Interviewer: "This conversation and others you've had recently make me
wonder whether you're planning to vote for a Democrat."
Rick Warren: "I have no idea, and I certainly wouldn't tell you. I'm
registered Independent. I have friends on both sides of the aisle. I am a
pastor. What do pastors do? Pastors encourage leaders."
What do you think? What do pastors do? I agree that they encourage leaders. But I also think that they speak out on issues of righteousness, justice, and mercy. And my opinion is that the abortion epidemic in our country is the human rights issue of our generation. Since 1973 over 40 million innocent babies have been aborted. This week 25,000 babies will lose their lives. Yet the tv and newspapers do not tell us about this quiet genocide of innocent Americans. Several of the Democratic candidates have fought hard to maintain and expand abortion rights. Some have voted against outlawing partial birth abortion, which involves the partial delivery of a usually viable baby, so that the head is still in the birth canal but the arms and legs are delivered. The doctor then takes surgical scissors and inserts them into the base of the baby's scull. He then inserts a suction tube into the base of the head and sucks the brains of the baby out, so that the skull collapses and the head can pass through the cervix. Hillary Clinton voted against making this illegal, and in the 90's her husband vetoed a bill congress passed that would have made this illegal.
So when Rick Warren asks, "what do pastors do?" This is what I say: Pastors encourage and pray for leaders. Pastors also speak out boldly for justice and mercy. They speak out for orphans, whether they are in Africa with AIDS or inside a womb at an abortion clinic in Orange County. Pastors call all leaders to defend the helpless even when it is a divisive thing to do. Pastors act like John the Baptist (Mark 6:17-18) and challenge politicians to live righteously and enact righteous laws. When pastors are given a platform like Newsweek magazine they say abortion is wrong and call on all Americans to work to protect the unborn from barbaric procedures like partial birth abortion. This is what I think pastors should do. What do you think?
5 comments:
Wow; A very telling commentary, indeed. Perhaps we've come to expect politicians to be panderers, but I can't expect that from pastors! Thanks for pointing this out, Mark.
Man...lame. Well put Mark. I don't think it's the position of a pastor to tell his congregation who to vote for (in fact I think they get into trouble if they do). But pastors have a responsibility, if they are going to follow Christ and encourage their flock to do the same, to let them know what issues are not flexible with God. Of course Warren hasn't always struck me as one who gives the people something they don't want to hear.
Mark,
Thanks for the note on the interesting - although not necessarily suprising - article and for your comments that were quite on the mark.
Several issues came to my mind from my cursory reading of the article:
1. I did not necessarily find his born again comments problematic or his comments about evangelicals not voting as a block. It is tough to tell precisely what he could be trying to get across with that. He could mean at least two thing to me one of which I would find problematic and the other not.
2. People are giving him flack for inviting Hilary but I wonder whether they are getting on him for the right reason. For me, his problem begins in inviting politicians to an event like he did to begin with regardless of the politicians views. It seems to me that people are just getting on him because it was Hilary who has a pro choice view. But to me the key is that he did not invite her to speak on the abortion issue. It seems to me strange that Christians have to object having somebody come and speak on a topic just because we don't like their view on a totally different topic. For me the more fundamental problem is that he is inviting a politician to begin with. For me it is just as problematic to invite a conservative politician to do the same thing. I think pastors should just be speaking about what moral issues Christians need to take a stand on and let voters look at the facts of where politicians stand and then decide.
3. Warren's comment about pastors encouraging leaders comes at a weird place. It is tough for me to figure out what he means in that context, but I think you have read him correctly though. He doesn't exactly flesh the thought out.
4. I wonder on what basis Warren could justify voting for a democrat? Is he not sure of the pro life position? Does he think there is some bigger issue? Or maybe he is just giving the impression that voting for a democrat is not automatically of the table but in reality it is for him? The sad thing is that none of those possibilities puts him in a good light and so I hate to think it is any of them.
Sherry and Tyler, thanks for your comments. Sadly, I am not too surprised when pastors sidestep tough issues. Too much of our preaching and writing in American churches has lost its prophetic element. We want to have influence, so we figure out what is acceptable, rather than speaking truth even if it marginalizes us.
Keith, I also did not find the rest of the interview overly problematic. What his overall goal appears to be is this: communicate that evangelicals are not all conservative Republicans. I have a feeling his motive is evangelistic. He laments that evangelical is known as a political word. I agree with his lament, but have a couple of critiques. First, I don't understand a guy who wants evangelicals to have a less political reputation inviting a bunch of politicians to a conference at his church. Second, I think he is attempting to avoid the "political" label by avoiding issues politicians disagree on (abortion), while promoting issues everyone agrees on (helping the poor, and those with AIDS). I wish he would do both / and. He may end up getting lumped together with all the other "right wingers," but so what? People will slap labels on you if they don't like what you say. We shouldn't change what we say to avoid a label.
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