absolutely was. Farah was exposing Warren before most of us knew who he was.
and don’t forget... “he-he-he-here....”
Let’s see if Ricky Boy is high-fiving with McCain.
Good plan...((;O)
define “rich”.. families making 150k + are rich..
Family making $250,000 your doing well and I’m after YOUR WALLET!
I was betting on Roberts.
He is such an empty suit...all the pretty speeches in the world can't cover that fact up...and besides with the polls running 44-44....it seems the public has figured that out also.
Freepers do not despair....The ONE will go down in flames.
This guys puts himself above Clarence Thomas??? Unbelievable.
@@@@@@
Race trumps gender, and Party trumps Race in the Dem party.
More than 250 k = rich. tell that to a family of 4 from Calif, NY etc.....
“I’ll admit RW is asking better questions than I thought.”
Astoundingly, so do I. I’m so surprised that I’m surprised. I wish I could be upset at Warren for not reaching over and shaking Obama to make all the UUUuuuuuuHHhhhs come out. However, I’m hearing more from Obama in this interview than anyone else has pried out.
Did my ears deceive me? Did Obama just say he DIDN’T know what the housing market was doing lately???
more media applause
Can you believe this floppy eared moron actually taught constitutional law???
Idiot. We spend more $$ on oil than the war.
Trying to justify tax increases..
How about CUT SPENDING???
uh uh uh uh uh uh uh .. uh uh uh no one wants to pay for a war, war what is it good for...uh uh uhuh .. uh uh... who wants to pay to protect America uh uh uh uh
Book sales...
Hillary ???
Below $150,000 is poor...
$250,000 doing well...
Obama is out of touch...
Attention Deficit Obama, they’ve coached him to stop the Ahhhhh, but he hasn’t practiced enough, seen it at :37 past the hour too.
Did he ask him how he threw his pastor aside (so it seemed until the Easter vacation with him when he didn’t visit the sick grandmother), so easily after 20 years?
And where he goes to church now.
I’d love to know the thoughts right now of the libs in LA and NY after he said those making $250,000 were rich.
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