On this past weekend’s episode of State of Belief, Welton was kind enough to welcome me in the studio for one of our recurring segments – the Intersection Awards, in which we hand out red lights, yellow lights, and green lights at the intersection of religion and politics. This weekend’s show was a little diferrent in that all three awards (one of each color) involved the same event: the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency conducted by Pastor Rick Warren.
Here’s a quick recap. First, we handed out a Green Light for Pastor Warren’s introductory comments. Take a look:
We completely agree, and you probably will never hear Dobson or Robertson make the same statement.
Moving into more dangerous territory, we handed out a Yellow Light to Pastor Warren for asking a fairly pointed question about abortion. He used the word “Holocaust” to describe the number of abortions that have taken place in America in recent years. Here’s the full context:
I understand people on both sides of the abortion issue often have very strong feelings. But Pastor Warren promised a civilized discussion of the issues. And to a large extent I think he accomplished that, but invoking the horror of the Holocaust rarely sparks a civilized discussion.
And finally, we handed out a Red Light for this ultimate Pastor-in-Chief question that Pastor Warren asked: “What does it mean to trust in Christ?” Take a look (about 30 seconds in):
A better answer to that question is: “That’s not your business.” The candidate’s religious bona fides have nothing to do with how well they will lead this country. If faith were a barometer for wisdom and vision, George W. Bush might be one of our best presidents, but look how he turned out.
What do you think? Do you agree with our classifications? What other stories deserve attention in our next Intersection Awards segment? Leave us a comment!
