Church and Politics

Senators McCain & Obama

at Saddleback Church

Both primary candidates for the Presidency were in California on Saturday at the Saddleback Church (under the pastoral leadership of Rick Warren - author of the bestselling "A Purpose Driven Life") in Lake Forest, CA (aka the modern-day evangelical heart of Orange County and maybe even the USA) for a public interview. It's a huge church, over 20,000 members with services that occur over the duration of each weekend on several sites on the nearly 100 acre church campus.  We visited several years ago on a Sunday morning.  I was marked by the terrace cafe that we watched church from over coffee outdoors, and the waiting room for the Junior High Sunday School Class Area that included roughly 20 Nintendo Game Sets.  Those are my memories and the church community has done remarkable things, putting their faith into action.

Here's a promo video of the interviews of the 2 candidates in the guise of the Saddleback Civic Forum from Youtube.

Here's links to the interviews on line (too big for youtube format).

Transcripts of the Interviews on Rick Warren's Site.

Article and link to video of the interviews on LA TIMES.

I'm not sure what I think about it all.  Should political candidates go to a church to talk about issues, faith, policy matters and worldview?  Should it be talked about in such detail in a public way?  Does their faith matter, as one candidate seemed more than capable and comfortable in talking about faith in a personal way while the other merely agreed and towed the party line.  What do you think?