LAKE FOREST, CALIFORNIA -- Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Valley Church in Lake Forest, California, and author of "The Purpose Driven Life," appeared on a Christmas Eve edition of NBC's Meet the Press to answer questions about the role of faith in the 2008 US presidential election, his increasing celebrity status, and his high visibility in the battle against HIV/AIDS.
Moderator Tim Russert wanted to know why, of all the countries in the world, America is one of the most religious?
Warren replied: "The history of America is faith-friendly, it’s pragmatic and it’s pluralistic. And all three of these are true. And when Jefferson wrote that famous phrase, “separation of church and state,” he was basically saying, don’t tax me to hire Anglican priests. That’s all he meant by it. He didn’t mean anything more than let’s separate these two different worlds. Madison once said, “If you have one religion then you’ve got tyranny in a country.” He said, “If you have two religions, you’ve got civil conflict. If you’ve got many religions, you’ve got civil peace.” And I believe that the reason why faith has thrived in America is because we have a free market economy for religion, not just for economies, that may the best idea win. I am totally opposed to theocracy, totally opposed to state church. Look at what it did to Europe. Christianity was killed when the government got involved in Europe.
"The other thing that I’d point out is in the last eight elections, America tends to vote for born-again presidents, regardless of their political persuasion. You can go all the way back to Carter, OK? Reagan, Bush one, who didn’t talk about it much, but was a devout believer, Clinton and Bush two. Regardless of whether they are Democrat or Republican, right-wing, left-wing, they—America tends to like leaders who have a faith."
Before Russert played an audiotape of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the eve of D-Day (June 6, 1944), he commented: "I want to take you back to June of 1944 to give you a sense of how much religion, faith, played in our politics on D-Day. Here’s the president of the United States saying very openly a prayer. Let’s listen."
On the tape, Roosevelt is heard saying: "And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer: Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity...With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy.. .Thy will be done, Almighty God. Amen."
