Excerpt:
Rick Warren's appearance over the weekend at the Muslim Public Affairs Council conference in Long Beach, Calif., got some attention over what the purpose-driven pastor had to say about gays in light of the controversy that his scheduled appearance at Barack Obama's inauguration has stirred up. "For the media's purpose, I happen to love gays and straights," Warren told the audience, noting that he'd met the musician Melissa Etheridge, a lesbian, backstage at the conference and that he'd long been a fan.
Interesting. But I was struck more by the Warren's appearance as the keynote speaker before the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), since evangelical figures have been among the nation's most high-profile critics of Islam. Search for "Islam" on Focus on the Family's website and you'll get results mostly on "radical" or "militant" Islam. A poll last year by the Pew Forum for Religion & Public Life showed that white evangelicals take a much dimmer view of Muslims than Americans of other religious traditions:
Among religious groups, white evangelical Protestants stand out for their negative views of Muslims. While roughly half of white mainline Protestants (51 percent) and white Catholics (48 percent) express favorable views of Muslims, only about quarter of white evangelicals (24 percent) say the same. Similar religious divisions are seen in views of Muslim Americans.
I spoke with MPAC executive director Salam Al-Marayati about Muslim-evangelical relations.