"We cannot, cannot back away from that mandate from our Lord . . . and every pastor ought to be publicly and privately saying, 'That is my agenda!'"
-- From "Former SBC president 'concerned' about Rick Warren's comments on gay marriage" by Bob Allen, Senior Writer, Associated Baptist Press 4/17/09
A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention said he is "deeply concerned" about comments by Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren that a recent court decision allowing gay marriage is not part of his agenda.
Frank Page, pastor of First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C., told the American Family News Network he believes it should be on every pastor's agenda to defend biblical marriage and lead homosexuals to Christ.
Warren, pastor of the Southern Baptist-affiliated Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., said April 7 on "Larry King Live" that he is "totally oblivious" to a recent Iowa Supreme Court decision legalizing gay marriage. "That's not even on my agenda," he said.
In a Q&A interview with Christianity Today, Warren sought to clarify what he meant when he told King he "never once" issued a statement or gave an endorsement during two years of debate over Proposition 8.
". . . Proposition 8 was a two-year campaign in the state, and during those two years, I never said a word about it until the eight days before the election, and then I did make a video for my own people when they asked, 'How should we vote on this?' It was a pastor talking to his own people. I've never said anything about it since. I don't know how you take one video newsletter to your own church and turn that into, all of a sudden I'm the poster boy for anti-gay marriage."
Warren also discussed an hour-long Beliefnet interview, during which he answered one question in a way that "made it sound like I was equating homosexuality with pedophilia and incest."
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