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 ...
Global warming is definitely a major issue for Warren.
From what I’ve heard, promoting gay rights is not. Which just shows that he’s not a complete idiot. If he were vocally pushing gay rights, he’d lose the majority of evangelicals instantly.
Barack “Tiger Woods” Obama
Don’t forget selling books and being a liberal.
BTW per capita more African Americans have AIDS than those in Africa.
Rush and Glenn Beck were just talking about that this week.
I wonder if they will broach the subject of an openly gay choir director at Obama’s church?
I would suspect most Christians think that is a bridge too far.
LOL
” Let those refuse to sing who never knew our God”
The liberal Christians I know typically grew up in racist families or the racist (pre-seg) era. They have a lot of white guilt from childhood.
I group Warren with Campolo, Wallis, etc. Very much a social gospel type. Along with -"Jesus came to save the whole world, so everyone is actually going to heaven, no matter which 'faith community' they are a part of -we just need to help the poor, while keeping government separate from religion, but gay-rights and abortion don't count. Oh- and let's force diversity and use the word 'tolerance', alot."
So… Warren thinks he can pick up a turd by the clean end.
PTL !
Good point, I think he was a minister as well. it was a bad metaphor on my part.
How about:
Warren is to Christian as Tofu is to Beef?
Do read The Reformed Pastors Blog to find out who Rick Warren’s co-sponsors of this event are:
http://reformedpastor.wordpress.com/2008/08/11/about-rick-warrens-forum-playmates/
Copied below is an excerpt from that blog.
This got me wondering: what is Faith in Public Life? Calling it a “multidenominational [sic—I think they mean “interfaith”—DF] religious group” doesn’t really do it justice, though it does make it sound benignly non-partisan. When I looked ta the FPL Web site, however, I came away with a decidedly different view. For instance, here is the group’s vision:
Faith in Public Life envisions a country in which diverse religious voices for justice and the common good consistently impact public policy; and those who use religion as a tool of division and exclusion do not dominate public discourse.
And further down the same page, here is it’s mission:
Faith in Public Life strengthens the effectiveness, collaboration, and reach of faith movements that share a call to pursue justice and the common good.
After reading only two sentences I’m already suffering from buzzword overload. Oh, and that reference to “those who use religion as a tool of division and exclusion” is, of course, a neon sign that they stand opposed to religious conservatives. Well, then I took a look at the statement regarding how FPL came to be founded:
The 2004 elections brought a resurgence in religious advocacy for social and economic justice. Yet the Religious Right continued to dominate public discourse on issues of faith — primarily targeting issues of abortion and homosexuality — and virtually ignoring issues of justice and the common good. In December 2004, national religious leaders –- including Jim Wallis, Rabbi David Saperstein, Rev. Jim Forbes, Rev. Bob Edgar, Sr. Catherine Pinkerton, Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, and Rev. Timothy McDonald — gathered in Washington, DC to confront the challenges facing the burgeoning social justice faith movement. They recognized the critical need for increased and effective collaboration, coordination, and communication on the national, state and local level. The meeting resulted in the creation of Faith in Public Life — a permanent organization providing critical organizing and communications resources to strengthen diverse faith movements that share a call to pursue justice and the common good.
Let’s see: Jim Wallis is America’s foremost spokesman for the Religious Left. Bob Edgar, of course, is the former head of the National Council of Churches. Catherine Pinkerton sits on the Obama campaign’s Catholic Advisory Council. Anybody see a pattern here? Just to drive the point home, consider the boards of directors and advisors of the FLP, which include such luminaries as:
*Board of Directors president Meg Rlley, Director of Advocacy and Witness for the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship.
*Elizabeth Letzler, member of the PCUSA’s Mission Responsibility Through Investment committee and the Israel-Palestine Network (i.e., an Israel divestment proponent). She’s also been “deeply involved” with FaithAmerica.org, an NCC outfit.
*Nazir Khaja, a Muslim leader who also sits on the board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights.
*Fred Rotondaro, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, run by Bill Clinton’s ex-chief of staff John Podesta, which is basically a Democratic Party research organization.
*Susan Thistlethwaite, president of the UCC’s Chicago Seminary, well-known to readers of this blog for her contributions to the Washington Post’s “On Faith” column.
*Jim Winkler, General Secretary of the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Church and Society, who also sits on the board (with Communist Party USA leader Judith LeBlanc) of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.
So, what we have here is a group of liberal and far left activists, who are going to “help” Rick Warren come up with questions for the two presidential candidates.
Come to your own conclusions on how well that’s going to work.
Not a huge surprise.
>>>>>>I group Warren with Campolo, Wallis, etc.
Some folks compare him to Billy Graham and Robert Schuller. I don’t think he measures up to either man. IMO, Warren is a new age religious leader, with a progressive ministry based on the modern social agenda of liberalism.
he will question Barack Obama and John McCain on abortion and marriage at his Compassion Forum Saturday night.
________________________________________
“How do you spell abortion?”
Obama: In Berlin they dont call it abortion”
McCain: “Waterboarding is a form of abortion”
How many Barf Bags should we bring? I would guess that at least a dozen for starters......
ping.
The tofu to beef works quite well as a metaphor...can have the taste and smell without the actual substance. And you're a good man to adjust on the fly. I do think you're correct...I recall reading that Mr. Rogers was a minister as well.
*Nazir Khaja, a Muslim leader who also sits on the board of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Rights.
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Aborting the infidels org..
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