New from Extreme Theology-Anatomy of Saddleback Spin
From my brother in the Lord Chris at Extreme Theology
May 12, 2007
Anatomy of Saddleback Spin - Part One
Many times when I tell other Christians about the tactics that Saddleback employs to protect Rick Warren and his image the response I get is utter disbelief. People think I am describing Bill Clinton’s political spin machine rather than a Christian pastor and his extended staff. But I am not.
When evidence appears on the internet of Rick Warren or members of his church saying or doing things that are out of step with the truth or could be damaging to his image these things have a habit of disappearing from the web. A very well documented case of this occurred in November 2006 when Rick Warren travelled to Syria and was reportedly making statements that were favorable to the Syrian government and their policies regarding religious tolerance. Joseph Farah of World Net Daily took issue with what Warren was saying and wrote about it in his column at WND. This prompted Warren to contact Farah via email and claim that “words were being put in his mouth by the Syrian media” and that they twisting what he was saying.
The story probably would have ended there but, while this email exchange was occurring a video surfaced on YouTube of Warren making the the exact types of statements that he was telling Farah were ‘being put in his mouth’.
Farah had caught Warren in a lie.
When Farah confronted Warren with the video, it vanished from the web. Without that evidence it was Farah’s word against Warren’s regarding what was being said in Syria. Thankfully, someone was able to make a copy of the audio from the YouTube video before Warren’s people yanked it off the web. This gave Farah the physical proof that he needed to show the world that Warren was engaging in deception. (The details of the story are well document on the WND website. If you would like to learn more, I recommend clicking here to read Farah's article entitled "Warren continues to deceive")
Warren’s Porn Scandal
The Real Facts of the Case
Fast forward to May 2007, Warren has now come under fire by myself and others because of his claims to being Rupert Murdoch’s pastor and his inaction regarding his pastorly duties to discipline Murdoch for publishing and distributing pornography.
The story first broke as a result of a press release that I sent out through the Christian Newswire on May 4, 2007 (Click Here to Read the Press Release). I followed this press release up with a post at my ExtremeTheology.com blog entitled “Purpose Driven Pornography?”. The purpose of that article was to give more details about facts of the story. This was necessary because of the 400 word limit for all press releases sent through the Chrisitan Newswire.
In that article I detailed Rick Warren’s claims to being Murdoch’s pastor as well as the evidence that Murdoch’s status as a born again Christian was being called into question as a result of the expansion of his porn distribution channels in the UK.
My primary point was that since Warren was on the record claiming to be Murdoch’s pastor, Warren had the Biblical responsibility to step in and discipline Murdoch. What is at stake is the moral authority of the Christian message. As one of my unbelieving employees put it, “If a Born-Again Christian is profiting from the distribution of porn, how can Christians say that people are sinning if they look at porn?”
In my article I NEVER claimed that Murdoch was a member of Saddleback Church. The reason I did not make this claim is because I had called Saddleback church in order to get clarification. When I called, Pastor Warren was out of town but I was able to talk with his administrative assistant. She was very kind and very professional. She explained to me that Rupert Murdoch was not a member of Saddleback church. I told her that was not the issue. The issue was that Rick had claimed to be Murdoch’s pastor. When I asked her for clarification about what Warren meant she encouraged me to email Warren. (This is also documented in my article).
For the Record: Here are the assumptions that I operated from:
1. Rupert Murdoch is not a Member of Saddleback Church
2. Rick Warren is the one claiming to be Murdoch’s Pastor
3. Rick Warren was telling the truth about being Murdoch’s Pastor.
4. Since there is no other definition of Pastor given than the one outlined in the scriptures, Warren was implying the Biblical definition and duties of “pastor”.
5. Under the Biblical standard (not Warren’s personal standard) of church discipline as outlined in 1 Corinthians 5, Rick Warren as the ‘pastor of note’ is obligated to discipline Murdoch for his un-repentance regarding profiting from pornography as demonstrated by the expansion of his pornography holdings.
6. The purpose of Biblical discipline is twofold: 1. For the restoration of the sinner: the goal is for the sinner to repent of their sin and receive Christ’s forgiveness. 2. To prevent the church’s message from falling into disrepute in the world’s eye as a result a blatant sin being committed by someone who is supposed to be a Christian brother.
The radio interviews that I conducted during the first week of the story clearly demonstrate that these were the assumptions I was operating from. I recommend listening to my interview on May 9, 2007 on the The Issues Etc. radio program as proof of my assertions. It is important to note that this interview was conducted one day prior to the release of the World Net Daily story.
Saddleback’s Spin Control and More Vanishing Evidence
Earlier this year, Rick Warren enlisted the services of veteran journalist Mark Kelly to set the record straight any time a damaging story surface on the web. One could argue that Mark Kelly is Rick Warren’s spin doctor. (Who ever heard of a Christian Pastor needing a spin doctor?)
On Friday May 11, 2007 Mark Kelly posted Saddleback’s rebuttal to my calls for Warren to discipline Murdoch. His rebuttal was prompted by the the story that appeared on World Net Daily on May 10, 2007 entitled “Murdoch pastor gets heat for mogul's porn channels”.
Kelly’s rebuttal turned out to be a hit piece. I was full of inaccuracies and very flimsy argumentation that spinned the issue rather than dealt with the issue head on.
Not surprisingly, Kelly’s rebuttal disappeared from the internet almost as quickly as it had been posted.
Saddleback was up to its old tricks. Thankfully, I’ve seen them use this tactic so many times before, that when I first saw Kelly’s rebuttal I decided to take screen shots of it in order to keep it in the public record. This morning I stitched those screen shots together and posted the finished graphic on the internet.
I want everyone to see for themselves what type of tactics Pastor Warren and his proxies employ to defend him.
I want everyone to see the sophistry that Pastor Warren and his people employ to twist the truth and deflect blame and accountability away from this ‘man of God’.
Like the Syria story, the facts of this story are breath-taking.
Click Here to see what Saddleback’s Spin Doctor, Mark Kelly produced in order to defend his boss.
In Part Two of this article I will outline the distortions and sophistry used by Mark Kelly and Warren's Chief of Staff, David Chrzan in Saddleback's short-lived rebuttal.
Posted by Chris Rosebrough on May 12, 2007 at 12:12 PM in Purpose Driven Critique | Permalink
May 12, 2007
Anatomy of Saddleback Spin - Part One
Many times when I tell other Christians about the tactics that Saddleback employs to protect Rick Warren and his image the response I get is utter disbelief. People think I am describing Bill Clinton’s political spin machine rather than a Christian pastor and his extended staff. But I am not.
When evidence appears on the internet of Rick Warren or members of his church saying or doing things that are out of step with the truth or could be damaging to his image these things have a habit of disappearing from the web. A very well documented case of this occurred in November 2006 when Rick Warren travelled to Syria and was reportedly making statements that were favorable to the Syrian government and their policies regarding religious tolerance. Joseph Farah of World Net Daily took issue with what Warren was saying and wrote about it in his column at WND. This prompted Warren to contact Farah via email and claim that “words were being put in his mouth by the Syrian media” and that they twisting what he was saying.
The story probably would have ended there but, while this email exchange was occurring a video surfaced on YouTube of Warren making the the exact types of statements that he was telling Farah were ‘being put in his mouth’.
Farah had caught Warren in a lie.
When Farah confronted Warren with the video, it vanished from the web. Without that evidence it was Farah’s word against Warren’s regarding what was being said in Syria. Thankfully, someone was able to make a copy of the audio from the YouTube video before Warren’s people yanked it off the web. This gave Farah the physical proof that he needed to show the world that Warren was engaging in deception. (The details of the story are well document on the WND website. If you would like to learn more, I recommend clicking here to read Farah's article entitled "Warren continues to deceive")
Warren’s Porn Scandal
The Real Facts of the Case
Fast forward to May 2007, Warren has now come under fire by myself and others because of his claims to being Rupert Murdoch’s pastor and his inaction regarding his pastorly duties to discipline Murdoch for publishing and distributing pornography.
The story first broke as a result of a press release that I sent out through the Christian Newswire on May 4, 2007 (Click Here to Read the Press Release). I followed this press release up with a post at my ExtremeTheology.com blog entitled “Purpose Driven Pornography?”. The purpose of that article was to give more details about facts of the story. This was necessary because of the 400 word limit for all press releases sent through the Chrisitan Newswire.
In that article I detailed Rick Warren’s claims to being Murdoch’s pastor as well as the evidence that Murdoch’s status as a born again Christian was being called into question as a result of the expansion of his porn distribution channels in the UK.
My primary point was that since Warren was on the record claiming to be Murdoch’s pastor, Warren had the Biblical responsibility to step in and discipline Murdoch. What is at stake is the moral authority of the Christian message. As one of my unbelieving employees put it, “If a Born-Again Christian is profiting from the distribution of porn, how can Christians say that people are sinning if they look at porn?”
In my article I NEVER claimed that Murdoch was a member of Saddleback Church. The reason I did not make this claim is because I had called Saddleback church in order to get clarification. When I called, Pastor Warren was out of town but I was able to talk with his administrative assistant. She was very kind and very professional. She explained to me that Rupert Murdoch was not a member of Saddleback church. I told her that was not the issue. The issue was that Rick had claimed to be Murdoch’s pastor. When I asked her for clarification about what Warren meant she encouraged me to email Warren. (This is also documented in my article).
For the Record: Here are the assumptions that I operated from:
1. Rupert Murdoch is not a Member of Saddleback Church
2. Rick Warren is the one claiming to be Murdoch’s Pastor
3. Rick Warren was telling the truth about being Murdoch’s Pastor.
4. Since there is no other definition of Pastor given than the one outlined in the scriptures, Warren was implying the Biblical definition and duties of “pastor”.
5. Under the Biblical standard (not Warren’s personal standard) of church discipline as outlined in 1 Corinthians 5, Rick Warren as the ‘pastor of note’ is obligated to discipline Murdoch for his un-repentance regarding profiting from pornography as demonstrated by the expansion of his pornography holdings.
6. The purpose of Biblical discipline is twofold: 1. For the restoration of the sinner: the goal is for the sinner to repent of their sin and receive Christ’s forgiveness. 2. To prevent the church’s message from falling into disrepute in the world’s eye as a result a blatant sin being committed by someone who is supposed to be a Christian brother.
The radio interviews that I conducted during the first week of the story clearly demonstrate that these were the assumptions I was operating from. I recommend listening to my interview on May 9, 2007 on the The Issues Etc. radio program as proof of my assertions. It is important to note that this interview was conducted one day prior to the release of the World Net Daily story.
Saddleback’s Spin Control and More Vanishing Evidence
Earlier this year, Rick Warren enlisted the services of veteran journalist Mark Kelly to set the record straight any time a damaging story surface on the web. One could argue that Mark Kelly is Rick Warren’s spin doctor. (Who ever heard of a Christian Pastor needing a spin doctor?)
On Friday May 11, 2007 Mark Kelly posted Saddleback’s rebuttal to my calls for Warren to discipline Murdoch. His rebuttal was prompted by the the story that appeared on World Net Daily on May 10, 2007 entitled “Murdoch pastor gets heat for mogul's porn channels”.
Kelly’s rebuttal turned out to be a hit piece. I was full of inaccuracies and very flimsy argumentation that spinned the issue rather than dealt with the issue head on.
Not surprisingly, Kelly’s rebuttal disappeared from the internet almost as quickly as it had been posted.
Saddleback was up to its old tricks. Thankfully, I’ve seen them use this tactic so many times before, that when I first saw Kelly’s rebuttal I decided to take screen shots of it in order to keep it in the public record. This morning I stitched those screen shots together and posted the finished graphic on the internet.
I want everyone to see for themselves what type of tactics Pastor Warren and his proxies employ to defend him.
I want everyone to see the sophistry that Pastor Warren and his people employ to twist the truth and deflect blame and accountability away from this ‘man of God’.
Like the Syria story, the facts of this story are breath-taking.
Click Here to see what Saddleback’s Spin Doctor, Mark Kelly produced in order to defend his boss.
In Part Two of this article I will outline the distortions and sophistry used by Mark Kelly and Warren's Chief of Staff, David Chrzan in Saddleback's short-lived rebuttal.
Posted by Chris Rosebrough on May 12, 2007 at 12:12 PM in Purpose Driven Critique | Permalink
posted by Tim Wirth | 8:40 AM
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