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Political Implications of Rick Warren & Obama

Discussion in 'Political Debate & Discussion' started by Marcia, Dec 5, 2006.

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  1. Marcia

    Marcia Active Member

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    This was on the editorial pages of the Wash Post today:

    http://tinyurl.com/ya967n
    Message From A Megachurch


    [SIZE=-1]By E. J. Dionne Jr.
    Tuesday, December 5, 2006; A29
    [/SIZE]
    American politics took an important turn last week at a church in the foothills of Southern California's Santa Ana Mountains.
    When Rick Warren, one of the nation's most popular evangelical pastors, faced down right-wing pressure and invited Sen. Barack Obama to speak at a gathering at his Saddleback Valley Community Church about the AIDS crisis, he sent a signal: A significant group of theologically conservative Christians no longer wants to be treated as a cog in the Republican political machine.
    For his part, Obama, the former community organizer from Chicago, showed why he is this moment's hottest commodity in 2008 presidential politics, even though he has not entered the race yet.
    For a quarter-century since the rise of the Moral Majority and the Christian Coalition, white evangelical Christians have been widely seen as a Republican preserve. No one did a more comprehensive job of organizing them than President Bush, and he carried the white evangelical vote in 2004 over John Kerry by a ratio of nearly 4 to 1. Many of the most politically active evangelical leaders have insisted that the morally freighted social issues -- abortion, stem-cell research, same-sex marriage -- took priority over all questions.
    ...But Warren speaks for a new generation of evangelicals who think that harnessing religious faith too closely to electoral politics is bad for religion, and who are broadening the evangelical public agenda to include a concern for global poverty and the scourge of AIDS.
    ....He is not building a new denomination. He is building a new network, and it's powerful. Warren and his wife, Kay, have made alleviating the AIDS crisis in Africa one of the central components of their mission.
    ....But when the other invitee turned out to be Obama, parts of the old evangelical political apparatus went after Warren as a heretic. Rob Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council, declared that Obama's views on abortion -- Obama is pro-choice -- represented "the antithesis of biblical ethics and morality" and insisted that Warren had no business inviting him to Saddleback.
    Warren's church issued a statement reaffirming its strong opposition to abortion, but Warren did not back down. Indeed, he seemed to revel in rejecting the old evangelical political model. "I'm a pastor, not a politician," Warren told ABC News. "People always say, 'Rick, are you right wing or left wing?' I say 'I'm for the whole bird.' "
    . . . . That Obama received a standing ovation suggests that Warren is right to sense that growing numbers of Christians are tired of narrowly partisan politics and share his interest in "the whole bird." In their different spheres, Warren and Obama are both in the business of retailing hope.
    One more thing: If you read Obama's speech, you'll realize he demonstrates a much truer Christian spirit than the GOP masterminds who have recently tried to push people away from Obama by pointing out that his middle name is Hussein.
    ===============MORE================
     
    #1 Marcia, Dec 5, 2006
  2. Joseph_Botwinick

    Joseph_Botwinick <img src=/532.jpg>Banned

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    The Washington Post wouldn't know a theologically Conservative Christian if one slapped them in the face.

    Joseph Botwinick
     
    #2 Joseph_Botwinick, Dec 6, 2006
  3. LeBuick

    LeBuick New Member

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    Clearly Warren said because I let you speak in my Church doesn't mean I agree 100% with your viewpoint. He brought him to speak regarding hsi AIDS program and on that platform the two can agree. The audience questions are what took the meeting another direction.
     
    #3 LeBuick, Dec 7, 2006
  4. Gold Dragon

    Gold Dragon Well-Known Member

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    Excellent speech from Obama that really got to the core issues.

    He did a good job of addressing how sin is a major part of AIDS and how solutions need to go beyond either/or terms of abstinence.

    I also commend him for praising Bush in his speech and not using this platform as an opportunity for political grandstanding.
     
    #4 Gold Dragon, Dec 7, 2006
  5. LeBuick

    LeBuick New Member

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    I agree, I get more impressed with this guy by the day.
     
    #5 LeBuick, Dec 7, 2006
  6. Bluefalcon

    Bluefalcon Member

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    I hope the wish-washy Republican Party disintigrates and Christians rise up to form a new Party, or back an already existing third-party, and move America back toward its conservative roots. But I'm afraid that if evangelical Christians formed a new party, it would only represent less than 20% of America, and thus, it would never win anything and the Democratic Party would dominate, which would be even worse than the Republicans dominating. I wish there were a way out of this two-party nonsense, but there doesn't seem to be. In a nation with so many choices, I'm trying to remember my high school civics teacher's brilliant answer as to why a two-party system was so awesome, and I can't remember a blame thing.
     
    #6 Bluefalcon, Dec 9, 2006
  7. The Galatian

    The Galatian Active Member

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    As apparently just happened. :tongue3:
     
    #7 The Galatian, Dec 9, 2006
  8. Gold Dragon

    Gold Dragon Well-Known Member

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    You never get a minority government that spins its wheels.

    Canada is currently in a minority government and I don't think it is all that bad of an arrangement. It forces the leading party to make compromises with other parties and hopefully accomplish something that truly represents the country.

    Most other democratic nations in the world run on multiple party systems.
     
    #8 Gold Dragon, Dec 9, 2006
  9. LeBuick

    LeBuick New Member

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    Interesting concept, you mean the group who can't agree if we should dunk or sprinkle, be baptist or luthern or whether to use KJV or NIV should get together and form a political party???

    Divide we stand apart... What a slogan!

    Sure hope we dress modestly unlike the wig party.
     
    #9 LeBuick, Dec 9, 2006
  10. hillclimber1

    hillclimber1 Active Member
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    Clearly, Warren made a terrible decision here.
     
    #10 hillclimber1, Dec 9, 2006
  11. Terry_Herrington

    Terry_Herrington New Member

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    Was the mistake in having both Republican Senator Sam Brownback and Democratic Senator Barack Obama on the program?
     
    #11 Terry_Herrington, Dec 10, 2006
  12. Roy

    Roy <img src=/0710.gif>
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    Obama has no business addressing a church crowd. Although clicheish, WWJD? Would Jesus have invited someone like that aboard the fishing boat to share the platform with Him as he preached to the crowds on shore? I also don't think that John the Baptist would have wanted to share the platform with someone like that either. That little charade should have been conducted at a local arena or abandoned movie house, not in a church.

    I have been through two purpose-driven seminars and my impression of Rick Warren is that he is a good salesman but that's about it.

    Roy
     
    #12 Roy, Dec 10, 2006
  13. LadyEagle

    LadyEagle <b>Moderator</b> <img src =/israel.gif>

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    Yep. You got it....it's revolting.
     
    #13 LadyEagle, Dec 10, 2006
  14. LeBuick

    LeBuick New Member

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    Naw, Jesus would have just healed those afflicted with AIDS. But we need to tarry the best we can until he comes again.

    This was not a Sunday service, this was a program other than worship and was not intended to praise the Lord. Even an abandoned movie house can be used to praise the Lord in one service and discuss ways of fighting AIDS in the next.
     
    #14 LeBuick, Dec 10, 2006
  15. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    If Warrens criteria is people who have actually done something about AIDS in Africa, he should have invited the President.

    http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2005/Dec/01-10975.html

    U.S. Program Brings AIDS Treatment to 400,000 Africans

    By Charlene Porter
    Washington File Staff Writer

    Washington – President George Bush joined the international recognition of World AIDS Day December 1 with an announcement of successes and new initiatives in the U.S. contribution to the global struggle against the epidemic.

    U.S. efforts to increase assistance to the world’s most AIDS-afflicted nations are now delivering life-saving medicines to approximately 400,000 people, eight times the number receiving treatment three years ago, Bush said.

    In 2003 the United States launched the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), making a five-year, $15 billion commitment to scale up AIDS treatment, prevention and care. (See related article.)
     
    #15 carpro, Dec 11, 2006
  16. LeBuick

    LeBuick New Member

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    So he can have the president speak but not Barack? Is this a double standard?
     
    #16 LeBuick, Dec 11, 2006
  17. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    Are you saying Obama hasn't actually done anything about AIDS, except make speeches?
     
    #17 carpro, Dec 11, 2006
  18. LeBuick

    LeBuick New Member

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    No, the opposite. I'm saying he's trying like the president is trying. Bush committed a large sum of whose money? Should I commit $100,000.00 for you?
     
    #18 LeBuick, Dec 11, 2006
  19. Bro Tony

    Bro Tony New Member

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    Truer words have never been spoken!!

    Bro Tony
     
    #19 Bro Tony, Dec 11, 2006
  20. carpro

    carpro Well-Known Member
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    I guess Warren's criteria was not who had actually done anything about AIDS in Africa, but who could he get that could make a good speech about it. Obama gave a good speech.

    Can you imagine the absolute apoplexy of liberals if Bush had spoken at Warren's church?:laugh: A special prosecutor may have been called for.
     
    #20 carpro, Dec 11, 2006
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