The Civil Forum on the Presidency was the venue of back-to-back interviews of U.S. presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama by pastor Rick Warren on August 16, 2008, at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California.

Held inside Saddleback's Worship Center, the event was the first joint appearance of the two presidential candidates during the campaign.

[6] The candidates each exposed their positions on a number of issues, including faith, abortion, evil, wealth, same-sex marriage, and stem-cell research.

[7] The two struck common themes, but differed on their views of abortion; Obama said the answer was "above his pay grade" a comment he later regretted[8] and also told Warren the issue "scientifically" and "theologically" is not a black and white one in defining the precise moment when a baby gets human rights.

[7] Obama and McCain gave different answers on which justices they would have refused to nominate to the United States Supreme Court,[7] McCain saying Ruth Bader Ginsburg, John Paul Stevens, Stephen Breyer and David Souter, and Obama saying Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia.