In a CNN poll conducted by Opinion Research Corp. Polling suggests, however, that a majority of white evangelical voters are still backing McCain, though enthusiasm for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee among evangelicals is less than what it was for President Bush in 2004. Obama's positions in favor of abortion rights and same-sex civil unions have also created some tension among evangelical voters otherwise drawn to his candidacy.īut the Democrat, who is Christian, has made it a point to discuss his religion on the trail this year and launched an ambitious outreach effort targeting these voters, including private summits with pastors and a major campaign aimed at young evangelicals.Īnd Obama's evangelical supporters, including members of the new Matthew 25 political action committee, rallied around the Democrat in late June when Christian conservative James Dobson accused him of "deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible." They may be believers in Christ, they may be Christian, but they want to know, for instance, their world view. I think that for many evangelicals, they're not convinced that either of these men is an evangelical. He added, "I can tell you this: They're not a monolithic bloc, as the press frequently tries to make them out to be. Pastor snags Obama, McCain for joint appearance.Where the candidates stand on stem-cell research.Thousands to rally while candidates meet with pastor.Some of those issues included stem-cell research, abortion and gay rights.Īsked whether McCain has an advantage with evangelicals, Warren said he's not going to predict how the influential religious group will vote.
Two weeks before the 2004 election, Warren sent out an e-mail to several hundred thousand pastors, essentially saying there were non-negotiable issues that Christians should consider when they go to the ballot box. "And my calling is to shepherd all those people, so I don't think it's appropriate for pastors to endorse." "I'm called as a pastor to shepherd all the flock, and I have in my church Democrats and Republicans and liberals and conservatives and moderates, and everybody in between," he said. Warren said he won't endorse either candidate and will let his followers make up their own minds. There are a lot of different things you can deal with in the life of a leader that will tell us more about the candidate than some of the typical questions," he said. Warren is known as an evangelical focused on fighting poverty and disease, including AIDS in Africa, but he also advocated California Proposition 8, the gay marriage ban passed by voters last month."But I do want to know how they handle a crisis, because a lot of the things in the presidency often deal with things you don't know are going to happen, that we don't know will happen in the next four years. that we are diverse and noisy and opinionated,” he said. That’s part of the magic of this country. And that’s how it should be, because that’s what America is about. “During the course of the entire inaugural festivities, there are going to be a wide range of viewpoints that are presented. The president-elect said on Thursday he held views “absolutely contrary” to Warren on gay rights and abortion and described himself as “a fierce advocate for equality for gay and lesbian Americans.” A gay rights advocate called the pick appalling.
Obama chose Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor of the Southern California megachurch Saddleback, to give the invocation when he takes office in January. Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren participates in a panel discussion during the Clinton Global Initiative in New York in this Septemfile photo.
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