McCain and Obama will talk faith

The first sort-of joint appearance of Barack Obama and John McCain will be in a Southern California megachurch where they will be expected to talk about their personal faith.

Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church in Orange County and best-selling author of "The Purpose Driven Life," will interview the presidential hopefuls for an hour each, back to back Saturday night in a forum that will be broadcast live from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT on CNN, Fox News Channel, and MSNBC.

Warren made the rounds of the morning shows today to promote the forum. In an interview with David Brody of the Christian Broadcasting Network, Warren said, "I'm going to ask them questions about character, competence, about values, vision, virtue, about their convictions in leadership, about their experience. And I’m going to deal with their personal life – because character matters. Their personal life does matter as a leader. God says so."

In advance of the forum, the Chicago Tribune today published a lengthy interview with McCain about his faith, including a previously undisclosed account of him rioting against his North Vietnamese captors so the prisoners of war could hold Sunday church services.

"McCain talked about how his faith was tested during his years as a prisoner of war from 1967 to 1973, said God must have had a plan for him to have kept him alive, and reminisced about his appointment as informal chaplain to his cellmates," the Tribune reports.

McCain, who was brought up Episcopalian but now worships at a Southern Baptist church in Phoenix, also said his faith in God informs his decisions on issues of public policy, including abortion.

Obama became a Christian as an adult, but during the campaign left his church home, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, after repudiating the former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., over explosive remarks from the pulpit about race and the US government.

UPDATE: A group of Christian leaders supporting Obama, called the Matthew 25 Network, plan to run a TV ad during the forum that says one way to judge a candidate is by how they treat their family.

The ad, unveiled today, features a series of pastors talking about Obama's 16-year marriage to Michelle and their two daughters, and suggesting that Obama's family life would translate to a presidency.

While the spot does not mention McCain, left unsaid is that McCain is divorced and has acknowledged infidelity.

His campaign hit back strongly. "These smears on John McCain's character and faith expose the utter hypocrisy of Barack Obama's claim to represent a new kind of politics,'' spokesman Brian Rogers told the Chicago Tribune today. "It's disgraceful. The American people know that John McCain's faith and character were tested and forged in ways few can fathom."