Obama, McCain to appear August 16 at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church (UPDATED)

Which is disgusting.

The United States of America is NOT a Christian nation, so it’s pretty disgusting that Obama and McCain will be making their first joint appearance of the campaign at Warren’s Purpose-Driven Six Flags Over Jesus:

Dr. Rick Warren, one of the country’s most prominent megachurch preachers, announced today that Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama would make their first joint campaign appearance on Saturday, Aug. 16 at Warren’s Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif.

The two presumptive nominees will attend the “Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion,” moderated by Warren, who founded the 22,000-member Orange County church and wrote the best-selling book, “The Purpose Driven Life.”

What’s funny, though, is that Barack Obama is a truly spiritual man who disagrees with hard-right fundamentalists on most everything, while John McCain’s disdain for the same fundamentalists is thinly veiled at best. I mean, hell, in 2000, he called Religious Right leaders “agents of intolerance” and criticized George W. Bush for pandering to them. (And that’s all it really ever was. No president has ever actually agreed with the Religious Right.)

Ugh. Just ugh.

UPDATED WITH MORE UGH: Apparently Rick Warren’s church is co-sponsoring this little shindig with a more liberal interfaith religious group called Faith in Public Life, which seems to operate more from a pro-human rights/social justice perspective. They actually seem to be a decent group of people. Great, whatever. I still think the event is utter bullshit, because presidential candidates shouldn’t have to pass these religious tests in order to be considered for office.

Predictably, though, a Shi’ite Christian blog is bitching about the co-sponsorship with the other religious group whose beliefs don’t align with their own fucked up beliefs, because Fundamentalists lose arguments when opposing viewpoints (ANY opposing viewpoints) are included:

Is Rick Warren, by association, indirectly or directly endorsing the homosexual agenda by partnering with Faith in Public Life in the upcoming presidential forum at Saddleback Church?

Stephanie Block of CMC would say “YES”.

And Stephanie Block of CMC knows everything, especially when she’s speaking in all caps. Stephanie Block of CMC is such a moronic wingnut so smart that you can take her words, change them around a little bit, insert Rick Warren’s name, and ta-da, you get statements like this:

Does this mean that Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church is supporting the legalization of same-sex marriage? Yes, it does. By its placement among progressive-minded organizations, the force of its reputation as a religious representative of the American Evangelical Community gives progressive political goals moral credibility. They are supporting same-sex marriage.

Yes, because if you’re in the same room with Teh Gay, you automatically are endorsing our political initiatives. It’s kind of like how if you eat a 6-pc. McNuggets with your kids, you might as well be buttfucking Grimace. That’s how guilt by association works.

Like I said, ugh.