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By David W. Virtue www.virtueonline.org 1/12/2009 In September 2008, Saddleback pastor and author Dr. Rick Warren wrote to VOL with a proposition. He would make his church available to any Anglican parish wanting to flee the Episcopal Church because of its non-biblical stand on faith and morals. VOL was delighted to accept the challenge and wrote to Bishop John Guernsey of the Anglican Province of Uganda who oversees some 51 parishes in the U.S. and told him about the offer. Bishop Guernsey wrote back saying he would notify a number of churches that might someday be in need of Saddleback's...

WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline)-All of the nation's state attorneys general have signed onto a brief to include references to God in President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration this month. Authored by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the amicus brief was filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in the case of atheist Michael Newdow v. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. Newdow, a Sacramento physician, seeks to eliminate prayer from the ceremony and prevent Obama from being able to say "so help me God" in the presidential oath of office.

can absolutely see what Warren hoped to get out of this sordid little trip, the evidence of which he vainly tried to conceal when it threatened to become embarrassing. He wanted to be on video for his open-mouthed followers as he posed "on the road to Damascus." And he didn't care what deals he had to make, with Baath and Toothbrush Central Command, in order to bring off such a fundraising coup. But now it's the sandals of Obama that are being exploited by the same tub-thumper, and one has not merely a right but a duty to object to...

Last August I wrote a column critical of Rick Warren's decision to host a presidential candidate forum at his Saddleback Church. My reasoning then was that America's crisis is moral ambiguity. I argued that Pastor Warren would only contribute to this ambiguity by hosting candidates with opposing views on issues such as abortion and homosexuality and presenting himself as a neutral moderator. Only Barack Obama would gain, I felt, being showcased as an acceptable candidate by one of the nation's best known evangelical pastors. If John McCain had wanted to clarify his social conservative credentials, he didn't need to go...

January 1, 2009 Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson will appear as a guest on "FOX & Friends" tomorrow, Friday, at 6 a.m. EST / 3 a.m. PST. Rev. Peterson will debate an atheist on whether Pastor Rick Warren should invoke the name of Jesus during his invocation at president-elect Obama's inauguration. "FOX & Friends" airs on The FOX News Channel, M-F, 6 a.m. EST / 3 a.m. PST.

President-elect Barack Obama's choice of Rick Warren to deliver the inaugural invocation drew one kind of protest. Whether the evangelical pastor offers the prayer in the name of Jesus may draw another. At George W. Bush's 2001 swearing-in, the Revs. Franklin Graham and Kirbyjon Caldwell were criticized for invoking Christ. The distinctly Christian reference at a national civic event offended some, and even prompted a lawsuit. Warren did not answer directly when asked whether he would dedicate his prayer to Jesus. In a statement Tuesday to The Associated Press, Warren would say only that, "I'm a Christian pastor so I...

A group advocating separation of church and state is suing to keep prayer out of the Jan. 20 presidential inauguration. The Madison-based Freedom From Religion Foundation and several of its members are among the 29 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed Monday in Washington, D.C. The lawsuit seeks to block the Presidential Inaugural Committee from including prayers in the official inauguration. It says clergy have not led prayers at inaugurations for most of the nation's history.

What's the biggest issue facing America these days? The economy? The mortgage crisis? The Iran threat? Iraq? Afghanistan? The War On Terror? You might think it would be one of these, but . . . you would be wrong, at least according to the DUmmies. No, the biggest issue--the biggest CRISIS--facing our fair land is that President-Elect Obama has invited Rick Warren to deliver an invocation at his inauguration. THIS MEANS WAR--THE WAR ON WARREN!!! The homos and the heteros in DUmmieland are having a pissing contest (well, not literally--although some might enjoy that) to see who can be...

The recent furor over President-Elect Barack Obama’s selection of California mega-church pastor Rick Warren to pray at the January 20th inauguration yields a few clues about what evangelicals can expect during the next four years. On the surface, playing the Warren card appears to be a masterstroke by Obama – one that further demonstrates impressive political skills. A day or so after the election, I was asked by someone about what Mr. Obama would do to prepare for his administration. I replied that I thought he would demonstrate significant savvy by – at least for the time being – ignoring...

Piggybacking off of yesterday’s post about the hypocrisy from the Left on Barack Obama’s ministerial affiliations with Rick Warren and Jeremiah Wright, this AOL Hot Seat Poll asks the question directly. It also gives respondents an opportunity to say that both or neither bother them.

As we saw during primary season, our president-elect is not free of his own brand of hubris and arrogance, and sometimes it comes before a fall: “You’re likable enough, Hillary” was the prelude to his defeat in New Hampshire. He has hit this same note again by assigning the invocation at his inauguration to the Rev. Rick Warren, the Orange County, Calif., megachurch preacher who has likened committed gay relationships to incest, polygamy and “an older guy marrying a child.” Bestowing this honor on Warren was a conscious — and glib — decision by Obama to spend political capital. It...

Barack Obama's decision to have Pastor Rick Warren deliver the invocation at his inauguration next month has provoked anguish among some of his formerly ardent supporters. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, upbraided the president-elect according to The Politico. "Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans. (W)e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination." Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen accused Obama of condoning a man...

Etheridge's wife, Tammy Lynn, thinks Rick Warren 'LOVES gays' By JD Uyon December 26, 2008 9:08 AM rick is not a televangelist. rick is not falwell. rick spoke of some "stupid" things he's said (his word, not mine), some missquotes that were given, and lots of ammunition from the media. all excellent points. (we're all war-minded right now, you know. it's easy for the media to distract us by throwing us into our own verbal wars here at home.) ) what to do, what to do.... the rest of the public is given an animation of rick warren... and then...

Barack Obama's decision to have Pastor Rick Warren deliver the invocation at his inauguration next month has provoked anguish among some of his formerly ardent supporters. Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, upbraided the president-elect according to The Politico. "Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans. (W)e feel a deep level of disrespect when one of architects and promoters of an anti-gay agenda is given the prominence and the pulpit of your historic nomination." Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen accused Obama of condoning a man...

When during its first half-hour this Christmas morning "Today" moved to a conversation between Matt Lauer and Pastor Rick Warren, I braced myself. Don't tell me, I thought, they're going to get into the invitation Pres.-elect Obama extended him to give the invocation at the Inauguration, and the reaction of some gay-rights groups. Well, surprise! They didn't: not in word or implication. Warren appeared strictly in his role as pastor, and the conversation focused exclusively on the meaning of the day. The video clip is of the portion of the conversation in which Warren describes the origin and practice of...

Gay-rights activists remain hopeful about the Obama presidency but are now more wary after what one called a "double punch to the gut" — the choice of a pastor they consider hostile for a prime inauguration role and dashed hopes for the first openly gay Cabinet member. Enthusiasm among gays over Barack Obama's election has deflated rapidly in the days since his inaugural organizers announced that the invocation would be delivered by the Rev. Rick Warren, a prominent pastor who backed a recent ballot measure banning same-sex marriage in his home state of California. The Warren announcement coincided with the...

Re "Warren invitation" (Letters, Dec. 23): I am getting tired of hearing gays and left-leaning Democrats refer to anyone who opposes gay marriage as being "homophobic" or even "bigoted." I voted yes on Proposition 8 because I believe marriage is a bond between one man and one woman. For the sake of my children and their children's future I will do everything I can to protect the institution of marriage and family for them. That doesn't make me a bigot or homophobic. That makes me an American exercising my right to vote. Having the Rev. Rick Warren give the inaugural...

These days everything is political, or can be made so; even an inaugural prayer. That isn't exactly correct. The inaugural prayer in question is not the Rev. Joseph Lowery's benediction, but Rick Warren's invocation. Lowery favors same-sex "marriage" and Warren does not. Homosexual activist groups and individuals such as Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) are angry, upset and hurt (and probably many other things, too) that Barack Obama would invite Warren to pray at the inaugural. Warren openly supported California's Proposition 8, which voters approved. The measure changed the state constitution to restrict marriage to opposite-sex couples. Obama, so far, has...

When Pastor Rick Warren’s “Global Peace Coalition” presented President Bush with the International Medal of Peace recently, one of the groups invited to attend the ceremony was the Islamic Society of North America—one of the unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation Hamas funding trial: ISNA ATTENDS SADDLEBACK CHURCH CIVIL FORUM ON GLOBAL HEALTH. This event took place after the convictions of the Holy Land Foundation defendants.

CAN YOU HEAR the grumbling over in what Howard Dean used to call "the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party?" The tolerance-and-diversity crowd is upset with Barack Obama; it seems the president-elect has been bringing people into his circle who don't agree with them on every single issue. The consternation on the left began with the naming of Obama's national security team - Hillary Clinton as secretary of state, Robert Gates to continue as secretary of defense, and retired four-star General James Jones as national security adviser. "Barack Obama's Kettle of Hawks," they were promptly dubbed in the Guardian by...