Evangelical Pastor Rick Warren Challenges President Barack Obama on Abortion
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
November 30, 2009
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Evangelical pastor Rick Warren, author of the best-selling "A Purpose Driven Life," and the spiritual leader of the mega-Saddleback Church in California, challenged President Barack Obama during an interview on Sunday. Warren says Obama is hypocritical for saying he wants abortions to be rare.
In the context of abortion and Obama, Warren is best known as the pastor to whom Obama said assessing when human life begins is "above my pay grade."
Warren said on NBC’s "Meet the Press" program that Obama is taking an abortion stance that contains a false juxtaposition by saying he wants abortions to be rare but not believing human life begins at conception.
For Warren, the admission that abortions should be rare acknowledges there is something wrong with abortion. And if there is something wrong with abortion, why won’t Obama take the position they should be prohibited.
"We’ve had 46 million Americans who aren’t here. Those who could be here since Roe v. Wade, who are not voting. I think that innocence is a holocaust. I really do," Warren said.
"Now, I don’t understand the idea of it should be rare and less. Well, either you believe it’s life or you don’t….why would you believe it should be rare?….If a baby, a fetus is not a life, then why restrict it?" he continued.
Warren also talked about how he favors extending the pro-life ethos to after birth.
"I’m not pro-life, I’m whole life, which means I don’t just want to protect that little baby girl before she’s born; I want to make sure she gets an education, she’s not raised in poverty, she gets her vaccinations," he said. "And so this is what I call the whole life platform, which, beyond just pro-life of protecting that unborn child, goes on."
"We’ve got to care about the child after she’s born and make sure she gets an education, she grows up healthy and grows up to be a productive human being," he said.
Warren also told Meet the Press he appreciates the way in which the pro-life message has united people from various Christian denominations — "that historically Catholics and evangelicals have stood firm on together."
During the interview, Warren also pressed for abstinence education and referred to a famous Peggy Noonan quote.
"She said, you know, ‘If you ask the question when does life begin,’ she said, ‘any 16-year-old boy who’s bought a condom knows when life begins.’ And I happen to agree with that," he said.
Warren has challenged Obama on abortion before — encouraging him last December to eliminate them rather than merely making them rare.
Sign Up for Free Pro-Life News From LifeNews.com
Daily Pro-Life News Report Twice-Weekly Pro-Life
News Report Receive a free daily email report from LifeNews.com with the latest pro-life news stories on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here. Receive a free twice-weekly email report with the latest pro-life news headlines on abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Sign up here.
