Saturday, August 16, 2008
Obama Gets a Pass at Saddleback Church
One of the disappointing aspects of Pastor Rick Warren's questions for Mr. Obama was that he forfeited his role as a Christian minister and played the role of an objective journalist.
Instead of giving Christians the opportunity to listen into a discussion that was entirely "within the realm of faith," he tossed softballs to Mr. Obama, letting him give the kind of stump answers that he routinely gives on CNN.
When(briefly)asked about abortion and stem cell research, Mr. Obama was allowed to lay down the standard progressive response that he believed in a woman's right to choose, though he was personally opposed to abortion. In a truly Christian discussion, why couldn't Mr. Obama be pressed on this? If an embryo is that which becomes a human person, is it possible that at ANY point it is NOT a human person? Did Pastor Warren fear offending the abortion supporters across the country with such a reasonable question?
When asked about evil, Mr. Obama reminded us that many evil acts have been committed by people with good intentions. A reasonable thing to say, and Mr. Warren should have used this logic to return to Mr. Obama's views on embryonic stem cell research. Certainly women who decide to have an abortion or researches who destroy embryonic stem cells do not have evil intentions, but the results are the same regardless: a life has been snuffed out and this is intrinsically evil.
This was the perfect forum for a heterodox Christian like Mr. Obama; instead of focusing on the moral issues of the day in detail: abortion, same sex marriage, sexual licentiousness, disobedience of all kinds, divorce and the decline of marriage and its damage to our society - he got more "social justice" type questions. Most of the issues Mr. Obama got to address in detail, were in his comfort zone: faith-based initiatives, orphans, taxes, war, torture, human trafficking (all important, of course) yet topics easily covered by a reporter from Los Angeles Times.
There is no question of Mr. Warren's robust faith, and the good work his evangelical church has done, but he missed the opportunity to have a truly Christian discussion between two self-professed Christians in a room full of fellow Christians.
The more Christians try to look, act and talk like secular Americans, the harder it will be for them to be the salt of the earth. We must recall that Roman civilization was converted by Catholics because pagan Romans saw how different they were from the everyday Roman. "Look at those Christians," they said. "Look how they love one another." And part of love must be to tell the truth, with charity of course, but without mincing the words of Jesus Christ and the Gospel.
Instead of giving Christians the opportunity to listen into a discussion that was entirely "within the realm of faith," he tossed softballs to Mr. Obama, letting him give the kind of stump answers that he routinely gives on CNN.
When(briefly)asked about abortion and stem cell research, Mr. Obama was allowed to lay down the standard progressive response that he believed in a woman's right to choose, though he was personally opposed to abortion. In a truly Christian discussion, why couldn't Mr. Obama be pressed on this? If an embryo is that which becomes a human person, is it possible that at ANY point it is NOT a human person? Did Pastor Warren fear offending the abortion supporters across the country with such a reasonable question?
When asked about evil, Mr. Obama reminded us that many evil acts have been committed by people with good intentions. A reasonable thing to say, and Mr. Warren should have used this logic to return to Mr. Obama's views on embryonic stem cell research. Certainly women who decide to have an abortion or researches who destroy embryonic stem cells do not have evil intentions, but the results are the same regardless: a life has been snuffed out and this is intrinsically evil.
This was the perfect forum for a heterodox Christian like Mr. Obama; instead of focusing on the moral issues of the day in detail: abortion, same sex marriage, sexual licentiousness, disobedience of all kinds, divorce and the decline of marriage and its damage to our society - he got more "social justice" type questions. Most of the issues Mr. Obama got to address in detail, were in his comfort zone: faith-based initiatives, orphans, taxes, war, torture, human trafficking (all important, of course) yet topics easily covered by a reporter from Los Angeles Times.
There is no question of Mr. Warren's robust faith, and the good work his evangelical church has done, but he missed the opportunity to have a truly Christian discussion between two self-professed Christians in a room full of fellow Christians.
The more Christians try to look, act and talk like secular Americans, the harder it will be for them to be the salt of the earth. We must recall that Roman civilization was converted by Catholics because pagan Romans saw how different they were from the everyday Roman. "Look at those Christians," they said. "Look how they love one another." And part of love must be to tell the truth, with charity of course, but without mincing the words of Jesus Christ and the Gospel.
Labels: Presidential Election
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