A star evangelical pastor and a star Democratic senator have fired back at anti-abortion leaders who criticized an AIDS conference designed to rally Christians to fight the global pandemic.
Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County, Calif.; and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) issued statements Nov. 28 and 29 to counter a blistering critique from conservatives offended by the appearance of pro-choice Obama at the conference. And a group of progressive Christian leaders denounced the pro-lifers' “scare tactics.”
“Our goal has been to put people together who normally won't even speak to each other,” Saddleback's statement said of the Nov. 30-Dec. 1 conference at Warren's church, which concludes on World AIDS Day. “We do not expect all participants in the summit discussion to agree with all of our evangelical beliefs.”
A group of 18 leaders prominent in the anti-abortion movement sent Warren an open letter Nov. 28 criticizing him for allowing Obama to speak from Saddleback's pulpit because Obama supports abortion rights.
Their letter said: “If Sen. Obama cannot defend the most helpless citizens in our country, he has nothing to say to the AIDS crisis. You cannot fight one evil while justifying another. The evangelical church can provide no genuine help for those who suffer from AIDS if those involved do not first have their ethic of life firmly rooted in the word of God.”
Signatories to the letter include Phyllis Schlafly, president of the Eagle Forum; Judie Brown, president of the American Life League; and Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association.
But the Saddleback statement argued that limiting conference participation based on doctrinal and political agreement would limit evangelicals' ability to respond to the disease, which is ravaging much of the Third World.
“[T]he HIV/AIDS pandemic cannot be fought by evangelicals alone,” the statement continued. “It will take the cooperation of all—government, business, NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and the church. That is the purpose of this summit—to marshal the policy of the government; the finances of business; the expertise of the health organizations; and the compassion, volunteerism and reach of the church in order to care for the sick and save lives.”
Saddleback's statement also noted that Warren and his wife, Kay—herself a conference speaker and the one responsible for the megapastor's involvement—have expressed to Obama their disagreement with his position on abortion. They have also publicly opposed abortion in print and in speeches.
Obama, meanwhile, issued a statement echoing Saddleback's rationale for inviting a wide array of speakers to the conference.
“While we will never see eye to eye on all issues, surely we can come together with one voice to honor the entirety of Christ's teachings by working to eradicate the scourge of AIDS, poverty and other challenges we all can agree must be met,” he said. “It is that spirit which has allowed me to work together—and pray together—with some of my conservative colleagues in the Senate to make progress on a range of key issues facing America.”
The conference also featured prominent abortion opponents, such as Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), and evangelist Franklin Graham. Other scheduled speakers include U2 frontman Bono and Bill and Melinda Gates, who will appear in videotaped messages.
Both Brownback, who is a convert to Catholicism, and Obama, who is an active member of a United Church of Christ congregation in Chicago, are testing the waters for presidential runs in 2008.
A wide array of evangelical and mainline Christian leaders also defended Warren and Obama Nov. 30. In an open letter to their fellow Christians, 28 pastors, seminary professors, authors and poverty activists blasted the conference's pro-life critics for “exploit[ing] the Christian faith” in support of a “divisive agenda” based on only a few issues.
“AIDS has claimed the lives of 25 million people since 1981. Forty million people across the globe, including 2 million children, live with this wretched disease,” the letter said. “In the face of this crisis, it boggles our minds and offends our God-given sense of justice that these groups would choose to attack Sen. Obama and Rev. Warren—Christians both—for working together to stamp out AIDS.”
It continued: “It is time for believers to unite under the banner of truth and work to address our society's most pressing problems. The time for scare tactics and divisiveness is over.”
Signers of the letter included Baptist sociologist and author Tony Campolo; Steven Thurston, president of the National Baptist Convention of America; Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance; evangelical historian Randall Balmer, who teaches at Columbia University; and evangelical author Lauren Winner, who teaches at Duke University.
Among Obama and Warren's critics is Wiley Drake, pastor of First Southern Baptist Church in Buena Park, Calif., and second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
In a personal email to Warren that Drake also released to media outlets Nov. 28, he echoed the pro-life leaders' request for Warren to rescind the invitation “to the enemy Sen. Obama.” He said he was “very disappointed at this move,” adding “this is bad for the Kingdom of God.”
Drake addressed the missive to a “fellow Southern Baptist pastor.” Saddleback is affiliated with the SBC and is in the same local association of churches as Drake's.