This weekend we were in Wisconsin for my mother-in-law's birthday and a couple nephew's graduation celebrations. I stumbled across the Obama-McCain debate at Saddleback Church on C-SPAN on Saturday night, so we taped it and watched it later. I usually don't put much time into politics, but I was drawn in by a debate hosted by Rick Warren, looking at the candidates faith.
I appreciated how Pastor Warren started by saying that faith is a worldview that, just like any other worldview, people live their lives by--if it's real faith, it's not something that people can separate from their political life. I also appreciated that the candidates were willing to address their faith in a deeper manner.
Personally, I felt Obama answered the questions more personally and conversationally, while McCain tended to give short, unelaborated platform answers drawn out with POW stories. I heard Obama speak a bit more about humility, which is rare in a politician. Neither gave answers that I approved of fully, of course, but I appreciated hearing what both had to say. And I appreciated that they were willing to meet together as candidates for the first time with Rick Warren who was able to probe into their faith and how they live that out in their lives and in their political careers.
I also saw some hope of not just attacking all the symptoms of moral and political problems, but of addressing what the cause of some of those problems is.
1 comment:
Dave, thanks for mentioning this. Motivated by your reflections, I went to C-Span's web site and watched the archive footage. Although I already felt well settled in my choice between the two candidates, I found their responses to be helpful on many levels. I was especially fascinated by their differing perspectives on evil.
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