According to yesterday's Christian Post, the first joint appearance by John McCain and Barack Obama will be on August 16 at Lake Forest, California's Saddleback Church. The occassion is the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion, sponsored by Faith in Public Life. Each candidate will appear separately and be questioned for about one hour by Pastor Rick Warren on how they make decisions and on faith and on moral issues such as poverty, AIDS, climate change and human rights. Warren, who wrote the best-selling book "The Purpose-Driven Life", personally invited each candidate to the Forum. Also reporting on the planned event, yesterday's New York Times quoted Warren as saying: "Since I'm their friend, I’m not going to give them any gotcha questions."
The Forum, which will be open to the media, will be the only joint appearance by the two candidates before their parties' respective national conventions. At the same time, Warren will convene an interfaith meeting of some 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders to discuss joint social projects. The next day, Warren will deliver a special sermon at Sunday services entitled "Making Up Your Mind: Questions to Consider before the Election."
