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TechnoratiLAKE FOREST, Calif. – American voters were given a unique opportunity Saturday to hear the presumed Republican and Democratic presidential nominees speak on the issues of greatest concern to Christians around the nation at the very venue that will likely determine who will win in November – church.
(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)
(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)
(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)
(Photo: The Christian Post / Edwin Tsuei)
At the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency, hosted by Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain were asked nearly identical questions on stewardship, leadership, worldview and America’s role in the world. According to Saddleback pastor Rick Warren, who was the sole interviewer throughout the two-hour event, the goal of the civil forum was to “restore civility in our civil discourse.”
“Now, we believe in the separation of church and state,” Warren said in his introduction before heading into the first round of questions with Obama, “but we do not believe in the separation of faith and politics because faith is just a world view and everybody has some kind of world view.”
“And it’s important to know what they are,” he told the packed crowd of over 6,500 in Saddleback’s worship center, reiterating statements made prior to the forum.
Starting with Obama – who was selected to go first by a coin toss, Warren sat down for a one-hour interview with each of the presidential hopefuls, both of whom the megachurch pastor identified as friends, patriots, and “people who both care deeply about America.”
Warren’s questions – which were drawn from the input of pastors and church leaders throughout America and a team of experts on issues such as religious persecution and AIDS – ranged from personal questions on the candidate’s greatest moral failures and most gut-wrenching decisions they've had to make to “values” questions on issues such as abortion, marriage and stem cells.
While the responses from Obama and McCain contrasted on a number of issues, as expected, such as their opinions of the present Supreme Court justices, the two senators notably agreed on what America’s great moral failure is – the lack of selflessness.
“I think America’s greatest moral failure in my lifetime is that we still don’t abide by that basic precept in Matthew that whatever you do for the least of my brothers, you do for me,” responded Obama during his session with Warren as McCain waited in “a cone of silence.”
“There is a pervasive sense, I think, that this country is wealthy and powerful as we still don’t spend enough time thinking about the least of these,” he added.
McCain, in his response, said America’s greatest moral failure “has been throughout our existence, perhaps that we have not devoted ourselves to causes greater than our self interest although we’ve been at the best at it of anybody in the world.”
The presumptive Republican presidential nominee urged for greater American participation in the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, the military, and faith-based and volunteer organizations.
“The first words of your very successful book is ‘This is not about you,’” McCain said, citing from Warren’s best-selling “Purpose Driven Life.”
“And you know that really also means, serve a cause greater than your self interest,” he added.
Aside from America’s greatest moral failure and the belief that marriage is a union between a man and a woman, responses from the two presidential contenders were largely divergent. Continue >>
Daniel Paul »
Agree: 
Disagree: 
