Evangelical minister will be keynoter at King Center event
ATLANTA — A coalition of activists is planning to protest The King Center’s choice of the Rev. Rick Warren as keynote speaker on the federal observance of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.
Todd Vierling, an organizer of the protest, said the event could be a "litmus test" for Warren on the day before he is to give the invocation at the presidential inauguration in Washington, D.C. — a choice that sparked an outcry from liberal groups and gay activists over the Southern Baptist’s views on same-sex marriage and abortion rights.
Warren, pastor of the 20,000-member Saddleback Church in Southern California and author of the best-selling "The Purpose Driven Life," will appear on Monday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, where King preached from 1960 until his death in 1968.