Rick Warren Opposes Candidate Endorsements

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Post

By Michelle A. Vu
Christian Post Reporter
Tue, Jul. 29 2008 06:44 PM EDT

Popular megachurch pastor Rick Warren said he does not believe pastors should endorse political candidates in a recent interview held weeks ahead of his highly-anticipated leadership and compassion forum, which will feature presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama.

“I don’t think it’s right for pastors to endorse [a political candidate] in the first place,” Warren said on a recent CNN interview when asked if he thinks McCain was right to disavow controversial pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley.

“I would never endorse a candidate. I would never campaign for a candidate,” he added.

“I think as a pastor my role is to pastor all the flock regardless of their political persuasion, so I wouldn’t have wanted endorsements anyways.”

Warren has, however, invited political candidates to speak at his church on the topic of HIV/AIDS. Past politicians that have spoken at Saddleback Church during its annual HIV/AIDS conference include Sens. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and Sam Brownback.

Next month, Obama and McCain will appear together for the first time during the ’08 presidential race to answer questions from Warren about faith and moral issues such as poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate change and human rights.

“I believe in the separation of church and state, but I do not believe in the separation of faith and politics,” Warren said, “because faith is simply a worldview and everybody’s got a worldview.”

A person who says he can separate his faith and worldview is either an “idiot” or “lying” because it’s impossible, the influential Christian leader contends.

“We make our decisions based on our values, based on our worldview so I think it’s entirely appropriate for America to say not only what is your faith – whether it is in Christ or someone else – but what is your worldview because that is going to influence how we live in the next four year,” he said

And in terms of how evangelicals will vote, Warren echoed what many other Christians have said this year – evangelicals are not monolithic and are open to both Republican and Democratic candidates.

“I do think that a lot of people, not just evangelicals, have reserved judgments,” the founding pastor of the 22,000-member Saddleback Church said. “I think a lot of America hasn’t made up its mind yet between these two candidates and I’m hoping that this forum will allow these two guys (McCain and Obama) to speak for themselves without an interpreter or any spin on it.”

McCain and Obama will each respond to Warren’s questions at the Saddleback Church forum on Aug. 16.

Copyright 2008 The Christian Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Movie on Billy Graham Coming in October

Reprinted by permission of The Christian Post

By Josh Kimball
Christian Post Reporter
Tue, Jul. 29 2008 04:53 PM EDT

In only a few months, people across the nation will get the unique opportunity to peer into the life of evangelist Billy Graham before his rise to prominence as one of the most influential and admired religious leaders in the world.

The highly anticipated film, “Billy: The Early Years,” is set to release in theaters across the country on Oct. 10 - less than one month before Graham’s 90th birthday. With 21-year-old actor Armie Hammer playing the part of Graham, the movie captures the essence of Graham’s journey from a young man at the crossroads of faith and doubt to ultimately facing the moment of decision that gave way to one of history’s most influential evangelists.

"They've never made a movie about this guy, and beyond any sort of spiritual reasons or anything like that, he is really an iconic figure of the 20th century," Hammer told The Tennessean after filming for the movie commenced on Mar. 26.

"I've been going to church and reading my Bible and doing a lot of other spiritual work to get in that right headspace to even start to play someone like Billy Graham," Hammer revealed.

Graham is believed to have spoken face-to-face with more people in more places than anyone in history, having preached to over 210 million people in over 185 countries.

He has been a friend to every U.S. president since Harry Truman and has been listed by the Gallup organization as one of the “Ten Most Admired Men in the World” an unmatched 51 times (44 consecutive).

Before making a personal commitment to Christ at the age of 16, however, Graham was simply a young man who, like many his age, wanted a career as a professional baseball player.

Even after making his decision for Christ, Graham struggled with doubt - a struggle captured in “Billy: The Early Years.”

Starting with Graham’s teenage years in Charlotte, N.C., the upcoming film paints a vivid portrait of Graham and his life before international prominence.

The film includes the legendary series of revival meetings in Charlotte led by evangelist Mordecai Ham, which ultimately led to Graham’s conversion in 1934. It also provides a glimpse into Graham’s relationship with Ruth Bell - the woman who Graham would eventually marry - from the time of their meeting to their engagement.

Also captured in the film is Graham’s relationship with the evangelical star of the 1940s, Charles Templeton, a gifted young preacher who would eventually reject the Christian faith after a long struggle with doubt. In the film, Templeton comes to personify the rising tide of disbelief into which Graham launched his evangelistic crusades.

Since last month, the trailer for the movie has been posted in numerous Christian websites, including the increasingly popular GodTube.com website, which has already tallied nearly 30,000 viewers of the Graham movie trailer after about a month of exposure.

In addition to Hammer, who will star as the upcoming Batman/Bruce Wayne in the new film “Justice League: Mortal,” “Billy: The Early Years” features Oscar-winner Martin Landau (Mission: Impossible, Ed Wood) and Lindsay Wagner (The Bionic Woman); as well as Stefanie Butler (CSI: NY), daughter of ex-Atlanta Brave Brett Butler; Kristoffer Polaha (North Shore) and platinum selling country sensation Josh Turner ("Long Black Train") as singer George Beverly Shea. John Carter Cash, son of John and June Carter Cash, serves as music producer and the film’s director is veteran actor/director and Golden Globe nominee Robby Benson, who many know to be the voice of the Beast in Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

“Billy: The Early Years” was filmed in and around Nashville with a 90 percent Tennessee crew, according to the film‘s promoters.

On the Web:

The Movie Trailer for ‘The Early Years of Billy Graham’ at GodTube.com
The Official Movie Website at billytheearlyyears.com

Copyright 2008 The Christian Post. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

SD Shovel to Dig Up the Best of the SD Conservative Blogosphere

The SD Shovel is now officially up and running.

The SD Shovel is a blog aggregation of some of the Right-of-center South Dakota blogs, and is one of the things to come out of the SamSphere South Dakota meeting in Sioux Falls last Saturday.

The platform where the site his hosted has a good page rank, so will hopefully add exposure to participating blogs. So far, RadioActive Chief, SD Wingnuts, Sibby Online, Voices Carry, and Dakota Voice are participating, and we expect more to contribute in the future.

The site will also be limited to South Dakota-related issues, or national/world issues that are of considerable interest to South Dakotans. We'll be limiting our personal posts and others that don't have some direct or strong connection to South Dakotans.

One of the things that this site is fostering, and that came out of the SamSphere itself, is greater communication and partnership on the Right side of the South Dakota blogosphere. The participating bloggers don't agree on everything, and definitely don't march in lockstep, but we all share a common conservative interest of some degree or another.

We also gained a greater awareness of what's going on out there in South Dakota and around the country, made some great policy connections, and discovered some new resources.

With these, we will be better equipped to pursue our common goal of limited government, and the kind of nation the United States Constitution calls for. Because we all believe, to some degree or another, what Ronald Reagan so plainly articulated:

Government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem.

Thanks to Gid Oakes of the SD Wingnuts for putting the site together. He's already put a lot of work into it and has done a great job!

The Cambrian Explosion - Darwins Worst Nightmare

A clip detailing the baffling 'Cambrian Explosion' - the sudden appearance of nearly every known major group of animals. No gradualism. No transitions.

A few Darwinists have tried to explain it, but they always deliver the epic fail with a dollop of weak sauce. Most Darwinists avoid it like the plague.

From the documentary 'Icons of Evolution.

Fight for Marriage Continues in California

Homosexuals are often stereotyped as being weak and limp-wristed, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Homosexual activists are proving over and over that they are strong, determined, and will stop at nothing to win--even fighting dirty.

Californians passed a law in 2000 which defined in law what people have understood by common sense for thousands of years: that marriage is between a man and a woman.

Not content that the people had spoken, homosexual activists and their "useful idiots" fought back in the courts where they have more powerful friends on their side. In May 2008, a group of those "useful idiots" in black robes (aka the California Supreme Court) gave the one-finger salute to the people of California and manufactured a "right" for homosexuals to call their unions "marriage."

When this happened, already in motion was an effort to put a marriage protection amendment on California's November ballot. Supporters of the measure wrapped up their campaign and got the measure on the ballot.

Homosexual activists then sued to have the ballot thrown out. In a moment of temporary sanity, the California Supreme Court rejected this attempt to once again derail the will of the people.

The latest Dark Lord of the Sith to attack marriage is California Attorney General Jerry Brown who, according to the LA Times, rewrote the amendment to paint it in the most negative possible light.

In a move made public last week and applauded by same-sex marriage proponents, the attorney general's office changed the language to say that Proposition 8 seeks to "eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry."

Jennifer Kerns, spokeswoman for the Protect Marriage coalition, called the new language "inherently argumentative" and said it could "prejudice voters against the initiative."

The measure would remove no "right" because they have no right to call a homosexual union "marriage," just as I have no "right" to call my laptop my spouse.

Judges cannot create law, and the law still says marriage is between a man and a woman.

Brown's rewrite also states that California would lose tens of millions of dollars in revenue, further attempting to scare people who would normally support the measure into voting against it.

This tactic of scaring heterosexuals worked well for homosexuals in 2006; while the South Dakota marriage amendment passed, it did so with lower-than-usual numbers, and a measure in Arizona failed because of the same fear mongering.

Marriage supporter say they'll sue to fight Brown's revisionism.

The fight to preserve marriage isn't going to be easy, anymore. But it's worth it. It is the oldest and single-most important institution to our civilization. We cannot allow it to be hijacked.