LAKE FOREST, Calif. – Pastor Rick Warren says he hopes to host another forum between the major two presidential candidates this year – similar to what took place in 2008 – although no formal agreement is in place.
The pastor of Saddleback Church in California told reporters during a conference call July 16 that he has reached out to the campaigns of President Obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, FoxNews.com reported.
The purpose of the forum is “to promote social civility so that people with major disagreements [can] talk without beating each other up,” Warren said.
The forum would last two hours, FoxNews.com reported him as saying, and he is looking at hosting it the week of Aug. 20.
In 2008, Warren hosted Obama and then-presumptive GOP nominee John McCain in an event dubbed “the Saddleback Civil Forum on the Presidency.” The candidates were interviewed separately by Warren, who asked identical questions to each. McCain, who was interviewed last, was placed in a room without a monitor and not allowed to know the questions in advance.
(EDITOR’S NOTE – Compiled by Michael Foust, associate editor of Baptist Press.)