One of the most highly anticipated forums in US history, especially in the midst of a pivotal election campaign, took place at Lake Forest, California, on Sat, 16 Aug 2008. Senior Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church, facilitated a forum touching on key issues surrounding faith and politics with both presidential candidates Senators Barack Obama and John McCain.
For the full video coverage of the forum, click here. For a full transcript, click here.
The questions asked covered the following issues:
1. Leadership + Personal life
– 3 wisest people known
– greatest moral failure of own life & of America
– example of going against party loyalty and self-interest for good of America
– most significant position changed on in last 10 years
– most gut-wrenching decision ever made (and process)
2. Worldview
– what being a Christian means? On the daily basis?
– at what point is a baby entitled to human rights?
– definition of marriage
– support and funding for embryonic stem cell research
– does evil exist? how do we deal with it?
3. Domestic issues
– which existing Supreme Court justice would not have nominated?
– should faith-based organisations forfeit right to hire people who believe what they do to access federal funds?
– in education, should better teachers be paid better?
– in taxes, define “rich”.
– right to privacy versus right to national security
4. America’s responsibility to the world
– As an American, what’s worth dying for?
– would you consider and commit to an emergency plan for orphans?
– what do you think the U.S. should do to end religious persecution?
– how do we speak out and tackle human trafficking?
Here’s the first 10 minutes of the forum.
Here’s the CNN interview with Pastor Rick on the “Situation Room” before the forum.
Full Video Coverage
http://trevinwax.com/2008/08/17/obama-mccain-with-rick-warren-at-saddleback-forum-video/
Full Transcript
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0808/16/se.02.html
Backtrack to Saddleback – Secularists not pleased (Albert Mohler, CP)
http://christianpost.com/article/20080820/backtrack-to-saddleback-secularists-not-pleased.htm
