It appears that some people, including some conservative writers like Kathleen Parker http://townhall.com/columnists/KathleenParker/2008/08/20/purpose-driven_politics are not all that comfortable with the Civil Forum On The Presidency that took place this past Saturday at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback Church here in California.
I do not subscribe to that view.
I am more in agreement with John Hawkins' take on the Forum http://www.rightwingnews.com/#post12324.
I think that Miss Parker is more like Sen. John "F--- You" McCain. A person of faith yet one who is not comfortable talking about it. That is why I think she has raised objection to the Forum taking place at all.
Yet, Miss Parker points out that neither candidate had a gun put to their heads forcing them to participate. It was so important to one candidate, Libertarian standard-bearer Bob Barr that he went to court to force his way on to the Forum.
Mr. Hawkins has the most important point to make.
That government has grown larger and larger. And that same government at all levels are making decisions that affect religious freedoms.
Like it or not, Christians vote and have a right and a duty to question where candidates stand on issues that are of particular interest to this voting bloc.
As a Christian myself, I believe that it is imperative to know where candidates stand on many issues and what my support of and voting for a candidate will have on my community, state and nation.
And, like it or not, there are many issues where the moral teachings of Christianity come up against the interests of the state. Always have and always will in this nation that values religious freedom.
I think that some, even conservatives, object to the fact that this took place at a very well known evangelical Christian church. So, here is how to solve that problem.
If Roman Catholics, mainline Protestants or any other religious group wants to have a forum like the one Pastor Warren had, they should and they should invite the two leading presidential candidates and have a similar format.
Whether we as a nation like it or not, faith and politics are constantly competing with each other. I think that it was refreshing to have the kind of format and questions that came from Pastor Warren. I would really like to see more of these. I think that we get a real feel for the candidates. And I think that we can learn a lot more in the homestretch how both of these men would make a decision and why.
I wished that the DDBMSOWM would ask these kind of questions. But, they are only interested in that "GOTCHA!" question.
And that is why a pastor has to have the kind of setting and ask the questions that he did to show the DDBMSOWM how it is done.
So, there is nothing wrong with it and we need more of these, not less.
4 comments:
I agree...the only entity not allowed to use religion as a test is the government...the people can and do all day long. Rick said it best at the beginning when he said he believed in the separation of church and state but not the separation of faith and politics. I thought it was excellent and I thought Rick was fantastic...and McCain did so well. :)N
this may have been the most open and truthful forum we will have compared to the debates, thanks to the honesty of warren!!!
I agree that the forum was ok. As a matter of fact, I liked the way the questions were asked. Warren did a good job as a host/interviewer.
And I agree that people have the right to ask the questions asked. But to some degree, I think the evangelicals have stopped listening to some people's answers. Mitt Romney has been lambasted by some evangelicals for his religion. It does not seem to matter to these evangelicals that he would support their positions and agendas, even from a different religious viewpoint. The net result would be the same, yet some people don't seem to see it.
I am not an evangelical. No apologies from me for that. I have supported the evangelical agenda in the past as they are part of Reagan's conservative coalition. But they seem to have forgotten it is a coalition. Coalitions have some give and take. As a conservative non-evangelical, I don't think the coalition can hold together if the evangelicals keep trying to railroad other conservatives.
Is McCain fit to serve as President? The guy doesn't even know how many houses he owns. Another senior moment for McCain.
http://johnmccainreport.blogspot.com/
Post a Comment