While Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, is nowhere near as loopy and down right insane as say Pat Robertson or James Dobson, he nonetheless shares a similar inability to grasp the fact that the United States was NOT founded as a Christian nation and that the civil laws should NOT be intertwined with one particular religious tradition inasmuch as there are citizens of a multitude of faiths. But then, with the Christianists, it ALWAYS all about them. Everyone else can go to Hell. I will also give Warren credit for not always functioning as an unofficial branch of the Republican Party like Daddy Dobson or Tony Perkins. Note how McCain uses religious beliefs of some to justify depriving gays of secular, civil rights. I find it sad that McCain and Obama both felt compelled to participate in the forum, although I suspect that it helped Obama more than McCain since it gave him an opportunity to counter the lies circulated by wingnuts that he's Muslim. Here are a few highlights from the Washington Post:*
LAKE FOREST, Calif., Aug. 16 -- Barack Obama and John McCain made their first joint appearance of the general election Saturday night, breaking away from the debates over national security and the economy that have dominated the campaign in recent weeks to court evangelical voters at an Orange County megachurch.
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The event was hosted by Rick Warren, the author of the best-selling "The Purpose Driven Life" and one of the country's most prominent evangelical preachers. Warren, a Southern Baptist, referred to both McCain and Obama as friends in his introductions. "They both care deeply about America," Warren said. "They're both patriots."
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Christian conservatives gave Bush 78 percent of their votes in 2004, and they remain a vital part of the Republican Party's electoral strategy. But although Democrat Obama has taken stances on issues such as abortion and gay rights that many Christians disagree with, his campaign hopes that he can cut into that showing by keeping his faith in the spotlight and by discussing topics such as poverty and global warming.
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McCain has publicly suggested in recent days that even though he opposes abortion, he might select a running mate who supports abortion rights. That drew warnings from Perkins and other religious conservatives that they might not show up at the polls in November if McCain picked an abortion-rights supporter such as former governor Tom Ridge of Pennsylvania. But McCain's campaign has also sought to highlight stances such as his opposition to same-sex marriage and civil unions.
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The Obama campaign made an aggressive sales pitch at the event, distributing a 12-page booklet to the 2,200 people who streamed through Saddleback's doors that chronicled the candidate's "Christian journey" and his long relationship with Warren.
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For Obama, the Saddleback event allowed him to reinforce that he is a Christian before an audience that doubtless included many familiar with Internet and talk-radio-driven rumors that he is a Muslim. That particular falsehood has proven maddeningly difficult to dispel for Obama's campaign, continuing to dog his candidacy. . .
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Religious conservatives and liberals alike pressed Warren to grill the candidates on difficult topics, such as the role of federal courts in social issues. Warren did ask both candidates which current Supreme Court justice he would refused to nominate. McCain named the four justices considered most liberal: Stephen G. Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, David H. Souter and John Paul Stevens. Obama singled out Clarence Thomas for criticism, saying he was not prepared for elevation to the court, and also noted that he disagrees sharply with Justice Antonin Scalia.
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