This is part of a letter sent to the 22,000 member congregation of evangelical Saddleback Church in Orange County, CA by its pastor, fundamentalist Rick Warren in 2004:
The U.S. election of 2000 was a clear reminder that every vote counts and that every voter has a duty to be involved. As church leaders, we know our congregations are not allowed to endorse specific candidates, and it's important for us to recognize that there can be multiple opinions among Bible-believing Christians when it comes to debatable issues such as the economy, social programs, social security, and the war in Iraq.
But for those of us who accept the Bible as God's Word and know that God has a unique, sovereign purpose for every life, I believe there are 5 issues that are non-negotiable. To me, they're not even debatable because God's Word is clear on these issues. In order to live a purpose-driven life - to affirm what God has clearly stated about his purpose for every person he creates - we must take a stand by finding out what the candidates believe about these five issues, and then vote accordingly.
Here are five questions to ask when considering who to vote for in this election:
1. What does each candidate believe about abortion and protecting the lives of unborn children?
2. What does each candidate believe about using unborn babies for stem-cell harvesting?
3. What does each candidate believe about homosexual marriage?
4. What does each candidate believe about human cloning?
5. What does each candidate believe about euthanasia - the killing of elderly and invalids?
Now ask yourself how Obama's campaign staff could have been so naive as to believes that when Obama walked into Baptist evangelical fundamentalist Warren's church he wouldn't be asked the SAME questions?
And this is how you try to slice off a couple percentage points of the fundamentalist right? You must be kidding.
How do we find middle ground?
5 years ago
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