Very Interesting Article

I found an excellent article about Rick Warren in the Wall Street Journal (thanks to Justin Taylor at "Between Two Worlds"). The gist of the article is that the huge "lurch to the political left" that evangelicals are supposedly doing is a farce. The MSM have interpreted an interest among evangelicals in environmental issues, poverty, and disease as an embracing of a leftist agenda. This interpretation, though, only reveals the bias of the interpreters. Why assume that government is the only solution? Rick Warren makes clear that a person can both be passionate about such "liberal" issues AND be someone who strongly believes in limited government. Why is this so hard to understand?

Here's a key quote:

Over the years, [Warren] has repeated the idea that he became a pastor instead of a politician because he does not have a lot of confidence in the ability of government to get things done. In addition to social issues and foreign policy, this is where evangelicals often part ways with more secular types.
The media assume that when religious people express interest in the problems of poverty and disease, they must have taken a left turn politically. But one can be interested in solving such problems without believing that government is the solution. "Our government has spent trillions of dollars in Africa," says Mr. Warren, "and the standard of living is worse now than it was 50 years ago." He knows whereof he speaks, having launched a massive effort to help the country of Rwanda rebuild itself. "There is only one way to get people out of poverty and it's not charity. It's jobs."

Read the whole article here.