Evangelical Christian and best selling author Rick Warren is advocating that the United States become more involved with the global fight against poverty. “I deeply believe that if we as evangelicals remain silent and do not speak up in defense of the poor, we lose our credibility and our right to witness about God's love for the world,” says the author of The Purpose Driven Life. ““It is a moral issue … a compassion issue … and because Jesus commanded us to help the poor, it is an obedience issue!” Click here to read more.
Warren’s advocacy is notable because of the lack of involvement in anti-poverty efforts by many evangelical Christians. Evangelical groups like Focus on the Family and the Republican Party-aligned Institute on Religion and Democracy (IRD) prefer that evangelical Christians focus on abortion and homosexuality. Issues concerning poverty are either notably absent from the agenda of these religious right organizations or they go so far as to defend economic policies that benefit the wealthy at the expense of the “least of these.”
