This week, pastor and author Rick Warren refuted Congressman Frank Wolf’s (R-Va.) claim that Warren and Saddleback Church in Lake Forest are silent on the subject of religious persecution. The Christian Post reported from an email they received from Warren that he and Saddleback have spoken and acted out against persecution for years. But Warren was kind to his critic, saying CP should not “be hard on his friend, Rep. Frank Wolf,” calling him “a great Christian” and a “needed Congressman,” but simply “uninformed about Saddleback Church’s ministry and strong voice” on the subject.
Wolf was quoted during a radio show as wondering “why more in the West are not speaking out [against religious persecution] … where are the Bonhoeffers? Where’s Rick Warren? Where’s John Piper? Where are the people? Why aren’t they speaking out on this?”
Warren reminded CP that Saddleback Church has sent nearly 17,000 of their members to nearly 200 countries through Warren’s P.E.A.C.E. Plan, and Saddleback created the Civil Forum on Religious Persecution. Saddleback’s Justice Task Force has also championed the cause, Warren said. “In January 2013, Cardinal Timothy Dolan will join me in another Saddleback Civil Forum on Religious Liberty, and just this morning I met the State Department’s Ambassador of International Religious Freedom at a home here in California,” added Warren. He also reminded CP that he regularly tweets about religious persecution.
