Barack Obama, Rick Warren and Issues of Trust

Barack Obama and John McCain will participate in Rick Warren's Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion on August 16th.

A storm is brewing off the southern California coast. It’s looking like a big one too. Strong systems of Democrats and Evangelicals seem to be on a collision course over the individual and collective souls of Barack Obama and Rick Warren. John McCain will be there too, but he stands to gain or lose little if anything.

Best selling author of ‘The Purpose Driven Life’, Rick Warren quietly sent out a press release last week announcing the lineup for what he is calling the Saddleback Civil Summit to be held at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California on August 16th. Warren describes the gathering as designed to “promote civil discourse and the common good of all.” Over Passover this year, the forum hosted five Holocaust survivors who shared their experiences. In September, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will be featured.

In this forum, Pastor Warren will moderate the discussion with one candidate at a time; Obama will go first. While McCain and Obama will almost certainly been seen together, it appears unlikely that they will participate in the forum at the same time as not to create a debate style atmosphere. The theme of the forum is leadership and compassion. The press release also says, “This is a critical time for our nation and the American people deserve to hear both candidates speak from the heart – without interruption – in a civil and thoughtful format absent the partisan ‘gotcha’ questions that typically produce heat instead of light.”

A forum with such a clear and communicated purpose (pardon the pun) has inadvertently created a vibe of distrust in the outer edges of the two camps at the core of this forum. Liberals have long distrusted Christians for the most part. From a liberal perspective, it’s justified. After all, Evangelicals (along with Ralph Nader and Kathleen Harris) are responsible for cursing the world with eight years of George W. Bush. Even a pastor who seems to rise above the fray, like Warren, is met with a skeptical eye and ear.

Many liberals even distrust Warren; a man who seldom says anything that ruffles feathers or makes waves with anyone. It is for this reason that there is another group that distrusts Warren. The fringe of the Evangelical right has an abundance of problems with him. When Warren invited Obama and Hillary Clinton to speak at Saddleback’s AIDS conference last December, many Christian bloggers and Evangelical activists blasted the decision calling Warren everything from a bad example to a heretic to the anti-Christ himself.

Many of the outskirts of realty based Christians had an issue with Warren long before Obama’s speech from his Saddleback pulpit. It seems that Warren’s non-combative style with “sinners” and liberals on the issues of homosexuality and abortion rubs them the wrong way. His refusal to take on the issues from a “true Biblical perspective” is, well, unforgivable it seems.

To his credit, Warren continues to buck fringe tradition and embrace the ideas and ideals of both parties while not compromising his position as a pastor or Christian. This invitation and offering of a forum to Obama is consistent with what is developing as his way.

Warren makes a conspicuous point to call to attention that he does not endorse candidates or political parties. Although outside Saddleback’s sanctuary after every one of their six weekend services are “information for voters”; pamphlets containing the names of various candidates and where they stand on issues like abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research.

In October, 2004, Warren sent out an email to all of his members outlining the importance of specific political issues. Issues of life such as freedom of choice and stem cells were alluded to without mentioning the names of George W. Bush and John Kerry. Warren’s intention was clear in what at the time looked like a very tight race.

This thought brings back into perspective the anxiety of liberals over Obama’s participation in a forum such as this. On the surface it seems safe and secure with the outside opportunity to woo Evangelicals not enamored with John McCain. However, Warren’s sermon to be delivered directly to his congregation the morning after this forum will be called, “Making up Your Mind: Questions to Consider before the Election.” Both the forum and the subsequent sermon will be streamed on the church’s website. Even the mildest liberal conspiracy theorists will take flight with how that message will go. Certainly the first sign that something is afoot will be if Warren mentions Sunday’s message and its available stream during what will no doubt be at least national cable television audience.

It should be assumed that the Obama campaign has researched the details of their participation in this forum. They have miscalculated almost nothing during this campaign and continue to insist through action that Evangelicals are a demographic that they should be pursuing. Until then, Rick Warren has to this point won Obama’s trust. Should he not use his Sunday message to attempt to deliver the Christian vote to McCain, he will have certainly further damaged his already fragile standing with the right’s fringe, a demographic he doesn’t seem to covet.

With an aging and seldom seen Billy Graham, Warren has seemed poised and positioned to take over as ‘America’s Pastor’. Should he seem sympathetic to an eventually elected Democrat, his case will be made with at least one side of the aisle.