McCain and Obama at Saddleback Church

The Pew Forum has put up a Q&A on the upcoming appearances this Sunday by McCain and Obama at Rick Warren's Saddleback Church in Southern California. The analyst providing the commentary says:

One of the hallmarks of the 2008 presidential campaign up to this point has been the increased level of discussion of faith and values. This includes not only the candidates’ own faith and how they connect that faith to their political values but also a general discussion of religion. So it’s quite fitting that the first joint appearance between the presumptive nominees of the major political parties would be in a religious forum.

For those unfamiliar with Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, some details are provided in the course of the interview:

Rick Warren is a Southern Baptist – in fact, a fourth-generation Southern Baptist pastor. The Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States as well as the largest denomination in the evangelical Protestant religious tradition. Warren has built one of the country’s largest and most successful megachurches, and he built it in a relatively short period of time.

The article also notes that Pew defines a "megachurch" as one with attendance of more than 2000.

Comments

[elitist]

Great, mixing priestcraft with politics.

[Tim]

Great, mixing priestcraft with politics.

This statement is Mormon bigotry at Evangelicals at its worst.

To accuse Rick Warren of being in Christian ministry "for the money" is judgmental without warrant. A fact that he never advertises is that after his book became a best seller, he donated back to the church all of the salary money they had every paid him. He devotes a large amounts of his and his church's money and energy into Rwandan poverty and the HIV crisis.

If you'd like to criticize him for making money off of book sales, then you need to point that same critique at James Talmage, Bruce McConckie, Gordon Hinckley and every other Mormon GA who has ever sold a book with their own name branded across the cover.

Criticizing Evangelicals for getting into the political atmosphere rings hollow as LDS Stake Presidents go door to door telling members how much they should be contributing to CA Proposition 8.
http://www.nine-moons.com/2008/08/07/the-my-girl-bill/

[elitist]

Who said anything about his book or how much money he makes? Who knows, maybe he's perfectly pure in heart. But the fact that he's enough of a power player to be hosting this debate is a good indicator that he's a part of the parasitic elite that feeds off the masses. I'm just as suspicious of good old Mitt and his millions. Whether it's for money or recognition, the right rev. is still playing a bizarre role in this election in our supposedly secularish state. Gee, I wonder why they're not having this debate at some neighborhood church where the pastor spends his days teaching kids how to read and trying to keep them out of gangs...oh, yeah, those guys don't have time for interviews on the Factor...and most of them probably have the wrong color skin anyway.