Newsweek: Faces of the Christian Right

Newsweek writes: "For all the attention given to Jeremiah Wright, the minister who’s closest to President Obama these days is probably Joel Hunter, who leads the 12,000-member Northland Community Church in Orlando. He led the closing benediction of the 2008 Democratic National Convention, delivered a blessing before Obama’s inauguration, and serves on the president’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. None of this is to say that Hunter is a Wallis-style liberal. After all, his 2008 book was called A New Kind of Conservative, and he remains staunchly anti-abortion and anti-gay-marriage. But he’s willing to talk, slow to condemn, and is a potential bridge to white evangelicals—which, when combined with an apparent personal bond between Hunter and Obama, endears him to the president ... He’s a prime pastor to watch in 2012 and beyond."