Members of many denominations ask Saddleback Church to cancel senator's appearance.
Contact Dane Rose, National Clergy Council, 202-546-8329, ext 106.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 /Christian Newswire/ -- Church leaders from Catholic, Evangelical, Orthodox and Protestant traditions today expressed disappointment and deep distress over the impending visit of Illinois Senator Barack Obama to the Saddleback Church of Orange County, California, pastored by leading Evangelical Rick Warren.
"Senator Obama's policies represent the antithesis of biblical ethics and morality, not to mention supreme American values," said the Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), president of the National Clergy Council and chair of the Committee on Church and Society for the Evangelical Church Alliance, America's oldest association of Evangelical ministers.
Rev. Schenck continued, "As a supporter of abortion, Senator Obama nullifies the first of all human rights, the right to life. Only God gives life, and only God can determine when life ends. Our Founders assured this when they enumerated in the Declaration of Independence the rights endowed to us by our 'Creator,' among them "Life." This first of all rights was later secured by the Constitution. Senator Obama nullifies this foundational principle by his public position on abortion."
The National Clergy Council executive committee made up of clergy from numerous denominations including the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Assemblies of God, Baptist (Independent and Southern), Catholic, Charismatic, Evangelical, Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal, Orthodox (Greek and OCA), Presbyterian and Reformed call upon Pastor Rick Warren and the leadership of Saddleback Church to cancel Senator Obama's December 1 appearance.
"If Pastor Warren cannot find the courage to rescind his invitation to Senator Obama, he must at least make clear through a public statement that the Senator's support of abortion stands in contradiction to what the Bible teaches and what the Christian Church has historically taught on the sanctity of life," said Rev. Schenck.
