Rick Warren, who had been planning his church’s second civil presidential forum in which he interviews candidates about faith and personal ethics, has cancelled the event, citing this year’s overtly hostile attack ads.
We created the civil forums to promote civility and personal respect between people with major differences. The forums are meant to be a place where people of goodwill can seriously disagree on significant issues without being disagreeable or resorting to personal attack and name-calling. But that is not the climate of today’s campaign. I’ve never seen more irresponsible personal attacks, mean-spirited slander, and flat-out dishonest attack ads, and I don’t expect that tone to change before the election. It would be hypocritical to pretend civility for one evening only to have the name-calling return the next day.
Warren said that, in lieu of the presidential forum, he plans on hosting a multi-faith forum on religious liberty in the U.S. …