Here's the story from the New York Times 7/21/08 (Note the pro-fundamentalist bias.)

It has taken a man of God, perhaps, to do what nobody else has been able to do since the general election season began: Get Barack Obama and John McCain together on the same stage before their party conventions later this summer.

The Rev. Rick Warren has persuaded the candidates to attend a forum at his Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, Calif., on Aug. 16. In an interview, Mr. Warren said over the weekend that the presidential candidates would appear together for a moment but that he would interview them in succession at his megachurch.

It is bad enough that the forum is at any church, which violates state/church separation and discriminates against atheists. But, it's worse given the militant fundamentalism of the Saddleback Church.

The article then does a softball description of the church's sheepherder, Rick Warren.

Mr. Warren, the author of the best-selling book “The Purpose-Driven Life,” said he had called each man personally to invite him to his event, which will focus on how they make decisions and on some of Mr. Warren’s main areas of focus, like AIDS, poverty and the environment.

Talk about giving a misleading view of one of the most prominent figures in the Christian Taliban. Here's a more realistic view of Rick Warren.

Warren's heterosexism was exposed by the Gay News Blog in 2006. Warren's heterosexism and misogyny also was exposed by Jewish Women Watching.

Warren has called gays “unnatural” and part of a “hierarchy of evil.” During the last Presidential election, he urged his congregants to vote against a woman’s right to choose. He advises that gays and lesbians, as well as women who have had abortions should seek forgiveness.

Queers don't need forgiveness from the Rick Warrens of the world. The Rick Warrens of the world need forgiveness from us.

Also, Warren's focus on poverty is dubious. He opposes more government programs that actually fight poverty while encouraging his followers to give more money to charities run by churches. That might have more of a feel good sensibility for Christian extremists, but private charity has been proven for centuries to be inadequate to pull people out of poverty. The only thing that ever has worked is government intervention.

Warren's interest in AIDS is mixed. He supports funding to help heterosexuals with HIV/AIDS, especially in Africa, but opposes HIV prevention efforts. Warren is perfectly aware of the fact that "abstinence only" programs are HIV promotion programs, not HIV prevention programs.

As for the environment, Warren's good words don't match his egregious deeds. No one who genuinely cares about the planet opposes birth control and abortion rights. There is no such thing as a serious effort to stop global warming (or any other global environmental problem) without making population reduction a major priority. Sadly, Warren and the rest of the Christian extremists would rather destroy the planet than accept a living planet where women have a right to control their own bodies. The kind of hatred and bigotry of the Rick Warrens of the world is boundless and immune to reason.

Obama's previous speech at that fundamentalist hate-church raised some doubts about him on my part. However, Hillary Clinton actually is a militant Christian fundamentalist, rather than someone like Obama or McCain who merely panders to these anti-American extremists. Sadly, McCain and Obama are displaying bipartisan heterosexism and misogyny by speaking at the Saddleback Church. The Green Party looks better every day.

I remember what the mililtant, Christian fundamentalists in Orange County were like when I lived in Southern California. Corporate media propaganda cannot fool me. It shouldn't be allowed to fool anyone else either.

More on Warren's homohatred

The American Prospect 6/30/08

Akinola has been essential to the break. He defied the requests of Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Episcopal presiding bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and installed the Virginian Martyn Minns as a bishop of the Nigerian church, after Minns broke from the Episcopal one. Just as critically, he has been a mouthpiece for the most homophobic tendencies within the church, telling the New York Times that he jumped back in horror the first time he met a gay couple, comparing homosexuality to everything from pedophilia to zoophilia, and pushing for Nigeria to enact a five-year mandatory sentence for homosexual acts or "associations", a bill so broad that it could lead to the imprisonment of AIDS caregivers. While there would surely be conservatives fighting against Robinson and the liberalization he represents without Akinola, he has increased their power and influence tremendously.

In no small part because of these retrograde social views, Akinola has wide support among American conservatives. After Minns' installation, the Washington Post published a mash note to Akinola by Michael Gerson, calling his Christianity "undeniably alive" and denouncing Williams and Schori's "condescension". Rick Warren even compared him to Nelson Mandela. Warren would do better to head the words of Mandela's ally, and Akinola's fellow Anglican Archbishop, Desmond Tutu: "If God, as they say, is homophobic, I wouldn't worship that God."