Interfaith 'cooperation' at Saddleback

Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 7/25/2008 7:40:00 AM

California mega-church pastor Rick Warren says Christians should not be reticent to work with Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists, and even atheists to cure societal problems.

In conjunction with the presidential forum he is hosting next month at Saddleback Church, Pastor Rick Warren will convene an interfaith meeting for 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders "to discuss cooperation for the common good of all Americans."

Warren's global P.E.A.C.E. plan is an effort to mobilize churches around the world to combat what he calls the five "global giants" of spiritual emptiness, corrupt leadership, poverty, disease and illiteracy. But he says he has no desire for interfaith dialogue; rather he is interested in interfaith cooperation "on things that involve all humans regardless of what we believe."

"When Jesus sent his disciples out [Matthew10]...he said, 'When you go into a village, you find the man of peace,' and he said, 'If he accepts, and he's open, and he's receptive and he's willing to work with you, you start your ministry there,'" says Warren. "[But Jesus] said, 'If you don’t find the man of peace, you dust the dust off your shoes and you go to the next village [be]cause you can always find someone that's willing to work with you," he continues.

Warren notes he was recently part of a group at Georgetown University that brought together three leading Catholic priests, three Muslim imams, three Jewish rabbis, and three evangelical pastors to discuss what they could do together to stop AIDS. 

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