The Joint Congressional Committee on Inauguration Ceremonies announced that President-Elect Barack Obama has selected influential Evangelical minister Rick Warren to give the invocation at the Presidential Inauguration ceremony on January 20, 2009. Rick Warren and his wife, Kay, are the directors of at least six well-known ministries and religious non-profit organizations. Among these, he is the Founding Pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forrest, California (the 4th largest church in America) and director of Purpose Drive Ministries (an off-shoot of his wildly popular “Purpose Driven” book series).
Many are surprised at Obama’s selection of Rick Warren, an outspoken pro-life advocate who likely disagrees with the future President’s position on many other social issues. Prominent pro-choice, gay rights, and other liberal groups have already criticized Obama for his selection. Others see the move in keeping with Obama’s stated desire to win the approval of groups that did not support him in the election. White Evangelicals supported McCain over Obama by a margin of 73% to 26%.
Others see this development as yet one more step in Rick Warren’s rise to popularity in America’s religious life. Some expect that he will eventually succeed ailing minister Billy Graham as “America’s Pastor” – a commonly used phrase to indicate America’s most influential religious figure. Billy Graham became well known through his ministry crusades. He had a personal audience with every sitting U.S. President since Truman and became an adviser and/or friend of many of them. Rick Warren’s influence in national politics became abundantly clear when Presidental candidates from both major parties agreed to appear at the Civil Forum on The Presidencty that he hosted during the summer of 2008.
In my mind, he is a ‘unknown’ movie star waiting to happen. This will be nothing but a prestige move for Pastor Rick. What’s next, the presidency of the NAE?