Will pastor Rick Warren be able to get McCain, Obama to open up?
DANA PARSONS
I'm not the least bit cynical about pastor Rick Warren's motivation in inviting John McCain and Barack Obama to his Lake Forest megachurch for a public discussion Aug. 16. To the contrary, part of me is wildly hopeful that the pastor-author will bring out things in both presidential candidates that we've never heard before.
Hopeful, yes.
Confident it'll happen, no.
Rather than a "political" debate, starting at 5 p.m. Warren will talk to Obama for an hour and then McCain for an hour. The order was determined by a coin toss. That means no interruptions during the questions and answers, and I presume Warren will take pains not to let either candidate take shots at the other (especially McCain, because he gets the last word).
Warren has said he wants to probe the men's hearts and minds as a guide to how they might govern. Fabulous idea. Nuts-and-bolts politics can wait for another night.
But I just have a sinking feeling that Warren is the wrong guy for the job. And that Saddleback Church is the wrong venue.
The church started in 1980 and now claims more than 20,000 members. It is one of the country's most well known, helped immensely by the worldwide sales of Warren's 2002 book, "The Purpose Driven Life," which has been used by clergy and laymen alike as a Christian spiritual guide.
And I fear that'll be the undoing of the event.
Against the awesome backdrop of the church setting and with Warren asking the questions, will either candidate really open up his heart and mind? Especially if the questions start digging into personal faith and how it might affect the presidency?
It could happen only if Warren decides to go for it, to ask questions that go to each man's respective cores.
With an estimated 6,500 people expected to attend and an even larger Internet audience, would either man dare profess to non-reliance on a Higher Power? To periodic skepticism about how God works in their lives or ours? Or, heaven forbid, to an outright disbelief in God?
Of course not. Both have already professed belief.
Do the rest of us have any way to verify they're telling the truth? No.
Is it possible one or both just says that because they have to, in order to run for president? Yes.
On the other hand, it's certainly possible both men have a strong reliance on God in their daily lives and can easily express it. Rest assured neither Obama nor McCain will be caught off-guard by garden-variety religious questions.
