Changing Of The Guard?

by Chris Bodenner
Megachurch pastor Rick Warren will host the first forum featuring Obama and McCain.  As a moderate Christian leader who focuses on more "liberal" issues like AIDS, poverty, and the environment, could Warren become the new face of political Christianity, eclipsing Christianists like Falwell, Robertson, and Dobson?

In fact, as Marc reported last year, Warren may have sparked Obama's run for the presidency:

Many Obama friends and advisers believe that the realization he actually could be president first hit Obama on December 1, 2006, which happened to be World AIDS Day. Obama appeared at the megachurch in Orange County, California, run by Rick Warren, the best-selling author of The Purpose Driven Life and an emerging force in national politics. ... Before an audience of socially conservative evangelical Christians, Obama then called for “realism” and advocated the use of condoms to control the spread of AIDS. As the next day’s Orange County Register described it, Obama received a “hearty standing ovation.”

Meanwhile, in an attempt to become relevant this fall, Dobson appears to be flip-flopping on his previous vow "not to vote for John McCain under any circumstances":

"I never thought I would hear myself saying this. While I am not endorsing Senator John McCain, the possibility is there that I might. ... Barack Obama contradicts and threatens everything I believe about the institution of the family and what is best for the nation. His radical positions on life, marriage and national security force me to reevaluate the candidacy of our only other choice, John McCain."