Dan Gilgoff of US News asks whether Rick Warren can be a peacemaker if he is a lightning rod:
[A]t a moment when Warren is expanding his role from megachurch pastor to national and international public figure, his increasing proclivity for sowing controversy is threatening his status as political peacemaker. “He would really like it if everyone would love Rick Warren, and when they don’t, he’s troubled,” says Jeffery Sheler, author of the forthcoming Warren biography Prophet of Purpose. “The most damaging thing would be if the way he’s perceived makes it more difficult to be a bridge builder.”
Consider the possibility that it is not the way that Mr. Warren is perceived that makes it difficult for him to build bridges, but the way he behaves.