Posted on 08/15/2008 1:24:22 PM PDT by TheDon
... A Southern Baptist minister who breaks the conservative mold. Touted by some as the likely successor to Billy Graham.
On Saturday, pastor Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose-Driven Life," will do what no one else has yet accomplished: bring the presumptive GOP and Democratic presidential nominees onto the same stage to discuss their views.
It's a sign of religion's importance in the 2008 presidential campaign. The event, back-to-back one-hour interviews at Mr. Warren's California megachurch, will be broadcast live on CNN and streamed on the Web. It also represents the emergence of a new style of evangelical leadership on the national stage, which is not tied to a single party and has broadened its social agenda beyond that of the religious right.
"This is absolutely a changing of the guard, and it suggests that the new guard of the evangelical movement is able to generate the attention and focus of both parties," says D. Michael Lindsay, a sociologist at Rice University and author of "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite."
....
Many leaders have spurred the broadening of the evangelical agenda, ... They have all sparked criticism from the religious right, which insists on hewing to a tight social agenda on abortion, homosexuality, and the courts.
Warren, too, is the frequent brunt of criticism. While theologically conservative and an opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage, he has been criticized for reaching out to leaders such as Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama.
...
The feeling has grown that it's time to pull back from too close a connection to one political party. This has created an opening for Democrats, which Obama has tried to take advantage of, meeting with prominent evangelical leaders and reaching out to youths.
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(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
‘Likely successor to Billy Graham’??? In your dreams ...
He is getting praised by all the wrong people...
He’ll NEVER be the “new Billy Graham”, his successor or anything. Liberals can’t bulls__t God.
‘Likely successor to Billy Graham’??? In your dreams ...
Exactly!
That was my reaction as well. Stone throwing naysayer that I am.
i'm sure Jane Lampman is an authority on Christianity
Ahh....The Warrnites, “though opposed to same sex marriage and abortion...”
Sort of, they back burner those things in favor of Global Warming and Tax and Spend poverty programs for the 3rd and 4th world.
Obama’s .7% global poverty tax is right up the Warrenites alley...
“And every work will be tested by fire...”
fyi
Ohm...thanks for that info!
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His questions will focus on how the candidates lead and make decisions and will cover five topics: leadership, stewardship, worldview, compassion issues, and their vision for America.
"This can be important as a model for a religious leader who is bipartisan in reaching out to find out about candidates," says C. Welton Gaddy, head of the Interfaith Alliance, in Washington, which has criticized some uses of religion in the campaign. "He's putting himself on center stage at a critical moment, with a tremendous amount of responsibility riding on his shoulders."
Well Rick, it's hard to fly when the left wing has ailerons dragging the bird into the ground.
I'm gonna reserve judgement for now, but the two wing scenario reminds me too much of the current "Gang of Ten".
I was just thinking that he is not anything like my SBC minister who preaches from the word of God and would not think of having any politicians as speakers. The more I learn about Rick, the less I like him and he can forget about being Graham’s successor. No way, no how.
Hmmm the MSM praising this guy? Is he another huckster?
“I have known many people who believe in the Messiah of Jesus, regardless of what religion they are, because they believe in him. It’s about a relationship, not a religion. You’ve heard this many times.”
In both the (New Age) New Spirituality and the Purpose-Driven Paradigm, doctrinal views (theological creeds) and the faith of Christianity are irrelevant:
“One day you will stand before God, and he will do an audit of your life, a final exam, before you enter eternity.… God won’t ask about your religious background or doctrinal views.” (Purpose Driven Life; p. 34)
“I happen to know people who are followers of Christ in other religions.”
Clearly, the message has changed! Rick Warren’s various statements render one’s religion irrelevant, even though he has acknowledged that all religions “have a different way to get to God”:
“...I have studied all the major religions … and they all just have a different way to get to God. Now, they are – anybody who has studied religions knows that they are mutually exclusive.”
Incidentally, Rick Warren has said, “Because I had been raised in a Christian home, I rejected it all, and I decided to study the religions of the world. I actually moved to Japan, and I studied Buddhism, Shintoism, Hinduism. I studied all the religions of the world.”12 Then he should know that religions aren’t just a “different way to get to God,” they follow different gods!
At the BWA [Baptist World Alliance]’s Centenary Congress, where the recurrent theme was “unity, unity, unity,”13 the following statements were made by Jimmy Carter and Rick Warren: “One of the world’s most prominent Baptists, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, said the desire for oneness is a powerful force for global good. Differences of belief -- even among Muslims, Jews and Christians -- are outweighed by a common commitment ‘to truth …’ Carter said.” (Emphasis added)14 “I don’t see many people interested in Christendom. But I see a lot of people interested in God.”
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