400-406 – Coming to you live from Saddleback Church for the "Civil Forum on the Presidency" hosted by Pastor Rick Warren with Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, made possible by our great friends at Park Place Real Estate Services, Azusa Pacific University and the Money Guys, Robert Micone and Bill O'Connor, from Applied Financial Planning. We'll be carrying the whole event live here on 99.5KKLA, so don't go anywhere!
•• Each candidate gets the same set of questions for 50 minutes, Obama goes first, and McCain won't be able to listen to any of Obama's time with Rick Warren. Warren has said he won't ask any "gotcha" questions, nor will he be confrontational – he wants a conversation. Rick's passion is his PEACE plan to address the big five global problems: spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease, and illiteracy.
•• He's organized his questions into these four categories, in order:
Leadership – Questions on personal character, competence, convictions, and experience to be president.
Stewardship – Questions on the Constitution, the role of government, security, education, and energy.
Worldview – Questions on life, family, evil, freedom, Christianity, and Islam.
America's role in the world – Questions on going to war, on America's responsibility to bless other nations, poverty and disease, human rights, religious liberty, corruption, and their vision for America.
410-421 – What one question do you want asked? Who stands to win the most and lose the most? What's your biggest fear about all this?
• TIME (8/7/08), The Global Ambition of Rick Warren.
But upon exploring the role, Warren grew uncomfortable with it. "I have never been considered a part of the religious right, because I don't believe politics is the most effective way to change the world," he says now. "Although public service can be a noble profession, and I believe it is our responsibility to vote, I don't have much faith in government solutions, given the track record. It's why I am a pastor, not a politician. None of my values have changed from four years ago, but my agenda has definitely expanded."
Warren is an anti-abortion Southern Baptist, yet he is part of a movement to shift the Christian right's focus away from abortion and gay marriage. He turns instead to poverty, disease, illiteracy and other challenges around the world.
His forum Saturday will no doubt elevate his already prominent role at the intersection of religion and public life.
"What I'm trying to do is stake out what I call the common ground for the common good," Warren told FOX News on Friday, saying Americans are "disaffected" by both the secular left and the religious right.
"I'm neither of those," Warren said.
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Hot-button campaign issues are expected to be off the table Saturday — instead Warren will touch on his broader priorities. Warren representative A. Larry Ross said the forum will cycle through four areas: stewardship, leadership, worldview and America's role in the world.
• Bloomberg (7/28/08), Obama Wins Young Evangelical Voters in Battleground-State Push. The religious left, with prodding from other Obama supporters, have broadened the definition of "pro-life" beyond the abortion question so that it now includes the fights against poverty, war, disease, global warming and genocide. The new spin is "Obama is pro-life on 5 out of 6 issues, while McCain is pro-life on just one. So who's really pro-life?"
• Washington Times (8/15/08), Obama attracts young evangelicals.
• Sojourners, 2008 "Voting All Your Values" Christian Voter's Guide. Guess what items they want you to focus on instead of abortion and same-sex marriage? From their website, "What issues are included in the 2008 guide? 1) Compassion and economic justice, 2) Peace and restraint of violence, 3) A consistent ethic of life, 4) Racial justice, 5) Human rights, dignity, and gender justice, 6) Strengthened families and renewed culture, and 7) Good stewardship of God's creation."
Let me translate: 1) "Compassion and economic justice" = Higher taxes, more wealth redistribution, and more socialism. 2) "Peace and restraint of violence" = surrendering in Iraq and Afghanistan, and general passivity in the face of evil, 3) "A consistent ethic of life" = opposition to the death penalty and waterboarding, but tolerance for abortion, 4) "Racial justice" = slavery reparations, quotas, and affirmative action, 5) "Human rights, dignity, and gender justice" = same sex marriage, homosexual curricula in schools, and opposition to DOMA and a Federal Marriage Amendment, 6) "Strengthened families and renewed culture" = a redefinition of "family" to include all combinations, and contempt for the American founding, and 7) "Good stewardship of God's creation" = embracing all global warming hysteria."
1) You're sure the Constitution explicitly guarantees the right to abortion and gay marriage, but not the right to own a handgun.
2) You'd be more upset about your favorite candidate being endorsed by the NRA than the Communist Party.
3) You think the case for global warming is proven without a shadow of a doubt, but that we need another century or two worth of evidence to figure out if capitalism and free markets work better than socialism.
4) You think the war in Iraq is unwinnable, but victory in the war on poverty is going to happen any day now if we can just get the Democrats back in charge
5) You think censorship is absolutely wrong; except when it's applied to conservatives on college campuses or on talk radio via the fairness doctrine.
6) You get more upset about an American soldier accidentally killing a civilian than you do about a terrorist deliberately blowing up a school bus full of kids.
7) You couldn't care less about what Americans in states like Kansas or Virginia think of you, but you would be greatly upset if a Frenchman gave you a dirty look because you're an American.
8) You think kids in public schools should have to watch Earth in the Balance and read Heather Has Two Mommies, but no piece of literature with the word "Jesus" in it should be allowed within a hundred yards of a school.
424 – [2:00] "Your Independent, Unbiased, Advisors: Robert Micone/Bill O'Connor, The Money Guys at Applied Financial," call them at 866-SEEK-COUNSEL, or visit them online at appliedfinancialplanning.com.
426-440 – Coming to you live from Saddleback Church for the "Civil Forum on the Presidency" hosted by Pastor Rick Warren with Senators Barack Obama and John McCain, made possible by our great friends at Park Place Real Estate Services, Azusa Pacific University and the Money Guys, Robert Micone and Bill O'Connor, from Applied Financial Planning.
441 – [2:00] "Your Independent, Unbiased, Advisors: Robert Micone/Bill O'Connor, The Money Guys at Applied Financial," call them at 866-SEEK-COUNSEL, or visit them online at appliedfinancialplanning.com.
445-450 –
455-459:50 –
• NRLC (8/11/08), Obama Cover-up Revealed On Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Bill. The following statement was issued on Monday, August 11, 2008, by the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) in Washington, D.C.
