Saddleback Ride 

by Groff Schroeder

The “presumptive” 2008 presidential candidates first appeared together in the Saddleback Church's “Civil Forum on the Presidency” on August 18. No full text of the event exists online 48 hours later and no one appeared to use the word “Constitution” in the forum. Those of us sworn to defend the Constitution may find these facts and the event's sponsorship and administration by a probably biased Evangelical church (rather than independent journalists) very disturbing.

Saddleback Church is a US 501(c)3 corporation, whose stringent guidelines regarding political action usually preclude any appearance of support for any political candidate. However, “under Federal Election Commission Regulations certain non-profit corporations may stage or sponsor candidate debates ...” that “...must be staged so as not to promote or advance one candidate over the other.” ¹

After the introducing CNN journalist reiterated the event was “not a debate,” he paused “to let other CNN stations join our feed,” during which the statement “Now news... God who gave us life...” was clearly audible on CNN. Cac$hing! Advertisers would pay BIG $$ for a nearly subliminal statement kicking off such a massive TV event. God sure got lucky there, eh?

Shortly afterward, Pastor Warren quickly ended applause with “be seated,” and stated, “We believe in the separation of Church and state, but not we do not believe the separation of faith and politics...” (doesn't “give unto Caesar” mean more than just paying your taxes?) because “...everyone has a world view and it is important to know what they are.” Pastor Warren assured us of “identical questions” for both candidates - questions he later told us were probably written by those receiving the “daily devotional” from his website.

Pastor Warren appeared unable to deliver “identical questions.”

After interrupting Senator Obama, who had begun a compliment to the “nice crowd” as they sat down, Warren bizarrely asked, “How does it feel to be a tree? No.” Soon after he stated, ”I'm not going to do this in any other segment...as a pastor I've got a few verses.” Warren then read Senator Obama a Bible passage about fools and wise people. He then asked, “Who are the three wisest people you know in your life......and who are you going to rely on in your presidency?” Senator Obama expressed thanks for his invitation, complimented Warren's ministries and asked “Other than you?” He then cited his wife, mother and a table of experts. McCain was not interrupted or asked about being a tree and cited General Petraeus and a list of politicians.

Observers of “debate” video may evaluate the “identical” questions and identify what appears as strikingly different treatment of the candidates from both the moderator and the audience. Pastor Warren's introduction included, “We've got to learn to disagree without demonizing each other and we need to restore civility” to loud applause. Pastor Warren also asked both “What would you say to people who oppose me asking these questions?”

The problem is not asking questions, but by whom, where and how fairly they are asked. Houses of worship have no rational, legal or ethical business in politics because religion corrupts politics and politics sullies religion. Civility stems from verifiable facts, independent sources, demonstrable fairness and access to complete information.

It is difficult for one person to “demonize” another. However, people can easily do that to themselves.