Rick Warren interviewed on Larry King
Wednesday 08 Apr 2009
By Michael Ireland
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- In his first TV interview since giving the invocation at Barack Obama's Presidential inauguration, Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in Southern California, the number one "New York Times" best-selling author of "The Purpose-Driven Life," told CNN's Larry King how he handled the controversy that resulted about the President selecting him for that task.
Warren told King on CNN"s Larry King Live interview program, "there was a story within a story that never got told. In the first place, I am not an anti-gay or anti-gay marriage activist. I never have been, never will be."
Warren explained that, "During the whole Proposition 8 thing, I never once went to a meeting, never once issued a statement, never -- never once even gave an endorsement in the two years Prop 8 was going."
He told King that the week before the vote, somebody in his church said, "Pastor Rick, what do you think about this?
"And I sent a note to my own members that said, I actually believe that marriage is -- really should be defined, that that definition should be -- say between a man and a woman," said Warren.
"And then all of a sudden out of it, they made me, you know, something that I really wasn't. And I actually -- there were a number of things that were put out. I wrote to all my gay friends -- the leaders that I knew -- and actually apologized to them. That never got out.
"There were some things said that -- you know, everybody should have 10 percent grace when they say public statements. And I was asked a question that made it sound like I equated gay marriage with pedophilia or incest, which I absolutely do not believe. And I actually announced that.
"All of the criticism came from people that didn't know m," said Warren.
Warren told King that, "Not a single criticism came from any gay leader who knows me and knows that for years, we've been working together on AIDS issues and all these other things."
Asked if Warren, "criticize(s) or not comment on the Iowa court decision to permit gay marriage?" Warren replied: "I'm totally oblivious to -- to what -- that's not even my agenda. My agenda is two things.
"One, today (April 6) is the 15th anniversary of the genocide in Rwanda. It's a national day of mourning, which I -- as you know, I've been heavily involved in -- in Rwanda and helping rebuild that nation and I'm very concerned about that.
"And the second thing is, I'm interested in what the recession is doing to the spiritual climate of our nation. And as we start Easter week and Passover week, which is a really big week for those of us who are Jews or Christians, Passover and Easter, it's our biggest week of the year. And it actually was the week that I started Saddleback Church 30 years ago this Easter Sunday."
King asked Warren if he has talked to Obama since the inaugural?
"No, I haven't. I've talked to the White House staff several times. I haven't talked to him. All I'm doing is trying to keep my head down on the things that I've got to do. And he's trying to keep his head down on all the things he's got to do. And we certainly need to pray for the president. I wouldn't want to be president during what's happening right now," said Warren.
He was asked his thoughts about how President Obama is doing?
"I think he's doing as best as he can. I think he's a good leader. Every leader makes mistakes.
"So what? But he's doing the best he can. And I think that the deck of cards he was given, no president has been given this in a long, long time, in terms of the crises that he's having to deal with. It is so complex. And it's not going to be solved overnight. And America has a very short attention span," Warren said.
Was he surprised Obama asked him to deliver the invocation and how that process took place?
"I was. I could have given you a list of 30 other guys I would have thought he would have asked.
"I had just finished a week in New York City, when we were launching our 'Purpose-Driven Connection' magazine. And I was actually sitting on the plane on a runway. And my associate said, there's a cell phone call and it's -- it's the president-elect.
"And sitting on the runway, he said, 'Rick, I want you to do the inaugural -- the inaugural prayer.' And I, of course, said, well, anything I could do. I was surprised."
Warren went on to comment that, "There were two back to back days there that were pretty amazing for me. The day before, I was invited to speak at the 40th anniversary of Martin Luther King's death at Ebenezer Baptist Church. And to me, he's been a hero all of my life. I have a picture and a signed letter of Martin Luther King hanging in my office with a picture of Gandhi next to it. And to be invited to speak at Martin Luther King's memorial day service on the 40th anniversary and the 80th birthday of his life was a big deal.
"And then to do the inauguration the next day was amazing."
King asked Warren to clarify his stance on homosexuality.
"Did you not encourage your flock to vote yes on Proposition 8?" King questioned.
"Oh, yes. You know, I don't think that the definition of marriage should be changed.
"So you did ask your people who worship with you to vote that way?"
"Yes. I just never campaigned...," said Warren.
"I never campaigned for it. I never -- I'm not an anti-gay activist -- never have been. Never participated in a single event. I just simply made a note in a newsletter.
"It's not high on your road of issues?" King asked.
"No, no, it's very low. In fact, I am working with a number of gay organizations on issues that we care about, in saving lives," Warren replied.
King asked Warren if he thinks Christianity is slipping in America? "That's the front cover of 'Newsweek,' out today. Quite a loss occurring in the Christian community. There you see the headline."
Warren responded: "Well, I would say it's the best of times and the worst of times. First place, I don't think that all of the questions that are asked in surveys are always as objective as they could be. For instance, if you ask people, are you a Protestant -- and the number of Protestants has gone down dramatically in the last 30 years. I don't even call myself a Protestant.
"So terminologies are changing. I don't think faith is changing that much. I think that during a recession three things happen, Larry. Three things go up when money goes down. Church attendance goes up, bar attendance goes up, and movie attendance goes up, because people are looking for three things when they're disappointed in materialism. They're looking for meaning, and that's why they start going to church. They're looking for connections in relationships, and that's why they go to bars. They're looking for relief, and that's why they go to movies."
Warren went on to say that at Saddleback , the church has actually created three different programs they're launching nationally for connection, for relieve and for meaning.
"At the same time, bad times are good times for churches in many ways, because people are much more open to spiritual truth than any other time. We're seeing spiritual awakening at our church," he said.
He was asked if at the same time people are saying, where is God?
"Oh, I think people ask that question constantly. That's not a question of doubt. That's a question of seekers. It's the person who says, I'm not worried with anybody -- everybody has doubts. I have doubts. People have doubts all the time. I'll read things in the Bible and go, why did that happen? I wouldn't have done if it I had been God. You better be glad I'm not God. But there are a lot of things -- I learned a long time ago that I don't have to understand everything for me to benefit from it.
"I don't understand how a car works but I drive it. I don't understand how digestion works but I eat," Warren said.
King asked Warren:"What do you say to people who have lost everything, they're out of work, they lose their home, foreclosures? God ain't going to come in tomorrow and help them."
"First place, I would say, God sees, God knows, God cares, God can help, God understands. I would say the greatest things in life aren't things. One of the things we need to learn is that when tough times come along, there are lessons we can learn that -- God whispers to us in our pleasure, but he shouts to us in our pain. Pain is God's megaphone."
Warren went on to explain that last Saturday, "we had the largest single membership class in the 30-year history of Saddleback Church. There's so much spiritual hunger. I had, Larry, 2,400 people come to the class I've taught every month now for over 30 years. We usually have 100 to 200 new members. We had 2,400 people join our church in a single day. And I baptized 800 new believers. We baptize by putting people under water.
"I was in the baptism pool for over five hours. That's never happened. While there are people who are hurting, people are also searching."
King commented that The Obamas are searching, too, for a church, apparently in Washington. "They don't have one. Do you think it's important for the public to see their leader go to church?"
"I think it's important for the public to see our leaders having faith. I think it expresses a sense of humility that says, I recognize that I'm not the end all, be all. It's a good sense of humility and a declaration of dependence upon God. And there are -- I could recommend a dozen really good churches in Washington D.C. area. I have a lot of pastor friends of all different styles. You tell me the style you want and I'll tell you a good church in Washington, D.C."
Warren then took an e-mail question form a viewer in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. "Are you a consultant to President Obama as Billy Graham was to previous presidents? Is that a role you would want?"
Warren responded: "No. In fact, I told the president that. I'm a friend and I'm a prayer partner, but I'm not a consultant. I'm not a pundit. And it's not my role to do that. My role is to help people in their personal lives. I have helped a lot of leaders, both locally and globally, with issues about family and issues about personal stress. That's a pastoral role. I'm a pastor, as you know, Larry. I'm not a politician and I'm not a pundit.
"I care about each person individually, whether I happen to agree with them or not. We all have the same basic needs. We all want to be loved. We all want to have a place of service. We all want our lives to count. We all want to know our purpose in life. These are things that everybody deals with.
Warren then tok another question, this time from Orlando, Florida.
The caller asked Warren: "I have heard evangelicals believe that President Obama is the anti-Christ. Are you aware of this and if so, how do you feel about it?"
"Well, of course, I don't agree with that. Thank you for the question. I don't agree with that. You can't label -- saying Evangelicals believe is like saying Americans believe. I can show you all levels of spectrum in terms of political views and doctrinal views. They just have in common the connection to Jesus Christ. So I don't believe that, and I don't even think most Evangelicals believe that. In fact, I'm certain they don't."
Larry King then turned to the President's visitto Turkey, first president to visit a Muslim country, during which he said: "The United States is not and will never be at war with Islam. In fact, our partnership with the Muslim world is critical, not just in rolling back the violent ideologies that people of all faiths reject, but also to strengthen opportunity for all people."
King asked Warren: "What do you think of that?"
"You know, I think that's the exact right tone, Larry. There are 600,000 Buddhists in the world. There are 800,000 Hindus in the world. There are a billion Muslims in the world. There are 2.3 billion Christians in the world. You have to get along together. That's why I speak with Jewish groups. I speak to Muslim groups.
"We're all human beings. We have to work on issues we don't always agree on. I'm not really into what I call inter-faith dialogue. I think that's a lot of wasted time. I'm interested in what I call inter-faith projects. In other words, I'm not going to convince a lot of people who have other beliefs to change their beliefs and vice versa. But we can work together on issues like poverty, disease, illiteracy and things that -- problems common to all humanity.
"This week, for instance, tomorrow night, I'm going to a Seder dinner with my dear friend Elie Spitz (ph), who is a local rabbi. We'll celebrate Passover together. And then later in the week, I'll do Easter, which is -- they're both all about redemption. My next door neighbor is Muslim. I traveled with him to the Middle East. We're dear, dear friends. And there's no reason -- what people don't seem to understand is that you don't have to agree with everybody in order to love them."
Warren was then asked how many children has he brought to live with him from other countries?
"Well, in our home, we haven't had any. But we, of course, strongly -- have a strong adoption ministry in our church. We're right now working on a plan to take care of every -- a plan to actually empty the foster care needs of Orange County, which there's about 2,400 kids in need of foster care in our county. I have over 4,000 small groups. If each small group took responsibility for foster care of a child, they would do that.
"In my own small group, we've had people who have adopted, families, children, from Africa and, of course, we are very involved in that. My wife's involved in that in our foundation called Acts of Mercy."
Larry King Live's blogging correspondent David Theall then read two messages with some of what viewers were saying about Pastor Warren.
"Larry, we're hearing from people who are fans of the pastor's work and we're also hearing from people who are angry still at some of the positions that he has taken over the last couple years. Says this person, 'Rick Warren saved my life, my marriage and my family with the 'Purpose Driven Life.'" He thanks the pastor.
"We heard from somebody who said this, 'my son is gay, a veteran, and I resent people like Rick Warren using the Bible to tell my son who he can marry.'"
Kingasked Warren: "Rick, I guess that last comment doesn't shock you, does it?"
"Well, it's not my opinion. As a pastor, I just have to do what the Bible tells me to do. And the way I interpret it, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And that's good for society. That doesn't mean that people don't love each other. It just means that marriage is for a man and a woman.
"You know, Larry, regardless of all these things we've just been listening to, whether it's terrorism or whether it's the economy, we really have to come together. And we have to figure out a way to work together, even though we have differences on the issues that really matter most. One of the things we're doing is our goal is to start what we're calling 10,000 connection groups across America, to just get people to sit down together and talk.
"In each of the new issues of the magazine we're doing, we're providing material that causes discussions, causing people to discuss issues like, well, how do we get along together? And what is the purpose of connecting? What is real community all about? Where did we come from? Where are we going? What does it mean to be a part of a community?
"I'm going to talk about some of these things on April 19, Sunday evening. For 30 years, Larry, I have done an annual State of the Church Message for Saddleback Church. And this year, for the first time, we're actually going to webcast it nationally on our www.PurposeDriven.com site. (For) anybody who wants to hear about that, I'm going to talk about what are we supposed to be doing in coming together during the recession on that April 19.
"It will be Sunday evening, depending on what part of the country you live in. But you can go to www.PurposeDriven.com and get all of the details about that.
Warren then answered a question fom Curtis in Washington "How have tough economic times affected your church ministries in terms of tithes and offerings and outreach programs?"
"Well, actually, we have a pretty generous church, and our giving has actually gone up, because we're encouraging people to give more to help those who are not helped. Six weeks ago, we passed out 12,000 grocery bags on a Sunday morning. I said, everybody fill them up and bring them back next week, and we're going to give them away to people who are less fortunate than us. And the next week about 10,000 of those bags came back.
"We're going to do the same thing this weekend. Easter -- of course, we start on Thursday because I do 14 services for the nearly 50,000 people that will show up at Easter this year. It's our 30th Easter at Saddleback. And we're going to pass out about 40,000 to 50,000 grocery bags and say, everybody fill them up, and bring them back next week. So in tough times, we say, let's help others.
A caller from Tampa, Florida, asked: "Pastor Warren, you mentioned earlier that it's been 15 years since the genocide of Rwanda. My question is, with so many nations hurting financially, do you think it will make them reluctant to reach out to countries, such as Sudan, Congo and other nations that are currently suffering genocide?"
"That's a great question,"" said Warren, "and the answer is absolutely.
"When people get into tough times, they tend to turn internally. We tend to think of ourselves, and we hold back. And, of course, when we've got so many thousands of people, 600,000 this month, 600,000 last month, 600,000 the year before, who lost their jobs. It's hard to think about other people when you're hurting.
"But the answer is we have to do both. And the Bible says very clearly that when we take assumption of the responsibility for other people who are hurting worse than us, God takes care of us. And I believe that we need to not just save our way, but we need to give our way out of this recession. And it's a time for generosity, not a time for a scarcity mentality.
King then turned to a breaking news story.
"By the way, this just in regarding the stolen Cessna from Canada. NORAD officials have told CNN the plane has landed on highway 60 in Missouri. The suspect is on the run. Again, the plane has landed. Nobody damaged. The suspect is on the run.
"We can deal directly with this as a pastor, Rick. Would you try to counsel this person?"
"Well, clearly, he's a disturbed person. And we don't know all of the details, so I'm not going to do arm chair psychology on a guy I don't know why he did what he did. But the truth is, all of our motivations are formed by what I call a worldview. And, in fact, Chuck Olson and I just did a series on this in the new magazine. But the worldview is our perspective on life. And every behavior has a worldview behind it.
"And so if you want to understand somebody's behavior, whether he's flying a Cessna plane or killing other people because he lost his job, you need to get back to the world view.
"Chuck Olson's written a great book on this called 'The Good Life.' And I invited him out to California, and we made a series of videos that we're now hoping to get into these connection groups that help people understand why do we do what we do? Everything we do is based on a worldview.
"Chuck still doing his prison ministries?" King asked Warren.
"Oh, yes, very involved in prison ministries all around the world. We're working with him on that."
If you would like to be a part of the State of the Church Message, it's going to be Sunday night, April 19, and all of the details will be on the website, www.PurposeDriven.com .
**Editor's Note: This article was prepared from a transcript of CNN's 'Larry King Live' program. It has been adapted for use on this news service. Every effort has been taken to maintain the accuracy of the original interview.
