But when the politican is best-selling author and President-elect Barack Obama and the pastor is best-selling author and megachurch leader Rick Warren, the two most successful U.S. marketers of ideas and sellers of nonfiction books in the 21st century, their collaboration makes pragmatic sense.
Problem is, Obama and Warren claim to disagree on certain highly divisive social issues, including abortion and gay and lesbian rights, and have sharply differing theological beliefs.
Although their differences are fundamental to to the lives and moral beliefs of their followers and supporters, Obama and Warren both dismiss these differences as merely a couple points of contention among a myriad of equally vital issues.
That the two great American gurus of this decade, Barack Obama and Rick Warren, are irresistibly drawn to work together is apparently a given. The reasons for their mutual attraction, though,... presumably some combination of desire to be publicly associated with the other, competitiveness, approval, and genuine admiration... may never be known.
Meanwhile, most of the American public is puzzled and confused by the emergence of a public partnership between the liberal politician and the religious right pastor.
Warren: George Bush Supporter in 2004
The Obama-Warren partnership seems to have begun after the 2004 reelection of President George W. Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney.
As is the case for most pastors, Rick Warren and wife Kay have not made political campaign contributions, per public records.
But on January 15, 2005, the Los Angeles Times reported that one Richard Warren of Lake Forest, California, where Pastor Warren resides, gave $100,000 to President Bush's Inaugural Fund. (See HERE for a complete list of donors who gave $100,000 or more to George Bush's 2005 inaugural party fund.)
There is little-to-no public evidence throughout 2005 of a budding working relationship between Rick Warren and Barack Obama, nor does evidence exist of Warren then becoming disenchanted with Bush administration policies.
Warren Split in 2006 with Some Bush Policies?
However, I wrote on December 14, 2005 here at About.com Liberal Politics, "Last week, leaders of five Christian denominations in the US jointly sent a letter to President Bush, reiterating their horrified view of his 2006 post-election budget priorities."
In my column, I described how leaders of five Protestant denominatons had jointly taken the Bush administration to task for a budget that "reduces aid to those in poverty" while it "showers presents on the rich... If passed in its current form, it would take Jesus' teaching on economic justice and stand it on its head...."
I added: "Notably absent from the national religious conversation of concern for the poor, hungry, homeless and the 45 million Americans with no health insurance were Christian lobbyist and Karl Rove-buddy Dr. James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Rick Warren, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson......and all of their followers."
Four days later, I received an articulate, generous email from Rick Warren in which he took exception to my column, and explained that his Saddleback Church had provided financial support for "over 400 African American pastors who lost their churches due to Katrina" as well as other good works backed by substantial funds.
Surprised and appropriately corrected, I removed Warren's name from inclusion with Dobson, Falwell and Robertson in my December 14, 2005 column.
In 2006, Warren and Obama Both Reject Bush Torture Policies
The first public convergence of viewpoints between Obama and Warren occurred in mid-2006 over the issue of torture committed by the United States.
In June 2006, bucking the trend among religious right clergy, Pastor Rick Warren joined 26 other prominent U.S. religious leaders, including Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel and Catholic Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick of Washington, in signing a joint statement urging "Let America abolish torture now -- without exceptions."
The statement, issued by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture, was published in newspapers across the nation. The organization was expressly formed to take a united stand against human rights abuse at the Bush administration's U.S. detention centers in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
For the full text of the statement, see U.S. Religious Leaders Condemn Torture by Bush Administration.
Meanwhile, on September 28, 2006, Obama delivered impassioned remarks decrying Senate passage of S. 3930, Military Commissions Act of 2006, which approved U.S. torture of detainees and stripped Constitutional rights away from detainees.
Obama orated: "And we all know about the recent case of the Canadian man who was suspected of terrorist connections, detained in New York, sent to Syria, and tortured, only to find out later that it was all a case of mistaken identity and poor information.
"In the future, people like this may never have a chance to prove their innocence. They may remain locked away forever. And the sad part about all of this is that this betrayal of American values is unnecessary."
Read the entirety at Barack Obama Reacts to Bill Approving Torture.
Obama Speaks at Warren's Church in December 2006
Five weeks after Obama eloquently protested Bush legislation allowing the U.S. to torture, Rick Warren created a major brouhaha in conservative Christian circles by hosting Barack Obama at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, the fourth largest church in the U.S.
On December 1, 2006, World AIDS Day, Barack Obama delivered his landmark speech on AIDS and Faith, Race Against Time - World AIDS Day Speech.
Obama prefaced his speech by professing admiration for the Warrens: "I want to start by saying how blessed I feel to be a part of today and how grateful I am for your church and your pastor, my friend Rick Warren.
"Ever since Rick and Kay visited Africa to see the pain and suffering wrought by AIDS, the Warrens and this church have proved each day that faith is not just something you have, it's something you do."
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