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The Myth of the Evangelical Voting Bloc
She's being accused of pandering, of coming to Saddleback to court the evangelical vote. What do you think about that?
[Laughing.] If you look up politician in the dictionary, there are plenty of synonyms and one of them is pandering. A wise politician wants to cover all the bases, there's no doubt about that. We wanted to give people a chance to hear what she'd say she'd do about AIDS if she was president.
Were you disappointed that the others didn't come?
I was, I really was. To me, in some ways, it might have been short-sighted. I do know [the Republicans] had the YouTube event the night before, but the bottom line is, I counted 13 television cameras at the back of the sanctuary, there was wall-to-wall media. The fact is, it was free publicity—on the occasion of World AIDS Day.
After last year's conference, you got heat from some conservative Christians for inviting Barack Obama, a pro-choice Democrat, to speak at Saddleback. What did you learn from that experience?
What I learned is, no matter what you do, they're going to criticize you. There were only about a handful of critics, and three or four were bloggers—it's very easy to give yourself a title these days and be this or that. One of the things they were saying last time was, "Rick Warren allowed Barack Obama to use his pulpit and preach to his congregation." First, we didn't have a pulpit, second it wasn't a church service. It was a conference, bringing in people from every walk of life from around the world. I would never, ever have a politician address the congregation in a worship service. I do not mind a politician coming to talk about AIDS if they're running for president.
This conversation and others you've had recently make me wonder whether you're planning to vote for a Democrat.
I have no idea, and I certainly wouldn't tell you. I'm registered Independent. I have friends on both sides of the aisle. I am a pastor. What do pastors do? Pastors encourage leaders.
© 2007
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Member Comments
Posted By: pashnada @ 02/26/2008 1:34:52 PM
Comment: two comments:
(1) stop_it_already sounds extremely bitter. his/her belief in nothing beyond his/her comprehension is a belief system as much as a religious person's belief system. he/she cannot really believe he/she knows everything?????????????
(2) I'm glad Rick Warren points out what many evangelical christians with a liberal political view have always know, evangelicals are not a block. there is a whole movement that sees poverty as the number one issue that christians should be concerned with rather than abortion and homosexuality
Posted By: stop_it_already @ 02/26/2008 9:54:18 AM
Comment: I am with al_g... the old testament is littered with archaic messages of bigotry, sexism, racism etc... and you can't accept one half of the bible as law and ignore the old testament! The amount of cognitive dissonance involved in this "thought" process should be irreparable but when powerful speakers like Rick Warren come along, logic is thrown out the window and paved over by soothing messages of hope and charity. Not that these are bad messages; Warren has done many wonderful things to facilitate social awareness and change. But when they are used as tools to suture the wounds in the brain that logic and reality have torn open, they become a destructive, degenerative force that end up hindering human progress.
I classify all religions as cults, no matter how many followers. It's all outmoded superstition with different mythology, and there is NO place in the White House for someone that still believes in fairy tales! What our we going to do, PRAY out way out of the monstrous debt Bush created? Ask Jesus for health care?
Six years ago, my parents were on the cover of Rick Warren's Christmas pamphlet PRAYING for the salvation of my soul.... they were linking hands with him and crying their eyes out. All that did was solidify my belief that religion has an equal ability to tear apart families and cultures as it does to bring them together. And why bother when there are other principals to rally around that are virtuous in their own right?
Posted By: lmperkins @ 02/25/2008 10:38:38 PM
Comment: I am glad someone is telling it like it is. There is no Evangelical Voting Bloc. The media just does not get it. Yes people of faith often vote for the same person. People of faith have like views on many subjucts and will vote for the person who supports many of their views. They do not get together to form a voting bloc