On April 20th* April 13th (Sunday) at 8:00pm (ET) Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will participate in a forum on faith and values at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. It will be broadcast live on CNN. John McCain has been invited as well but has so far declined. The event has been called The Compassion Forum.
The faq page of The Compassion Forum Site lists the following “compassion and social justice issues” for discussion:
- Global and U.S. Poverty
- Human Rights
- Global Aids
- Climate Change
- Darfur
What do I think of all this?
- I believe that Christians should act with compassion to help those in poverty.
- I believe that Christians should be on the front lines of defending human rights
- I believe that Christians should be on the front lines of compassion towards those with Aids
- I believe that the Human Caused Global Warming “crisis” is a Man Made Myth.
- I believe that the crisis in the Sudan is a great tragedy. I don’t know what to do about it and I am very interested in hearing a discussion of what the U.S. government can or should do about it.
I hope that in the category of human rights the forum addresses:
- The Right to Life and the ending of the Evil and Murderous practice of killing unborn children
- Religious Freedom in America and around the world
- The Right and Responsibility of parents as their children’s primary educators
I have to admit that I am skeptical. I get a little bit tired of some claiming that it is only “compassion” if you believe that the government should tax people more and spend more money on the problem. I am convinced that individuals, churches, and private organizations getting involved hands-on with their own money and their lives is the key to most “compassion” issues. I do believe that the government has a responsibility to defend the Rights to Life and Liberty. I believe that the best thing the government can do to combat poverty is to get out of the way and let the people love their neighbors.
I hope I will be able to watch it. I am not sure if I will be able to at this point.
If you watch it, come back here and tell me what you thought about it!
It will be very interesting to see if John McCain shows up. Even Mike Huckabee is supporting the event.
We’ll see what happens!
*A comment below revealed that I had entered the wrong date for the CNN broadcast of the event. April 13th is the correct date.