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.
*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..
McCain actually agreed to be a part of this ambush.
Words fail me.
We should be pounding Fox News with why aren’t they supplying the questions for this shindig. Isn’t that what reporters are supposed to do...ask the questions?