Story updated 11:20 a.m. (Central), Monday, Aug. 18, 2008
The moderator of Saturday night's presidential forum on faith -- Pastor Rick Warren -- says Barack Obama failed to adequately address the question of when life begins.
Senator Obama (D-Illinois) told Pastor Warren that it was "above [his] pay grade" to determine at what point a baby should be given human rights.
Following the forum, Pastor Warren criticized Obama's decision to dodge the question. In an interview with Beliefnet.com, Warren said "to just say 'I don't know' on the most divisive issue in America is not a clear enough answer for me."
Warren went on to suggest Obama's non-answer will not sit well with many Christians. As Warren puts it: "If an evangelical really believes that the Bible is literal -- in other word[s], in Psalm 139 God says 'I formed you in your mother's womb and before you were born I planned every day of your life' -- if they believe that's literally true, then they can't just walk away from that. They can add other issues, but they can't walk away from the belief that at conception God planned that child, and to abort it would be to short circuit the purpose."
Story continues below ...
Psalm 139 clearly states that God has determined that life
begins in the womb -- and a professed Christian should know that.
Clergy divided over Rick Warren's gospel
Meanwhile, the head of the National Clergy Council says the man known as "America's pastor" threatens to water down the message of the gospel. In an interview conducted before the weekend forum at Saddleback Church, 
Faith and Action president Rob Schenck said there is a wide concern that California mega-church pastor and The Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren's approach to the proclamation of the gospel is a "downgraded" version.
"Adapted to be perhaps less offensive or less exclusive, maybe more culturally popular or easy to embrace," Schenk contends. "When in fact, by doing that, Pastor Warren threatens to neutralize the very message of the gospel."
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Do you feel that your church 'waters down' the gospel
in hopes of being less offensive and exclusive about the claims of Christ?
Schenck believes it is important to remember that the message Jesus proclaimed was and is exclusive. "Whenever you set out to make the gospel more palatable, more easily embraced, you always risk reducing the gospel to something other than the message that Jesus lived, and proclaimed, and died for," Schenk points out.
Not all evangelical leaders share Schenck's concern about Rick Warren. Dr. Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention recently told the Los Angeles Times that Warren "is a guy whose message has met the right moment."
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