Megachurch Pastor Rick Warren To Host Forum With Obama And Romney

UPDATE: The Obama campaign said today that the president will NOT appear at the Saddleback event.

Pastor Rick Warren, whose 2008 inauguration invocation for President Obama caused great anger among progressives, will next month host a forum with the president and Mitt Romney.

The forum would be similar to one he hosted four years ago with Obama and then-GOP presidential nominee McCain. In 2008, Warren interviewed the candidates separately -- with Obama going first, followed by McCain. The Arizona senator was sequestered in a room, unable to watch or listen until it was his turn on stage. Most of Warren's questions focused on broad themes. For instance, he asked Obama to define marriage. "I believe that marriage is the union between a man and a woman," Obama said at the time -- though he has since said he believes same-sex couples should be allowed to wed. The format for this year's event is expected to mirror what took place four years ago and will again take place on the Saddleback campus in Lake Forest, Calif.

Warren plans to use a lottery to distribute 5000 tickets to attend in person. He claims his 2008 event drew one of the largest television audiences of that campaign.