Word: agenda
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...Warren himself encourages the confusion about his politics and agenda. When the Saddleback presidential forum was announced in July 2008, the pastor seemed eager to emphasize that he was not an old-school Evangelical leader obsessed with social issues. "There is no Christian religious test," he told TIME in the days before the event, vowing that questions would center on four areas: poverty, HIV/AIDS, climate change and human rights. On the night of the forum, however, Warren hewed closely to a conservative script, asking the candidates about gay marriage, judges and abortion, and only briefly touching on poverty and climate...
...Many believe the Obama campaign was naive about Warren's political agenda heading into the Saddleback forum. "They hadn't done their research on Warren," says one progressive religious figure. "Obama wasn't prepared for the Saddleback thing at all, and Warren bushwhacked him." Likewise, Obama's senior staff was not aware of Warren's most recent controversial comments - including his comparison of homosexuality to incest and his belief that the President of Iran should be assassinated - when they signed off on his selection for the Inauguration...
...held in Trinidad in April. (Obama already met with Mexican President Felipe Calderón earlier this week and has said he will make Canada the destination of his first foreign visit as President.) Improving relations with the western hemisphere - as an early item on his diplomatic agenda and not as an afterthought, as most U.S. Presidents approach it - could turn out to be a relatively easy way to prime the pump for better relations with the rest of the world. "Compared with the challenges he faces elsewhere, Latin America's are more manageable," says Michael Shifter, vice president...
...these religious leaders cannot claim to speak for all Christians. Much of their agenda is either extra-scriptural or plainly illogical. For example, the parts of the Bible that pro-life activists cite to justify their cause are not explicit and can often be interpreted in different ways. “Of course, nothing addresses abortion directly,” concedes Willem A. VanGemeren, a professor of the Old Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Nor have the champions of the Religious Right bothered to explain how their support for the death penalty or the tragically costly War in Iraq...
...reaching out to evangelicals on these broader economic and social issues, secular liberals can create a much larger coalition behind a progressive agenda, and evangelicals can feel like they are not compromising the Biblical roots of their faith. In doing so, they should follow the example set by Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino University Research Professor Emeritus, who has argued forcefully for the inclusion of environmental issues in any evangelical policy agenda. Given the importance of Barack Obama’s inauguration to the entire country, his selection of Warren is an encouraging sign. While Warren’s stances...