4um: McCain and Obama Face Questions About Their Faith

Title: McCain and Obama Face Questions About Their Faith
Source: ABC News
URL Source: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=5587367
Published: Aug 15, 2008
Author: RACHEL ZOLL
Post Date: 2008-08-15 19:43:00 by Rotara
Keywords: None
Views: 470
Comments: 19

Facing questions from megachurch pastor, McCain and Obama put their faith in political play

The Rev. Rick Warren is so prominent and respected that just being seen with him is a boon for any presidential candidate.

For Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, their appearances at a forum Saturday night at Warren's evangelical California megachurch bring risks along with rewards.

The event will play to one of Obama's strengths, talking about his Christian faith, but it will also underscore the gulf between his views and those of the most conservative Christian voters.

Many of McCain's positions are more in line with the evangelical worldview, but he is uncomfortable — and some critics say unconvincing — while talking about his personal beliefs.

The candidates will appear separately, spending one hour each with Warren, before coming together on stage for a handshake. The pastor, who does not endorse candidates, will be the only one asking questions.

Warren is an anti-abortion Southern Baptist who is nonetheless part of a shift away from the religious right's strict focus on abortion and marriage. The environment, poverty and education have also become pressing concerns, especially for younger evangelicals.

Warren is best known for building Saddleback Church into a 23,000-member megachurch in Lake Forest, Calif., and for writing the multimillion-selling book "The Purpose-Driven Life."

But he and his wife, Kay, are also leading advocates for HIV/AIDS victims worldwide. They have invested enormous resources in their PEACE Plan, now under way in Rwanda, which aims to combat corruption, illiteracy and other social problems through church partnerships with government and business.

Older-guard evangelical leaders who oppose broadening the agenda have been leaning on Warren. In a stream of statements in the days leading up to the forum, they implored him to press the candidates about their positions on abortion.

Larry Ross, who represents Warren, said the pastor has been consulting with other clergy and with experts in different fields to develop questions for the candidates about leadership, the Constitution, human rights and "sin and righteousness issues."

"The more liberal camp just assumes that Pastor Warren is going to make this a Christian litmus test of the presidency. Others, who are more conservative, fear he is going to wimp out on some of the issues," Ross said. "He says, 'Neither group understands or knows me.' He's going to ask tough questions, fair questions, not gotcha questions."

Obama has proven adept at explaining how his Christian faith has shaped his policies. The church forum also gives him a perfect setting to counter the misperception that he is Muslim. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that 12 percent of respondents believe the Illinois senator is Muslim.

"It's a great way for him to do what he can to make connections with not only moderate evangelicals, but also the many people out there who read 'The Purpose-Driven Life,'" said Mark Silk, who specializes in religion and public life at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn.

However, Obama will inevitably be asked to explain his support for abortion rights and other issues that clash with conservative Christian theology.

The Obama campaign has been diligently courting religious voters with a presence on Christian radio and blogs, and through "American Values Forums" and other events.

In June, Obama took the bold step of holding a private meeting with a large group of evangelical leaders, including the Rev. Franklin Graham, who challenged him on his beliefs in salvation, his support for abortion rights and other issues.

The benefit of the forum to McCain, who attends a Baptist church, is less clear.

While many of his views, including opposition to abortion, match the outlook of conservative Christians, he is far less comfortable than Obama discussing his faith. McCain did not participate in a spring forum at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pa., where Obama and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton discussed religion and their personal lives.

McCain supporters have taken to circulating excerpts from his memoir "Faith of Our Fathers," that explain his beliefs. He recently met privately with Roman Catholic Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, one of the most vocal U.S. bishops on the duty of Catholics to make the abortion issue a priority in choosing public leaders.

Yet, many evangelical leaders have backed him only reluctantly. And he put conservative Christians on edge Thursday by floating the prospect of picking a running mate who supports abortion rights. Conservative Christians comprise about one-quarter of the electorate.

"You just wonder, is he trying to shoot himself in the foot?" said David Domke, author of "The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America."

No one expects Obama to lure the most traditional Christian voters from the GOP. Polls consistently show McCain winning frequent churchgoers by large margins. But in a close general election, Obama could win by taking a small percentage of the evangelical vote away from the GOP.

"Obama is going to make real inroads for people who want to be satisfied that this is a pretty religious guy but that he's not a lunatic," Silk said.

The person with the most at stake may be Warren himself. The impression he makes Saturday will shape his reputation, the public view of his church and his position among evangelicals for a long time to come.

"I think Rick is in an unenviable position in that he stands to get attacked from the right and the left, based on what direction he takes," said Mark DeMoss, an evangelical public relations specialist who had supported former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the GOP primary. "As an evangelical, I am much more interested in his list of questions than in either of their answers."

First, let's review some recent events. On November 13, Rick Warren met with Syria’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Badr al-Din Hassoun in Damascus. Their dialogue was publicized by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) in an article titled, "American Priest (Warren) Says no Peace without Syria:"

"Rick Warren on Monday said... that 80 percent of the American people rejected what the US Administration is doing in Iraq and considered the US policy in the Mideast as wrong.... Warren expressed admiration of Syria and the coexistence he saw between Muslims and Christians, stressing that he will convey this image to his church and country."[4]

On November 16, WorldNetDaily founder Joseph Farah wrote,

"Rick Warren wrote to me this morning to protest this column. He claims he didn't say anything he was actually quoted as saying by the official press in Syria. However, in a video... he says Syria 'does not allow extremism of any kind.' In fact, Syria is, in many ways, the No. 1 sponsor of terrorism in the world.... Here's what the Syrian Arab News Agency reported: '...Pastor Warren hailed the religious coexistence, tolerance and stability that the Syrian society is enjoying due to the wise leadership of President al-Assad....'"[5]

Despite contrary evidence, Warren proclaimed what the Syrian President al-Assad apparently told him. But the soon-to-follow assassination of Pierre Gemayel, a Christian anti-Syrian official in the Lebanese government -- therefore a foe to the Syria-backed Hezbollah terrorists -- should shatter those public illusions of tolerant coexistence.[6]

Finally, in a startling expose on November 20, Joseph Farah wrote,

"I pointed out to Warren that WND had indeed attempted to contact him about his trip. No one from his Saddleback Church ever returned our calls the day the story broke. 'I'm sure since you were warned in advance by the State Department that you took the precaution of recording your own words,' I suggested in my response. 'We look forward to seeing the transcripts.'...

"I really didn't expect to hear back from Warren – but, a few minutes later, I did, with an absolutely stunning retort. He let me know he is a close friend of President Bush 'and many, if not most, of the generals at the Pentagon.' He also told me he did not tape anything while in Syria, 'because it was a courtesy call, like I do in every country.' Warren explained that he had also counseled with the National Security Council and the White House, as well as the State Department, before his little courtesy call.... 'In fact, Warren added, 'as a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and Oxford Analytica, I might know as much about the Middle East as you.'...

"Not one to let lies go unchallenged, I wrote back to Warren with a link to the YouTube video: 'If you didn't tape anything, what's this?... It might be that Rick Warren, deep in the bush of Rwanda, never received those last questions, because he never responded – at least not in the last three days. He did, however, within minutes make sure the YouTube video he recorded independent of his meetings with the Syrian brown shirts was removed from the network."[2]

1. So why would the globalist Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) invite a Christian Pastor to join its secretive, anti-Christian organizations?

To understand the gravity of this unlikely partnership, let's summarize the history of the CFR. The following excerpts from our article, "Real Conspiracies -- Past and Present," provide a glimpse of the ruling network of masterminds behind the curtains of contemporary governments:

Few have done more to expose this global agenda than Bill Clinton's mentor, Carroll Quigley, an influential former history professor at the Foreign Service Schools of Georgetown University. Ponder this revelation from his 1300-page report, Tragedy and Hope:

"There does exist, and has existed for a generation, an international Anglophile network which operates, to some extent in the way the radical Right believes the Communists act. In fact, this network, which we may identify as the Round Table Groups, has no aversion to cooperating with the Communists, or any other groups, and frequently does so. I know of the operation of this network because I have studied it for twenty years, and was permitted for two years, in the early 1960s, to examine its papers and secret records.... [I]n general my chief difference of opinion is that it wishes to remain unknown...."[7]

Quigley's next page describes the birth of The Council of Foreign Relations (CFR). A driving force behind today's global transformation, CFR insiders have helped steer the course of the current shift from U.S. sovereignty to a regional union under the UN (like the European Union) with open borders between Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. He writes,

"At the end of the war of 1914 [World War 1], it became clear that the organization of this [secret] system had to be greatly extended.... This front organization, called the Royal Institute of International Affairs, had as its nucleus in each area the existing submerged Round Table Group. In New York it was known as the Council on Foreign Relations, and was a front for J. P. Morgan and Company.... In fact, the original plans for the Royal Institute of International Affairs and The Council of Foreign Relations were drawn up at Paris."[8]

Rick Warren's global PEACE Plan fits right into this rising New World Order. As we explained in Warren's P.E.A.C.E. Plan and UN Goals - Part 2, this Communitarian system is based on partnerships and networks between government (public sector), business (private sector) and churches -- the most useful member of civil society (social sector). But it's never a partnership of equals, since governments wield both financial and standard-setting power. In the global arena, it intends to use the social sector (especially the global network of churches) to meet the needs of its promised welfare system.[9]

Rick Warren seems more than happy to be the Pied Piper that ushers churches into the organizational web envisioned by the CFR -- the guiding political force behind the visible global management system.[10]

2. How might Rick Warren benefit the elite Oxford Analytica?

He fits right into its agenda! Many of the same power brokers that steer the CFR are also guiding the Oxford Analytica. Its founder, David R. Young, provides this background information:

Most of these mighty elites have chosen to live in the shadow of the mainstream media they control. Not so Rick Warren. Yet his global ambitions and magnetic leadership skills would serve them well, and Warren knows it. "Billions of people suffer each day from problems so big no government can solve them," Warren told the cheering crowd at Los Angeles' Angel Stadium back in 2005. "The only thing big enough to solve the problems of spiritual emptiness, selfish leadership, poverty, disease, and ignorance is the network of millions of churches all around the world."[12]

3. Why would Warren lie about his taped, much publicized dialogue with Syrian Muslim leader?

Like the CFR and the media it controls, Rick Warren has mastered the dialectic skill of speaking out of both sides of his mouth. He knows how to cloak worldly ambitions in words that resemble Biblical humility. He hides his emphasis on social collectivism behind Biblical words that promise oneness in Christ. And he promotes the Communitarian agenda while acknowledging the Kingdom of God.

But balancing such opposites leads to problems. Those who try to please influencers in every camp are likely to prove unreliable and dishonest. And in this case, Warren was obviously trapped by his own purpose-driven propaganda. In Syria he spoke words that would please the Muslim, anti-American leadership. In America, he tried to hide the facts in order to please his American fans.

Of course, positive proclamations can't cure the hatreds brewing in Syria. Now that Gemayel's assassination has fueled that fire, the noble sentiments of popular visionaries sound hollow indeed. As Rick Warren's "close friend" President Bush said,

Warren's deceptions began years ago, when he first adapted his famous five purposes to a postmodern culture. The outline below shows his Biblical titles (click on the live links to see the Scriptures). But the practical expressions of those Biblical terms have been twisted to accommodate the human preferences indicated by surveys and marketing schemes.

1. Worship: Postmodern worship is designed to stir good feelings and collective zeal. It may echo Biblical words, but points to a positive and permissive God who will cheer our self-centered nature and excuse our unholy ways. It clashes with genuine expressions of Spirit-filled hearts that freely praise God without emotion-raising stimuli. (See Spirit-Led or Purpose-Driven)

2. Fellowship: Organized purpose-driven "fellowship" follows dialectical guidelines. Small group members are trained in unbiblical tolerance, feeling-based (not fact-based) "sharing," and hostility toward "offensive" Biblical absolutes. In contrast, Biblical fellowship implies a gathering of genuine believers with a common delight in His Word, His will, and His holy ways.

“We’re all in this together,” said Rick Warren at the liberal Baptist World Alliance’s 2005 Congress. Baptists can “celebrate our diversity and celebrate our unity," he continued. "I see absolutely zero reason in separating my fellowship from anybody.[14]

3. Discipleship: Today's purpose-driven leadership calls for submission and loyalty to "the group" and its postmodern social ethics -- not to God and His Word. It demands collective thinking and "service learning."

4. Ministry: The shape and structure of purpose-driven ministries are increasingly defined by new management gurus, personality assessments, community surveys, and group appeal, not by Biblical teaching nor God's actual purposes.

5. Evangelism: Today's soft, non-offensive gospel focuses on God's supposed "passionate love" for people who are naturally lovable, not on His loving mercy for sinners. (See Ephesians 2:1-4) When "Christian" change agents train the masses to "think outside the box" of God's unchanging Word, they blind people to the only truth that can set us free.

"...if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." Galatians 1:9-10

There is a HUGE thread on this at FR...Warren 's CFR membership hasn't even been mentioned...