Saddleback Church lead pastor Rick Warren, he of the Purpose-Driven Life®, gets criticism from all sides, but the jibes I find most amusing usually come from the extreme right, both of the political and religious wings, which consider him a liberal heretic. If only! Christianity Today recently covered a controversy surrounding Warren's invitation to a Baptist convention, one he had to eventually decline because of family issues.
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On the first of October, FrontPageMagazine, the publication of far-lefty-turned-far-righty David Horowitz, published a piece titled, “Rick Warren: A Shill for Terror”. Author Joe Kaufmann criticized Purpose-Driven® Rick for daring to associate himself with the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a decades-old non-profit that counts as its former president OC's most prominent imam, Muzammil Siddiqi. For years, through byzantine explanations, the far right has insisted that ISNA is really a front for the Muslim Brotherhood, the Egyptian group that has spawned many bona fide terrorists over the decades, including Osama bin Laden. Warren spoke at an ISNA conference in 2009, but Kaufmann has an issue with ISNA listing Warren as one of its associated speakers, a charge Warren's office denied to Kaufmann.
That denial isn't enough for Joseph Farah, the man behind WorldNetDaily, the country's premier birfer factory. In his column this week, Farah accuses Warren of “blasphemy” for having even spoken before ISNA.
“Rick Warren did not attempt to evangelize those who attended his
speech at ISNA,” Farah seethes. “Instead, he affirmed their faith in Islam; he made them
feel comfortable worshipping a false god – something, obviously, Jesus
would never do. It was not an opportunity for Rick Warren and the gospel when he
spoke to ISNA. It was an opportunity for an evil, anti-American
anti-Christian organization to wrap itself in the respectability of one
considered a mainstream Christian leader.”
If only liberals were as vicious toward Warren…
