By Jim Brown
November 28, 2006

(AgapePress) - A coalition of pro-life groups is calling on Pastor Rick Warren to reconsider having an abortion-supporting senator speak at his Southern California church.

Several pro-life groups are upset that popular Christian author and megachurch pastor Rick Warren has invited Illinois Senator Barack Obama to speak Friday at his "Global Summit on AIDS and the Church." The summit is being held at Warren's Saddleback Church in Orange County. Pro-life and pro-family leaders such as Phyllis Schlafly, Judie Brown, Janet Folger, Tim Wildmon, and Peter LaBarbera are calling on Warren to rescind his invitation to the 2008 presidential hopeful, given Obama's stance on abortion.

Schlafly, the founder and president of Illinois-based Eagle Forum, says Obama campaigned in her state against the federal ban on partial-birth abortion. The ministry leader says that is "about as extreme as you can get."

Phyllis Schlafly

"For Barack Obama to say that the ban is unconstitutional, I think is about the most extreme pro-abortion position that you could possibly have," says Schlafly. She feels the Democratic senator is "an unlikely and improper choice" to invite to speak to a pro-life audience. "Most of the people who go to [Warren's] church are pro-life, and they don't want to honor pro-abortion candidates. Honestly, if you look at the surveys, a big majority of the American people think this terrible crime of partial-birth abortion should be abolished."

In a press release, Schlafly is joined by other pro-life leaders in accusing Warren of ignoring Obama's "pro-death" stance, and urge the popular pastor not to work with those who "support the murder of babies in the womb." Judie Brown, president of American Life League (ALL), implies that Warren is ignoring something else.

"The pastor must know that ... Obama is totally supportive of abortion on demand. Thus, he favors killing innocent, pre-born children in the womb," notes the ALL leader. "For Pastor Warren to invite the senator into his congregation, into his church, is for him to deny that 'Thou shalt not kill' has any meaning -- and I just find that appalling."

Brown is urging pro-lifers across the country to speak out. She contends that while it may not be intentional on Pastor Warren's part, he "has put himself into the national spotlight" -- therefore, she continues, "every thinking Christian has a moral obligation to let the pastor know that they are praying for him, that they do hope that he withdraws his invitation, and that they will continue to pray that that is the course of action he follows ...."