Part of Raymond Arroyo's interview with Rick Warren on the EWTN show World Over

Transcript Of TV Interview
EWTN

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Rick Warren:      My prayer—and I believe the Supreme Court will come down on the side of the First Amendment. You know, I said in that article that I used to own—Jefferson had two very famous letters on religious liberty. One was to the Danbury Baptists where he talks about the phrase separation of church and state. Now it’s interesting that phrase today means the exact opposite of what it meant in Jefferson’s days. Today people think it means keeping religion out of government, or out of politics. But actually, the separation of church and state was we are going to protect the church from the government. I believe that religious liberty may be the civil rights issue of the next decade. And if it takes some high profile pastors going to jail, like Martin Luther King did with civil rights, I’m in. So be it. I mean, as Peter said and the apostles that we must obey God rather than men.

Raymond Arroyo:            Do you think events like this, moments like this, are actually sources of unity and moments of unity, particularly for Catholics and Evangelicals?

Rick Warren:      Well, obviously we have so much in common in protecting our religious rights—and really the religious rights of other people who we disagree with on beliefs and behaviors. Muslims, for instance, don’t drink alcohol. If all of a sudden they made a law that said every Muslim restaurant has to serve alcohol. I would be there protesting with that. If they made a law that said every Jewish deli in New York City has to sell pork. I’m going to be there protesting. I don’t have a problem with pork. But I am going to protest that. If they make a law that says every Catholic school has to provide contraceptives, if you’re morally convinced you shouldn’t have contraceptives, I stand with you, firm with you on your belief on that because you have a right to train your children the way you want to.