December 23, 2008

Dr. Rick Warren's historic address to more than 800 attendees of the Muslim Public Affairs Council's 8th annual convention is now available to view online. Warren is pastor of the Saddleback Church and was recently selected to deliver the invocation during President Elect Obama's inauguration next month.

 

Click here to watch the video online now
or click here to download the video to your computer.

Excerpts from Dr. Warren's speech:

"I love Muslims. I also happen to love Hindus and Jews and Buddhists. Now this one will shock, I happen to love Democrats and Republicans. And for the media's purpose, I happen to love gays and straights.... We don't have to see eye to eye to walk hand in hand.""I always thought Christians were misunderstood until I started hearing about Muslims. I've noticed two things: the media almost never gets it right, and the media love conflict... Al-Qaeda no more represents Islam than the Klu Klux Klan represents Christianity.""Religious congregations are the only set of organizations on earth that can successfully combat the five global illnesses of spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, disease pandemics, dire poverty, and illiteracy, and we must actively and directly cooperate with mosques to get the job done."

This fall, Warren hosted the groundbreaking Civil Forum on the Presidency with candidates John McCain and Barack Obama, which was broadcast on CNN this summer. Warren is also on the national stage as a religious leader who seeks to encourage his congregation to actively participate in American civic life, and to embrace other faith communities as people also seeking to improve their neighborhoods and their countries.

In 2005, TIME magazine named him one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World" and U.S. News & World Report named him one of America's 25 best leaders. "The Purpose Driven Life" has sold 25 million copies and is the best-selling hardback book in American history, according to Publisher's Weekly.

Video from all convention sessions will be available at archive.mpac.org this week.