The Christian Right and the 2008 Elections

Christian Right Attacks Senator Barack Obama's Christian Faith

James Dobson of Focus on the Family attacks 2006 Obama speech

by JewsOnFirst.org, June 25, 2008

Some fundamentalist evangelical Christians are responding to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's outreach by disparaging his faith. Most recently, and notably, Dr. James Dobson, who heads Focus on the Family, said on his widely aired radio program that Obama "is dragging biblical understanding through the gutter."

But what Dobson said is mild compared to a video by Christian right televangelist Bill Keller, who calls Obama an "enemy of God" and uses what appears to be footage of abortions as illustrations. Click here.

Editorial: Jewish leaders tardy to denounce email smear campaign against Barack Obama

By JewsOnFirst.org, January 27, 2008

Only weeks ahead of primary elections in the states with the largest Jewish populations, Jewish organizational leaders and elected officials condemned a pernicious email calling Barack Obama a secret Muslim. The email has been circulating on Jewish lists for at least a year.

It is dismaying that the major Jewish organizations and Obama's Jewish colleagues did not confront this issue earlier. Continue.

Praying With Rev. Warren

When Barack Obama takes office January 20, he will inherit crises on a scale no president has faced in living memory. America has gotten itself into a very deep hole, not just in finance and the economy but on the battlefields of the Middle East, in the oceans and dirty skies, on factory floors, in hospital emergency rooms, on decaying roads and bridges and — especially — in the opinions of the rest of the world. Digging ourselves out will require bold leadership from the new president, a great deal of sacrifice on the part of ordinary Americans, and a willingness to entertain a new kind of politics.

All that has become cliché by now. Not until December 17, however, did Americans get their first, concrete lesson in what this might mean. That was the day that the Rev. Rick Warren was selected to deliver the invocation at Obama’s inauguration. Continue.

Major liberal groups avoid rapping Obama on Warren pick

By Eric Fingerhut, JTA, December 23, 2008. (Jane Hunter of JewsOnFirst.org is quoted in this report.)

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Unifying the country requires reaching out to those with whom you disagree.

That's what a couple of top Jewish leaders are saying about Barack Obama's choice of Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his swearing-in next month.

Others in the community, however, say the president-elect's choice is a disappointing kickoff to his administration.

Critics of the religious right have lauded Warren, the pastor at the Southern California Saddleback Church, for focusing on issues such as poverty, AIDS and the environment. But he is also strongly opposed to abortion and gay marriage, and in a recent interview compared same-sex marriage to incest and pedophilia. Continue.

You’re Likable Enough, Gay People

In his first press conference after his re-election in 2004, President Bush memorably declared, “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it.” We all know how that turned out.

Barack Obama has little in common with George W. Bush, thank God, his obsessive workouts and message control notwithstanding. At a time when very few Americans feel very good about very much, Obama is generating huge hopes even before he takes office. So much so that his name and face, affixed to any product, may be the last commodity left in the marketplace that can still move Americans to shop.

I share these high hopes. But for the first time a faint tinge of Bush crept into my Obama reveries this month.

As we saw during primary season, our president-elect is not free of his own brand of hubris and arrogance, and sometimes it comes before a fall: “You’re likable enough, Hillary” was the prelude to his defeat in New Hampshire. He has hit this same note again by assigning the invocation at his inauguration to the Rev. Rick Warren, the Orange County, Calif., megachurch preacher who has likened committed gay relationships to incest, polygamy and “an older guy marrying a child.” Continue.

Prop 8 advocate to deliver Obama invocation

(Washington) Gay rights groups are voicing their opposition to the choice of Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at President-elect Barrack Obama’s inauguration.

Warren is the outspoken evangelical pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. - one of the state’s largest megachurches.

He was a major supporter of Proposition 8, the measure that amended the California constitution to ban same-sex marriage in the state. Continue.

Obama Defends Warren Choice

President-elect Barack Obama was asked Thursday at his news conference about the furious reaction from some gay-rights groups to his decision to ask Rick Warren to play a role in his Inauguration.

The choice of Mr. Warren, pastor of a megachurch in Orange County, Calif., set off a round of criticism by gay rights groups angered by his support for California’s ban on same-sex marriages. Mr. Warren is an outspoken opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage — litmus-test issues for Christian conservatives. Continue.

Statement by Dr. Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Church Regarding the Invitation from President-elect Obama to Deliver the Inaugural Invocation

Lake Forest, California - "I commend President-elect Obama for his courage to willingly take enormous heat from his base by inviting someone like me, with whom he doesn't agree on every issue, to offer the Invocation at his historic Inaugural ceremony.

"Hopefully individuals passionately expressing opinions from the left and the right will recognize that both of us have shown a commitment to model civility in America. Continue.

Rick Warren: 'I am Honored' to Pray at Inauguration

Just 2 percent to 3 percent of Americans are gay- or lesbian-identified, but they sure make a lot of noise.

When President-elect Barack Obama invited the Rev. Rick Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration, outrage from the homosexual-activist community followed — in the form of countless blog posts, commentaries and news articles. Continue.

Operation Rescue Decries Rick Warren's Role in Obama Inauguration as Unbiblical

Washington - Operation Rescue issues the following statement, attributable to Troy Newman, regarding Rick Warren's role in the upcoming Obama inaugural ceremonies.

Yesterday, Pastor Rick Warren issued a statement attempting to excuse his act of support for Mr. Obama, an ardent supporter of abortion, by saying, "The Bible admonishes us to pray for our leaders." However, Pastor Warren's participation in Obama's Inauguration is tantamount to placing his stamp of approval on Obama and his policies that stand in direct opposition to Biblical truths. Continue.

Are Focus layoffs a sign of losing edge among evangelicals?

When Focus on the Family recently announced the deepest job cuts in its 32-year history, it was just the latest headline in a saga of a sad economy.

After all, layoffs are seemingly the norm in a recession where unemployment is at a 15-year high.

But supporters and critics of the Colorado Springs-based Christian ministry have been quick to question whether more is at play than hard times alone. Has its high-profile political stances hurt its public relations? Is its audience aging or shrinking? Did it reach a peak that, for some reason, has passed? Continue.

Obama’s Choice of Pastor Creates Furor

CHICAGO — With his choice of the Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, President-elect Barack Obama has found himself enmeshed in a new controversy involving a pastor, facing criticism this time from liberal and gay rights groups outraged at the idea of including the evangelical pastor at a Democratic celebration.

Mr. Obama’s forceful defense of Mr. Warren, the author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” has signaled an intent to continue his campaign’s effort to woo even theologically conservative Christians. As his advisers field scores of calls from Democrats angry because Mr. Warren is an outspoken opponent of abortion and same-sex marriage, Mr. Obama has insisted that a range of viewpoints be expressed at the inauguration festivities next month in Washington. Continue.

Obama’s Divisive Choice of Rick Warren

In his zeal to appeal to all, the president-elect chose a pastor to give the invocation at his inauguration who has compared gays to pedophiles and abortion to the Holocaust. Why did he do it?

On the left, reaction to the news that Rick Warren would be giving the invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration was swift and furious. The president of The Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest gay and lesbian human rights organization, published an open letter to the president-elect, which began, “Let me get right to the point. Your invitation to Reverend Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at your inauguration is a genuine blow to LGBT Americans.” Continue.

Obama Selects Evangelist for Invocation

Barack Obama has selected the Rev. Rick Warren, the evangelical pastor and author of “The Purpose Driven Life,” to deliver the invocation at his inauguration, a role that positions Mr. Warren to succeed Billy Graham as the nation’s pre-eminent minister and reflects the generational changes in the evangelical Christian movement. Continue.

Obama Made Gains Among Younger Evangelical Voters, Data Show

President-elect Barack Obama succeeded in chiseling off small but significant chunks of white evangelical voters who have been the foundation of the Republican Party for decades, a close look at voting patterns reveals.

The change reflects a broader shift among religious voters in every category. Mr. Obama made gains among Catholics, Jews and mainline Protestants, compared with the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.

But the big question was whether Mr. Obama could appeal to evangelicals — born-again Christians, who make up about a quarter of the electorate and have been largely Republican stalwarts. Continue.

How the Faithful Voted

President-elect Barack Obama made a concerted effort to reach out to people of faith during the 2008 presidential campaign, and early exit polls show that this outreach may have paid off on Election Day. Among nearly every religious group, the Democratic candidate received equal or higher levels of support compared with the 2004 Democratic nominee, John Kerry. Still, a sizeable gap persists between the support Obama received from white evangelical Protestants and his support among the religiously unaffiliated. Similarly, a sizeable gap exists between those who attend religious services regularly and those who attend less often. Continue.

Dobson claims Obama election sets pro-lifers back severely

Colorado Springs, Colorado. (ABP) -- Focus on the Family founder James Dobson said Nov. 6 that Barack Obama's election could set America's pro-life movement back 35 years.

In the first of a two-part broadcast on his radio show, Dobson admitted he is "in the midst of a grieving process" over election results the day before. "I'm not grieving over Barack Obama's victory, but over the loss of things that I've fought for for 35 years," he said.

Dobson said he understands the excitement over election of the country's first black president and that he wished he could have voted for Obama for that reason. Continue.

Obama election shows deep racial divide in church

New York — The barrier-crossing election of Barack Obama did little to bridge the deep racial divide in American churches. In fact, some clergy say it has only served to underscore their differences.

While nonwhite Christians voted overwhelmingly for Obama, most white Christians backed John McCain, according to exit polls. Several black clergy said that criticism of Obama by some white Christians over his religious beliefs and support for abortion rights crossed the line, hurting longtime efforts to reconcile their communities.

"I think in the eagerness to protect the right to life issues, there were some things said, not about that issue, that were not always fair and that were insensitive that need to be rethought," said Bishop T.D. Jakes, a prominent black pastor and founder of The Potter's House, a theologically conservative megachurch in Dallas. "I would love to see black and white Christians find common ground, and a deeper understanding of each other's needs." Continue.

Palin, Again.

The thwarted VP nominee is not going quietly. Indeed, she seems to believe in her own sense of personal destiny and mission.

Her last name means “again” in Greek, and there is an eery sense of eternal recurrence whenever she speaks. I’ve heard this all somewhere before. History should help me here. These are mistakes we’ve made before. Something nags at the edges of my memory.

For fully thirty years now, the two main parties in this country have been loose coalitions; the one that fractures worst loses presidential elections, and if the fracture is bad enough, loses legislative power and influence as well. Both Republican fractures happened this time around. Continue.

Obama election victory signals shift, but Religious Right still scores wins

Washington (ABP) -- All religious groups shifted toward Barack Obama, the candidate opposed by the Religious Right's leadership, in his historic presidential win Nov. 4. Still, religious conservatives did manage a few victories.

The Democratic candidate garnered about 52 percent of the popular vote to GOP nominee John McCain's 46 percent.

While McCain and running mate Sarah Palin -- a darling of the right -- lost the night's biggest prize, four statewide ballot initiatives aimed at curtailing gay rights appeared headed for passage. Other ballot initiatives watched closely by religious conservatives -- like gambling and abortion rights -- were a mixed bag. Continue.

Obama gains historic win; conservatives watch and wait

WASHINGTON (BP)--Democrat Barack Obama made history Nov. 4 by becoming the first African American elected to the U.S. presidency, but the victory left many evangelical Christians and other social conservatives concerned his administration will undermine pro-life and pro-family policies.

The U.S. senator from Illinois took most of the hotly contested battleground states on the way to a convincing win over Republican John McCain. Obama led McCain by a 349-163 margin in electoral votes, with Missouri and North Carolina still too close to call at 1 p.m. (EST) Nov. 5, according to CNN. At the same time, Obama's advantage in the popular vote was 63.2 million to 55.9 million, or 52-46 percent, with 97 percent of the precincts reporting.

Obama's victory, combined with his party's gains in both the Senate and House of Representatives, could result in the rollback of federal restrictions on abortion and its funding, as well as grants for destructive embryonic stem cell research. It also could produce advances for homosexual rights and "gay marriage," social conservatives say. Continue.

Obama shifted some church voters

President-elect Barack Obama’s effort to swing religious voters his way and close the God gap with Republicans worked.

While he did not win every religious group of voters, he made gains from each compared with the 2004 election, exit polls reveal. He swept some by impressive numbers, and he gained notably among young evangelicals, who have been Republican stalwarts.

Since the 2004 election, political commentators noted Republicans’ winning numbers among religious voters, leaving gaps between Republicans and Democrats. Continue.

Even After an Obama Victory Reports of the Death of the Religious Right are Greatly Exaggerated

While it won't be the same as it ever was, an Obama presidency will give the Religious Right an opportunity to bask in the glow of martyrdom and seize the mantle of underdog, while it raises hundreds of millions of dollars for its political campaigns and the never-ending ‘culture wars.

History was made yesterday, as Barack Hussein Obama was elected president of the United States of America. While “The religious right’s access to power in Washington, D.C. has been seriously diminished,” as the Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State wrote early this morning, even in an Obama administration, expect some or all of the following to take place against the backdrop of a mainstream media giddy with reportage on the demise of the religious right. Continue.

Obama: Bringing (Some) Evangelicals In

James Dobson may be the only Evangelical whose Sunday school teacher apparently never warned him to be careful what he prayed for. Two weeks before Election Day, the Focus on the Family founder chatted with Sarah Palin on his radio show and shared his backup plan for the struggling GOP ticket. He was, Dobson told her, praying for "God's intervention" and that "God's perfect will be done on November the 4th."

Unless Dobson has undergone a dramatic political conversion, it's safe to assume he does not consider Barack Obama's election on Tuesday to be divinely ordained. In June, Dobson delivered a furious broadside against the Democrat, charging that he was "deliberately distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view." And yet in a year in which the economy mattered more than social issues for most voters, Obama's comfortable victory included Democratic gains in every single religious category among the electorate. Continue.

Opinion: Evangelicals and the Obama era

I began this election year with The Future of Faith in American Politics, a book arguing that there is an emerging political center in the white evangelical community.

This center breaks with the evangelical right in that it is more politically independent, prioritizes a wider range of moral issues than the traditional family values concerns, eschews the right's mood of angry nostalgia and seeks consensus solutions to advance the common good.

I suggested the right was losing its hold on younger white evangelicals, who were moving in this more centrist direction (and sometimes further left) and that it never really had a hold on a majority of nonwhite evangelicals. Continue.

Who Is Joel Hunter, and Why Is Obama Praying with Him?

As Joel Hunter explains it, his telephone prayer session with Barack Obama on Tuesday, roughly 10 hours before Obama was declared winner of the presidential election, was not intended to be as intimate as it ended up. Obama, says Hunter, "just wanted to pray with some folks," and his religious liaison arranged a conference call with Hunter, Dallas Pentecostal megapastor T.D. Jakes, Houston Methodist minister (and George Bush favorite) Kirbyjon Caldwell and Otis Moss II, the retired pastor of Olivet Institutional Baptist Church in Cleveland. But Obama was delayed, Jakes had to appear on live TV, and Caldwell had to board a plane, explains Hunter; so the candidate ended up praying with just Moss and Hunter.

Hunter won't divulge the prayer's content other than to say that Obama "trusts God and the American people and just wanted to commend himself to each." The 60-year-old champion of what some call the New Evangelicalism also downplays the session's possible importance for his own status, noting that Obama has always been "very good about keeping religious leaders in the loop." Though he says he has prayed with Obama twice before, Hunter adds, "I find it hard to believe that I'm in the inner prayer circle." Continue.

Obama Won’t Have 60 Senators to Back Him Up

President-elect Barack Obama will begin his term in January with a solid majority in both the House and Senate to enact his legislative priorities, but he won’t have enough Democrats in the Senate to silence Republican dissent. That’s because Democrats did not win the races they needed for a 60-seat majority, which would have allowed Majority Leader Harry Reid to invoke “cloture” and end a Republican filibuster. Continue.

Evangelicals responsible for Obama victory

Here's the single most important takeaway from Tuesday's election: evangelical voters are responsible, all by themselves, for putting Sen. Barack Obama into the White House.

A mentor of mine was fond of saying that the church is the secret government of the world, based on Jesus' teaching that his followers are the salt of the earth, arresting the spread of decay, and the light of the world, bringing illumination to a darkened and deceived humanity.

According to exit polling data, Sen. Obama, a supporter of unlimited abortion rights and the radical homosexual agenda, did not win a majority of evangelicals in any state in the Union. Continue.

Church Reaction to Obama Election

"Exiles in an Obama Nation" marquee of Gracewood Baptist Church, Southhaven, Mississippi.

"God has vindicated the black folk. Too long we've been at the bottom of the totem pole, but he has vindicated us, hallelujah...Because when I look toward Washington, D.C., we got a new family coming in...and you know what? They look like us. Amen." Shirley Caesar, Gospel recording artist and pastor of Mount Calvary Word of Faith (Raleigh, North Carolina). Continue.

Christians Respond to Obama as President

The diverse Christian body has, as expected, responded to news of Barack Obama’s victory in the presidential election with mixed reaction – some congratulating, others wanting to put aside differences to work together, and still others insisting on challenging him when he takes office. Continue.

Dobson Admits to Struggling after Election

Christian right leader Dr. James Dobson said he is currently in a grieving process over the presidential election result, which he said is a huge setback for the pro-life movement.

“I want to admit that I am in the midst of a grieving process at this time,” Dobson said on the Focus on the Family radio broadcast on Thursday. “I’m not grieving over Barack Obama’s victory, but over the loss of things that I’ve fought for, for 35 years.”

In particular, he pointed to Obama’s commitment to abortion rights and advancement of the homosexual agenda. Continue.

Hand of God Has Been Removed

Bill Keller, founder of Liveprayer.com and the world's leading internet evangelist, has been long concerned about the American economic crisis, and with the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th president of the United States, Keller declared, "the hand of God has been removed from this nation."

Keller explains that this nation has been operating in rebellion to God and biblical truth for decades, legally slaughtering four thousand innocent babies daily, making a mockery of God's plan for marriage and the family, turning to the lusts of the flesh and pleasures of earthly existence, while worshiping the idols and false gods of the world. Continue.

Newt Gingrich says that despite Falwell's death, it's still possible to convert whole nation

In Liberty University commencement address, former speaker assails "radical secularists"

by JewsOnFirst.org, May 29, 2007

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich made that statement about the prospects for converting the nation immediately after he gave the commencement address at Liberty University, a Christian school founded by the recently deceased Rev. Jerry Falwell. During his address, Gingrich, a possible presidential contender, said President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed his generation faced a war between Christianity and paganism. Click here.

Gary Bauer tells BBC television that Obama has suspect Muslim background

In an interview aired on BBC's international news channel, Christian right leader Gary Bauer repeats discredited allegations that Sen. Barak Obama was once a Muslim. Bauer says: "Do you know whether radical Islam was part of Barack Obama's background? He went to a religious school in Indonesia. Nobody's been able to find out how things were run in that school." Bauer also says: "The people that were in the school at the time say it was a typical religious Muslim school, and they were being taught the things that we've seen being taught in many Muslim schools around the world that are troubling."

Please click here to go to a page with links to the video interview and Sackur's reflections on his interviews with Bauer and Bill Kristol.

Editorial: Jewish leaders tardy to denounce email smear campaign against Barack Obama

By JewsOnFirst.org, January 27, 2008

It is dismaying that the major Jewish organizations and Obama's Jewish colleagues did not confront this issue earlier. Continue.

Vendors asked to leave Values Voter Summit

Two men who were trying to lighten the mood by selling "Obama Waffles" were asked to leave this afternoon after protesters found the boxes racist.

Men from Tennessee traveled to the Values Voter Summit to sell yellow boxes of waffle mix that portray a caricature of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama with a Muslim-like headdress and says "Point box toward Mecca for tastier waffles." The cover of the box portrays a caricature of Obama's face next to waffles, which three protesters from American Atheists found offensive. Eric Herrman from American Atheists said the box was racist because it conjures up images of Aunt Jemima, the woman portrayed on a syrup bottle. Continue.

9 Jewish Leaders Say E-Mail Spread Lies About Obama

The leaders of nine Jewish groups released an open letter on Tuesday condemning what they called “hateful e-mails” that they said spread lies about Senator Barack Obama’s religious beliefs and his intentions.

The anonymous e-mail messages have circulated for months, saying that Mr. Obama is a Muslim and carried a copy of the Koran when he was sworn in at the United States Senate. Continue.

Smearing Barack Obama

Hayes posts the smear that's circulating cyberspace that claims that presidential hopeful Sen. "Barack Hussein Obama" had a "black Muslim" (i.e. Kenyan) father and a "radical Muslim" stepfather and attended a "madrassa" in Indonesia -- where he also attended Catholic school. Click here.

See also: Christian Zionist leader John Hagee endorses John McCain here, McCain endorser Rod Parsley Preaches Bigotry and Christian Supremacy, Recordings Disclose here, and McCain calls US a "Christian nation" here.

Richard Cizik: Evangelical Requests to Meet With McCain Unanswered

God-o-Meter caught up this week with Richard Cizik, chief lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, the nation's largest evangelical organization. Cizik made news earlier in the week in Colorado Springs for questioning whether John McCain was a "principled person" and for "waffling on issue after issue." Cizik told GOM that requests from him and other evangelicals to meet with John McCain have gone unanswered, that when it comes to voting "a lot of evangelical don't think," and spoke candidly about racism Barack Obama may face within the white church. Continue.

Evangelical leader smacks McCain for lack of "principle"

Richard Cizik is one of the country’s most powerful and outspoken Christian evangelical leaders. He happens to be a Republican, and he has known the GOP’s presidential nominee for many years. “I thought John McCain was a principled person,” Cizik says. “But John McCain has backed off, not just on climate change but on torture and a sensible tax policy — in other words, he’s not the John McCain of 2000. … He seems to be waffling on issue after issue.

“It’s not illogical for someone to conclude that John McCain is going to be more like George Bush than John McCain is going to be like John McCain in 2000.” Continue.

McCain Gets Praise, Not Backing, From Grahams

Senator John McCain, who has had trouble courting faith-based voters, went to the mountaintop on Sunday — Billy Graham’s Blue Ridge mountaintop retreat in western North Carolina, that is — and met with the evangelist and his son the Rev. Franklin Graham for a private, 45-minute conversation.

There were no endorsements after the meeting at the rustic retreat, called Little Piney Cove, and both sides portrayed it as nonpolitical — just a chance to talk over old times and pray for God’s blessing on the presidential election and the candidates. But afterward, there were encomiums all around.

Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, had requested the meeting with the Grahams. He called his hosts “great leaders” and said they had had “an excellent conversation.” In response to a reporter’s question, he said, as if slightly surprised: “Oh, I didn’t ask for their vote.” Continue.

The Reverend McCain

In an essay on The Times Op-Ed page in March, the writer Neal Gabler suggested that the reason John McCain has enjoyed excellent relations with the press is that they are birds of a feather. According to Mr. Gabler, Mr. McCain is “an ironist wooing a group of individuals who regard ironic detachment more highly than sincerity or seriousness.”

The flip side of this shared reverence for irreverence, however, is the discomfort it induces in those for whom sincerity is serious. Though Mr. McCain belongs to a Southern Baptist congregation in Phoenix and made headlines last year calling America a “Christian nation,” he still oozes a fighter pilot’s four-letter regard for piety. Many Christian conservatives, who’ve been battling purveyors of ironic detachment ever since Clarence Darrow showed up at the Scopes trial, don’t get the joke — and don’t want to.

This may be a bigger sore point than Mr. McCain’s lack of enthusiasm for marriage amendments or his reluctance to put the kibosh on stem cell research. Mr. McCain doesn’t just irritate Christian conservatives like Dr. James Dobson on retail issues; he alienates them wholesale. In a broadcast report heralding “a new religious landscape” in which evangelical votes are up for grabs, David Brody of CBN News noted that Mr. McCain still “hasn’t shared his faith walk with voters.” To the former Navy man, who has managed to keep his religion mostly to himself for 71 years, it probably sounds like walking the plank.

John McCain's Ohio disconnect

Republican Party machinery in the state helped get President Bush into office, but it's not firing yet on McCain's behalf

Cincinnati -- As the architect of Ohio's ballot measure against gay marriage, Phil Burress helped draw thousands of conservative voters to the polls in 2004, most of whom also cast ballots to reelect President Bush. So Burress was not surprised when two high-level staffers from John McCain's campaign dropped by his office, asking for his help this fall.

What surprised Burress was how badly the meeting went. He says he tried but failed to make the McCain team understand how much work remained to overcome the skepticism of social conservatives. Burress ended up cutting off the campaign officials as they spoke. "He doesn't want to associate with us," Burress now says of McCain, "and we don't want to associate with him." Continue.

McCain's Evangelical Problem

Shortcomings by John McCain's campaign in the art of politics are alienating two organizations of Christian conservatives. James Dobson's Focus on the Family is estranged following the failure of Dobson and McCain to talk out their differences. Evangelicals who follow the Rev. John Hagee resent McCain's disavowal of him.

The evangelicals are not an isolated problem for the Arizona senator. Enthusiasm for McCain inside the Republican coalition is in short supply. During the four months since McCain clinched the nomination, he has not satisfied conservatives opposed to his positions on global warming, campaign finance reform, immigration, domestic oil drilling and how to ban same-sex marriages. Continue.

In Rebuking Minister, McCain May Have Alienated Evangelicals

The Rev. Rod Parsley paces the stage, wiping his forehead and shouting to his congregation in a taped sermon that marriage is under attack by "tortured and angry homosexuals."

During another of his nationally broadcast television shows, he compares Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan, saying that its goal is to "eliminate" blacks. And at another service at his 12,000-member World Harvest Church in Columbus, Ohio, he punches the air and calls Islam a "false religion" that God has told America to destroy.

"We were built for battle! We were created for conflict! We get off on warfare!" he adds.

Images of one of the nation's rising stars of television evangelism are widely available on DVDs and Web sites, with sermons that are almost certain to inflame some segment of the voting public. But in its quest to secure support from evangelical Christians, the campaign of presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain did not note a long record of inflammatory statements by Parsley and the Rev. John Hagee of Texas, another TV evangelist, until long after McCain had accepted their endorsements.

The move backfired last week when clips of the ministers' sermons gained national attention, prompting McCain to reject their support. The candidate's abrupt turnabout brought criticism not only from secular viewers, who questioned why he had aligned himself with controversial religious voices, but also from evangelicals, who said he may have alienated a powerful bloc of potential Republican voters. Continue.

Parsing Parsley

ABC’s Brian Ross delivers on McCain’s “spiritual guide”

Good for ABC News and Brian Ross, who are finally giving Pastor Rod Parsley, an important Christian conservative ally of John McCain, the kind of scrutiny he deserves.

As Ross detailed in a report that aired this morning on ABC’s Good Morning America, Parsley—whose endorsement McCain solicited, and who the senator has called “one of the truly great leaders in America”—has views on Christianity and Islam that many would consider no less troubling than Jeremiah Wright’s anti-American screeds. Continue.

McCain Campaign Reaching Out to Religious Leaders

Two campaign aides for John McCain's tell The Brody File that outreach to the religious community is well underway with weekly meetings between McCain staffers and pro-family leaders. There are roughly ten people on the call from the Evangelical and social conservative world including prominent McCain backers Gary Bauer and former Senator Dan Coates. The focus of the weekly meeting is to gauge the temperature of the grassroots, keep a dialogue open and make sure they know that the McCain camp is listening to their concerns. One aide says the campaign is in "listening mode" Continue.

McCain, Huckabee and the Evangelicals

Washington, D.C. -- John McCain, who has spent the last two months trying to consolidate right-wing support as the Republican candidate for president, has a problem of disputed dimensions with a vital component of the conservative coalition: the evangelicals. The biggest question is whether Mike Huckabee is part of the problem or the solution for McCain.

An element of the Christian community is not reconciled to McCain's candidacy but instead regards the prospective presidency of Barack Obama in the nature of a Biblical plague visited upon a sinful people. These militants look at former Baptist preacher Huckabee as "God's candidate" running for president in 2012. Whether they can be written off as merely a troublesome fringe group depends on Huckabee's course. Continue.

'Obama Knows Best'

Elitism Threatens Parental Rights

In his May 12 column entitled "McCain's Christian Problem," (The Washington Post) Robert Novak used a single, unnamed source to insinuate that I somehow favor an Obama presidency because it would somehow be a biblical judgment for the country's sins.

Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth. Mr. Novak's unnamed source is flatly wrong. I have never said nor do I believe that an Obama presidency is a good idea for any reason, biblical or otherwise.

On the contrary, I have every reason to believe that an Obama presidency would be incredibly and particularly harmful to the American family and homeschool community. Continue.

McCain Pushes Priorities That Resonate on the Right

ROCHESTER, Mich. — Senator John McCain appealed to religious conservatives on Wednesday with pledges to prosecute sex traffickers, fight Internet child pornography and make religious freedom a priority in American diplomacy.

In a speech followed by tough questions from the audience about the war in Iraq and his temper, Mr. McCain said that those issues, particularly the fight against sex trafficking, would be important in his White House. Continue.

Vital campaign topic: Judicial nominees

Ed Whelan, an expert on constitutional law and the judicial nomination process, says conservatives should be heartened by the position the Republican presidential nominee has staked out on judicial nominees.

Senator John McCain (R-Arizona) used a speech earlier this week at Wake Forest University to reaffirm his promise to appoint judges in the mold of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Samuel Alito, and the late William Rehnquist.

McCain is attempting to woo conservatives who dislike his decision to join the "Gang of 14," a group of senators – seven Republicans and seven Democrats – who averted a Senate showdown over whether filibusters could be used against President Bush's judicial nominees. Continue.

McCain's faith, pastor hard to pigeonhole

John McCain has a deep and personal Christian commitment despite his reluctance to speak publicly about it, according to the man that the Arizona senator and presumed GOP presidential nominee claims as his pastor.

Dan Yeary, pastor of North Phoenix Baptist Church, described the senator and his wife, Cindy, as "very unobtrusive" people who don't seek special attention when they are able to come to worship. "They come in the side door. They're very pleasant. They talk to people. They're very approachable."

But the man McCain calls "my family's pastor" said his relationship with the candidate is not a particularly close one. Yeary said he's done "no more [for McCain] than I would do for any church member" in the 7,000-member congregation. Continue.

McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam

Televangelist Rod Parsley, a key McCain ally in Ohio, has called for eradicating the "false religion." Will the GOP presidential candidate renounce him?

Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a "war" against the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it.

On February 26, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a supersize Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a television studio (where Parsley tapes a weekly show), and a 122,000-square-foot Ministry Activity Center. That day, a week before the Ohio primary, Parsley praised the Republican presidential front-runner as a "strong, true, consistent conservative." The endorsement was important for McCain, who at the time was trying to put an end to the lingering challenge from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a favorite among Christian evangelicals. A politically influential figure in Ohio, Parsley could also play a key role in McCain's effort to win this bellwether state in the general election. McCain, with Parsley by his side at the Cincinnati rally, called the evangelical minister a "spiritual guide." Continue.

McCain’s Critics on Right Look Again

WASHINGTON — Senator John McCain has long aroused almost unanimous opposition from the leaders of the right. Accusing him of crimes against conservative orthodoxy like voting against a big tax cut and opposing a federal ban on same-sex marriage, conservative activists have agitated for months to thwart his Republican presidential primary campaign.

Since his victory in the Florida primary, the growing possibility that Mr. McCain may carry the Republican banner in November is causing anguish to the right. Some, including James C. Dobson and Rush Limbaugh, say it is far too late for forgiveness. Continue.

God and John McCain

Des Moines, Iowa—As he addressed a room full of members of the Iowa Christian Alliance in the small city of Cedar Falls, Sen. John McCain demonstrated how hard it is for him to find his way through the tangled forest of Christian right doctrine.

There’s no doubt he believes in God. He gave a moving expression of faith in his speech. He spoke of his own beliefs, and then told how they were shared by others in the most unlikely places. He related a story of how a North Vietnamese prison guard once drew a cross on the ground next to McCain when he was a prisoner of war.

Yet he insists on invoking God in a manner not popular among Republican conservatives. In the same speech, for example, he said that although he favors restrictions on illegal immigrants, they “are still God’s children and they are also human beings.” That’s not acceptable to anti-immigrant conservatives, religious or not. They appear to want nothing less than to put immigrants on trains and ship them south of the border. Continue.

McCain taps South Carolina pastors, pols to reach Christian conservatives

Columbia, S.C. (AP) A group of South Carolina politicians and pastors will advise Republican presidential hopeful John McCain on issues such as abortion, which are key to winning the support of conservative Christians in this early voting state, the Arizona senator's campaign said Wednesday. Among the advisers for the state chapter of McCain's "Americans of Faith" committee are Carl Falk, chairman of the anti-abortion Palmetto Family Council, and Bob Wilson, a trustee of ultra-religious Bob Jones University. State Sen. Mike Fair, who is forming the group, said he chose "highly respected pro-family leaders and South Carolinians of faith to serve as the nucleus of the steering committee." Continue.

Fired McCain Campaign Aides Sound Off

Two former aides hired to spearhead religious outreach for presidential candidate John McCain say that they were virtually ignored by the campaign and that McCain's top campaign strategists are intent on winning votes of religious voters without having to develop serious ties to faith communities.

The aides, who were fired in early April after roughly three months on the job, said the campaign staff declined to return scores of their phone calls and E-mail messages, denied them access to leaders of the McCain campaign, and pressed them to collect church directories - a controversial tactic - as the centerpiece of a strategy to woo "values" voters. "In the end, you came away with the strong sense that they had contempt for the faith-based community," says Marlene Elwell, one of those fired staffers. Continue.

McCain, Romney Vying for Support Of Conservatives

This report details efforts Romney and McCain are making to win support from the Christian right. It notes that religious right leaders James Dobson, Richard Land and Rick Scarborough are withholding support from both McCain and Romney. Jay Sekulow is supporting Romney. Continue.

McCain To Deliver Keynote Speech For Creationists

Today is Darwin Day, commemorating the anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and of the publishing of On the Origin of Species. The National Academy of Sciences, “the nation’s most prestigious scientific organization,” declares evolution “one of the strongest and most useful scientific theories we have.” President Bush’s science adviser John Marburger calls it “the cornerstone of modern biology.”

Yet, on February 23, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) will be the keynote speaker for the most prominent creationism advocacy group in the country. The Discovery Institute, a religious right think-tank, is well-known for its strong opposition to evolutionary biology and its advocacy for “intelligent design.” The institute’s main financial backer, savings and loan heir Howard Ahmanson, spent 20 years on the board of the Chalcedon Foundation, “a theocratic outfit that advocates the replacement of American civil law with biblical law.” Continue.

John McCain's Personal Christian Nationalist

While John Edwards' bloggers have resigned in the wake of the firestorm ignited by Bill Donohue of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights', allegations of anti-Catholicism, bloggers working for Republicans have received a pass in the media.

Progressive bloggers have stepped into the breech and learned, among other things, that John McCain's personal blogger is a Christian nationalist who plays dirty politics with religion. Although the selective outrage over bad blogger behavior is a fair issue, as is the rank hypocrisy of the bigotted Bill Donohue, I think it is worth considering the role that Christian nationalist politics may very well play in the 2008 elections.

Glenn Greenwald wrote about GOP presidential primary contender, John McCain's personal blogger, Patrick Hynes: Continue.

Kurtz suggested no Republican candidate has hired "outrageous" blogger -- what about McCain?

Summary: On CNN, Howard Kurtz suggested that no Republican presidential candidate has hired "conservative bloggers who have said some outrageous things." In doing so, Kurtz overlooked Sen. John McCain's hiring of conservative blogger Patrick Hynes, who has made numerous inflammatory statements regarding religion and Democrats. Continue.

McCain recruits social conservative operative

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John McCain has recruited a veteran Christian conservative political operative to serve as an advisor to his likely presidential campaign, the Arizona Republican's latest effort to strengthen ties with social conservatives.

Guy Rodgers, a former national field director for the Christian Coalition, will serve as deputy director of McCain's "Americans of Faith Coalition," the Arizonan's exploratory committee announced Monday. Continue.

McCain's position on marriage amendment tough to label

Sen. John McCain's likely presidential bid figures to be hindered among conservatives because of his opposition to a federal marriage amendment, although in truth his views on the subject of traditional marriage have disappointed liberals, too.

McCain's opposition to a marriage amendment to the U.S. Constitution made headlines Jan. 11 when Focus on the Family founder James Dobson said he could not support the Arizona Republican.

"Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances," Dobson said on the Jerry Johnson Live radio program, which is hosted by Criswell College's president. "... He's not in favor of traditional marriage, and I pray that we won't get stuck with him." Continue

Dobson says 'no way' to McCain candidacy

Christian leader declares he couldn't support senator 'under any circumstances'

A prominent Christian leader whose radio and magazine outreaches are solidly in support of biblically-based marriages -- and keeps in touch with millions of constituents daily - says he cannot consider Arizona Sen. John McCain a viable candidate for president.

"Speaking as a private individual, I would not vote for John McCain under any circumstances," said James Dobson, founder of the Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family as well as the Focus Action cultural action organization set up specifically to provide a platform for informing and rallying constituents.

Dobson, who always is careful to note that he's not speaking for the non-profit ministry, which cannot advocate for or against candidates legally, also doesn't hesitate to state his personal opinions on social or political issues and agendas. Continue

Too much focus on religion in this election season

Opinion Article by Abraham H. Foxman, JTA, September 8, 2008. Abraham H. Foxman is national director of the Anti-Defamation League

NEW YORK (JTA) -- The political campaign season is now in high gear as the curtain falls on the Democrats in Denver and the Republicans in Minneapolis-St. Paul. While much of the media's focus has been on handicapping the candidates and their chances in November, we would like to call attention to one less-publicized aspect of the U.S. political scene in 2008, which we find troubling.

This year, there have been increasing signs that the presidential race will present the American public with a profoundly unsettling infusion of religion and religiosity.

The trend toward this growing insertion of faith into the presidential race was first evident in Denver, and then equally so in the Twin Cities. Continue.

Primed to criticize Rev. Rick Warren, Christian right leaders on telephone conference praise his handling of candidates' event

Summary and recording by JewsOnFirst.org of a news conference following the presidential candidates' event at Saddleback Church, August 16, 2008

The conference, which began at 10:30 PM eastern time following the event at Saddleback Church in California, had been scheduled to allow leaders of the religious right to criticize Saddleback's Pastor Rick Warren, whom some on the religious right perceive to be insufficiently orthodox.

As it turned out, though, Warren had not displeased the panelists, who included Tom Minnery of Focus on the Family, Bishop Harry Jackson of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values (Ohio), and Janet Folger of Faith2Action. So Folger took several turns at savaging Senator Barack Obama.

We were surprised that, despite enormous media interest in the Saddleback Church event, fewer than 30 people were on the call -- and at least three of them were from organizations that monitor the religious right. No reporters from the mainstream media made their presence known.

At the end of the call, Bishop Harry Jackson praised Rick Warren, describing him as a rising leader with the potential to succeed Billy Graham. Please click the player below to listen to the conference.

Evangelical Reaction to Saddleback Civil Forum

NewsGuests.com's transcript of a telephone news conference by religious right leaders following the presidential candidates forum at Saddleback Church, August 16, 2008. Note that the page is entitled, apparently mistakenly, "Colin Hanna."

[Host] Martha Zoller: Thank you. And, what we first – you know, we want to have anybody ask questions that wants to ask questions. We’ll get an idea of what the panel members think about the event at Saddleback Church. So, let’s open now for questions.

Wiley Drake: This is Wiley Drake, from the Wiley Drake Show. And the question that's been burning on everybody’s – and pushing me to ask – is, was the question in reference to what will the President candidates do in reference to the abortion issue? Continue.

Skepticism mounts over Warren's presidential forum

The head of the National Clergy Council is doubtful Pastor Rick Warren will ask Barack Obama and John McCain about their stances on abortion during tonight's presidential forum.

Warren says he plans to ask the two White House hopefuls questions about topics such as the Constitution, poverty, HIV/AIDS, global warming, and human rights. Although Pastor Rob Schenck, president of Faith and Action, says those issues are important, he is concerned Warren will elevate them at the expense of issues that are traditionally of chief concern to Christians. (Vote in a related poll)

"What makes some church leaders -- and I guess average Christians -- a little suspicious about this is...for lack of a better term, the self-censorship that Rick Warren is practicing here," Schenck cautions. "For example, he's not going to ask either of the candidates anything about abortion even though it's one of the primary distinctions between the two candidates." Continue.

Rick Warren Critic Admits He was Wrong to Jump to Conclusions - Praises Civil Forum on the Presidency

News release via Christian Newswire, National Clergy Council, August 16, 2008 (full text)

Aug. 16 /Christian Newswire/ -- The Reverend Rob Schenck (pronounced SHANK), who was recently quoted in the Los Angeles Times and on National Public Radio criticizing Pastor Rick Warren for announcing he would not pose questions on hot-button issues to presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain during tonight's Civil Forum on the Presidency, reversed his negative opinion before the event had even ended.

"I was wrong to jump to negative conclusions," said Schenck, president of the National Clergy Council and a minister to elected and appointed officials in Washington, DC. "I made the wrong assumptions. As a result of his Saddleback Forum, Rick Warren helped us to get a clearer picture of the candidates, their moral and spiritual principles and their philosophy of government. It was better than I had prayed it would be."

Rev. Schenck, who has been a critic of Warren's in the past, did add he would have been even harder on each of the candidates than Warren was and would not have let them ramble on at times with well-worn stump speech language. Still, Schenck praised the contribution the forum has made to the election process.

"While it is not the final word on which candidate is best, Christians and all Americans should find this forum very helpful as they consider who they will pick to occupy the White House in 2009. Rick Warren didn't cover it all, and we all have ideas on how we could have done it better, but he did accomplish more than anyone else has so far in unpacking who the two candidates really are. I applaud him." Click here.

The Obama-McCain Faith Forum

At about 9 p.m. Eastern time, Senators Barack Obama and John McCain briefly crossed paths in a rare moment in the presidential campaign (the Senate floor doesn’t count, and besides, neither of them has been there much lately). They shared the stage for 36 seconds at Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch here, where they briefly hugged each other and smiled, belying a nastier campaign between them that has taken place long-distance and over the airwaves.

Tonight’s encounter, marked the unofficial opening of the general election and serve as a prequel to the fall debates as the two candidates discussed, although not simultaneously, a range of faith-related, character, leadership and humanitarian issues. Continue.

The Purpose-Driven Campaign: The Candidates' Forum With Rick Warren

Question and Answer featuring John Green interviewed by Mark O'Keefe

The first joint appearance of these two presidential candidates will be at a church. What is the significance of that?
It’s very significant. One of the hallmarks of the 2008 presidential campaign up to this point has been the increased level of discussion of faith and values. This includes not only the candidates’ own faith and how they connect that faith to their political values but also a general discussion of religion. So it’s quite fitting that the first joint appearance between the presumptive nominees of the major political parties would be in a religious forum. Continue.

The Purpose-Driven Presidency

Is Rick Warren the answer to Barack Obama's religion problem? Or to John McCain's? We may find out Saturday, when the two presidential candidates meet for an interfaith forum at Warren's Saddleback megachurch in California.

Many progressives are nervous about Senator Obama's outreach to people of faith, especially his recent embrace of the concept of utilizing faith-based organizations to deliver some social services. The Democratic candidate's appearance at a megachurch is probably further unsettling to many on the left. Continue.

Evangelicals Up For Grabs? Candidates Court Voters

On Aug. 16, Barack Obama and John McCain will appear together at Rick Warren's Saddleback Valley Community Church in Lake Forest, Calif. Joint appearances by the presumed nominees of the major parties are rare, and this one shows that both parties are working hard to court the votes of white evangelical Christians.

This year, there's been a role reversal in the competition for those voters. Now, it's the Democrat who is comfortable quoting Scripture and talking openly about his beliefs.

"When working as a community organizer with other churches, helping to build struggling neighborhoods, I let Jesus Christ into my life. I learned that my sins could be redeemed," Obama said. Continue.

Evangelicals warn against Romney on ticket

Huckabee backers least flexible

Prominent evangelical leaders are warning Sen. John McCain against picking former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as his running mate, saying their troops will abandon the Republican ticket on Election Day if that happens.

They say Mr. Romney lacks trust on issues such as outlawing abortion and opposing same-sex marriage and because he is a Mormon. Opposition is particularly powerful among those who supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the Republican presidential primaries earlier this year. Continue.

Obama Wants to Expand Role of Religious Groups

ZANESVILLE, Ohio — With an eye toward courting evangelical voters, Senator Barack Obama arrived here on Tuesday to present a plan to expand on President Bush’s program of investing federal money in religious-based initiatives that are intended to fight poverty and perform community aid work.

“The fact is, the challenges we face today — from saving our planet to ending poverty — are simply too big for government to solve alone,” Mr. Obama is expected to say, according to a prepared text of his remarks. “We need all hands on deck.”

On the second day of a weeklong tour intended to highlight his values, Mr. Obama traveled to the battleground state of Ohio on Tuesday to present his proposal to get religious charities more involved in government programs. He is scheduled to give an afternoon speech here outside of the Eastside Community Ministry, a program providing food, clothes and youth ministry.

“Now, I know there are some who bristle at the notion that faith has a place in the public square,” Mr. Obama intends to say. “But the fact is, leaders in both parties have recognized the value of a partnership between the White House and faith-based groups.” Continue.

Obama Delivers Speech on Faith in America

Following are the remarks on faith Senator Barack Obama will deliver in Zanesville, Ohio, as prepared for delivery and provided by the Obama campaign.

You know, faith based groups like East Side Community Ministry carry a particular meaning for me. Because in a way, they’re what led me into public service. It was a Catholic group called The Campaign for Human Development that helped fund the work I did many years ago in Chicago to help lift up neighborhoods that were devastated by the closure of a local steel plant.

Now, I didn’t grow up in a particularly religious household. But my experience in Chicago showed me how faith and values could be an anchor in my life. And in time, I came to see my faith as being both a personal commitment to Christ and a commitment to my community; that while I could sit in church and pray all I want, I wouldn’t be fulfilling God’s will unless I went out and did the Lord’s work.

There are millions of Americans who share a similar view of their faith, who feel they have an obligation to help others. And they’re making a difference in communities all across this country – through initiatives like Ready4Work, which is helping ensure that ex-offenders don’t return to a life of crime; or Catholic Charities, which is feeding the hungry and making sure we don’t have homeless veterans sleeping on the streets of Chicago; or the good work that’s being done by a coalition of religious groups to rebuild New Orleans. Continue.

Obama’s Faith Initiative Wins Praise

Senator Barack Obama’s proposal to expand federal funding for faith-based organizations is drawing a warm response from some Jewish communal groups who deal with church-state issues.

Obama’s speech on July 1 was building on the Bush administration’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. That program has drawn fire from a number of Jewish groups who criticized the program for allowing groups receiving government funds to discriminate in their hiring practices and for being too lax about letting religious groups proselytize while carrying out government programs.

Marc Stern, general counsel for the American Jewish Congress, said that Obama’s position, as laid out in the speech, differed from Bush administration policy in two significant respects. One was that Obama pledged to ensure that groups using government funding do not proselytize — a count on which Stern said the Bush administration had been weak. Obama also asserted that religious groups could not discriminate in their hiring practices based on faith, a position that Stern said could lead to problems, particularly for positions that involve both secular and religious components. Continue.

Obama's Faith-Based Reform

Barack Obama keeps trying to end the wars over culture and religion, and good for him. The 1960s are so 40 years ago. But Obama's opponents, as well as some of his friends, won't let him do it.

His latest foray is on a subject dear to my heart: the effort to find constitutional ways to build partnerships between government and faith-based groups doing essential work for the poor and the marginalized.

The outline Obama offered Tuesday suggests that he wants to learn from President Bush's failures in this area, not simply reject an idea because it has Bush's name on it.

And give Obama points for acknowledging how hard it is to find the right balance between avoiding excessive entanglement of government with religion on the one hand and respecting the identity of religious charities on the other. "Some of these questions are difficult," he said in an interview, "and I don't have them all worked out." Continue.

Obama Sets Off a Debate on Ties Between Religion and Government

On Tuesday, Senator Barack Obama did his best to reclaim for Democrats the idea of partnerships between government and grass-roots religious groups — and except for six little words he did a very smooth job.

First, he recalled his own community service in Chicago, noting that it had been church supported.

Then he reminded listeners that it was President Bill Clinton who signed landmark legislation widening the role religion-based groups could play in government-financed programs, and Al Gore who in 1999 first proposed a full-scale religion-based initiative.

While Mr. Obama acknowledged President Bush’s promise to “rally the armies of compassion” through such an initiative, he maintained that the promise had gone unfulfilled because of too little financing and too much partisanship — and that he, Barack Obama, would not only carry out but also expand what Mr. Bush had pledged.

He was two-thirds of the way through his remarks when he inserted the six words with the potential to put his whole effort at risk. Speaking “as someone who used to teach constitutional law,” he spelled out “a few basic principles” to reassure listeners that such partnerships between religious groups and the government would not endanger the separation of church and state. Continue.

Obama Support For Expansion Of 'Faith-Based' Program Is Disappointing, Says Americans United

But Watchdog Group Says Candidate's Opposition To Religious Discrimination In Hiring And Publicly Funded Proselytism Are Steps In Right Direction

Rather than try to correct the defects of the Bush “faith-based” initiative, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama would do better to shut it down, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

Obama today announced a proposal to expand faith-based funding during a speech in Zanesville, Ohio.

“I am disappointed,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. “This initiative has been a failure on all counts, and it ought to be shut down, not expanded.” Continue.

Christian Conservatives Uniting Behind McCain

At a meeting Tuesday in Denver, about 100 conservative Christian leaders from around the country agreed to unite behind the candidacy of John McCain, a politician they have long distrusted, marking the latest in a string of movements that bode well for McCain's general election prospects among the Republican base.

"Collectively we feel that he will support and advance those moral values that we hold much greater than Obama, who in our view will decimate moral values," said Mat Staver, the chairman of Liberty Counsel, a legal advocacy group, who previously supported Mike Huckabee's candidacy.

"There are people who came through the primary with very mixed emotions of the candidate," Staver continued, noting that many in the group had been in Denver to attend a separate meeting for pastors. "This event was to put those aside." Continue.

Evangelical Leaders Meet and Decide to Back Sen. John McCain

More than 90 evangelical leaders decided to support Sen. John McCain at a meeting in Denver on Tuesday.

More than 90 evangelical leaders representing millions of conservative Christians met in Denver on Tuesday to lament the condition of the religious conservative movement and to conclude they should get behind Sen. John McCain even if they didn’t like everything about him as a candidate.

The alternative is so bad we must support John McCain,” said Phyllis Schlafly, founder and president of Eagle Forum, adding that the leaders should have held a strategy meeting in 2001 when it was clear Vice President Dick Cheney wouldn’t run for president instead of waiting until four months before the 2008 election.

Mostly white and middle-aged, the group was called together by Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel and dean of the law school at Liberty University. Continue.

The Brody File: A Turning Point for McCain

Denver, Colorado, is known as the Mile High City. For John McCain and his campaign, they are probably feeling a mile high after learning what transpired in that city Tuesday night. It looks to be a key turning point for the McCain campaign.

Though Time Magazine broke the story, The Brody File had been aware of this story all day Wednesday. Basically, dozens of conservative and Evangelical leaders met in Denver and agreed to help get John McCain elected President of the United States. The Brody File has more details and some analysis below. Continue.

Obama Courting Evangelicals Once Loyal to Bush

WASHINGTON — Politically speaking, Susan Speakman is a different kind of evangelical.

Mrs. Speakman, 59, a pastor and educator at Bethany Presbyterian Church in Bridgeville, Pa., an activist evangelical church southwest of Pittsburgh, backs Senator Barack Obama in the presidential race. Along with her 23-year-old son, Stephen, she supports Mr. Obama because of his stands on the Iraq war and matters of social justice. The two of them plan to spread the word in their community and beyond.

“What caught my attention early on was his comment that we don’t want red states and blue states, but we want to find reconciliation and rapprochement with folks,” said Mrs. Speakman, who changed her party affiliation to Democratic from Republican this year to vote for Mr. Obama in the Pennsylvania primary. “I really object to the other approach — divide and conquer, isolate and demonize the opposition. I try to engage the other side and try to find ways we can bring the values of the kingdom of God into the experience of humanity.”

Mrs. Speakman is one of thousands of evangelical Christians and so-called faith voters whom the Obama campaign is recruiting in a major effort to connect with a part of the electorate that accounts for an estimated quarter of the voting population and helped elect George W. Bush president twice. Continue.

Faithful In Pews Might Not Be Voters In November

If Christian conservatives stay on the sidelines during the fall campaign, presidential hopeful John McCain probably stays in the Senate.

Christian conservatives provided much of the on-the-ground, door-to-door activity for President Bush's 2004 re-election in Ohio and in other swing states. Without them, the less-organized and lower-profile McCain campaign is likely to struggle to replicate Bush's success. And so far, there's been scant sign that the Republican nominee-in-waiting is making inroads among these fervent believers.

''I don't know that McCain's campaign realizes they cannot win without evangelicals,'' said David Domke, a professor of communication at the University of Washington who studies religion and politics. ''What you see with McCain is just a real struggle to find his footing with evangelicals.''

Family groups in Ohio outlined their doubts about the Arizona senator in a meeting with McCain's advisers last weekend. They're concerned about his record on abortion rights and on campaign finance laws that they believe limited their ability to criticize candidates who are pro-choice on abortion. Continue.

McCain seeks to reassure conservatives in Ohio

CINCINNATI -- Sen. John McCain, who has struggled to win the trust of evangelical voters, met privately Thursday in Ohio with several influential social conservatives who have been critical of him -- and impressed them, while telling them only some of what they wanted to hear.

McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told the small assembly that he was open to learning more about their opposition to embryonic stem cell research despite his past disagreements with them on the issue. And, according to participants, he indicated that he would take seriously their requests that he choose an anti-abortion running mate and would talk more openly about his opposition to gay marriage -- a pledge he carried out later in the day by endorsing a ballot measure in California to ban gay marriage.

"It was obvious there were a lot of changed hearts in the room," said Phil Burress, who led Ohio's anti-gay-marriage ballot measure in 2004. "We realized that he's with us on the majority of the issues we care about." Continue.

McCain: Ignore the Christians and Love the Gays

After John McCain ousted two prominent Christian leaders, Pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley, from his campaign, he has now decided to seek the endorsement of the large Republican homosexual community known as the Log Cabin Republicans. A homosexual website is confirming that John McCain met with the Log Cabin Republican President. McCain made the meeting a secret by not posting it on his schedule, and not confirming the meeting, however the Log Cabin Republican President Patrick Sammon has confirmed that the meeting did take place.

So let me get things straight, John McCain rejected the endorsements of two very popular Christian leaders who stuck their neck out to win him the nomination, but now is meeting with prominent homosexual groups to gain their support. Continue.

Christian Right Attacks Senator Barack Obama's Christian Faith

James Dobson of Focus on the Family attacks 2006 Obama speech

by JewsOnFirst.org, June 25, 2008

Preaching to the Choir

On June 10, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama convened a meeting in a law office in downtown Chicago with a wide array of about thirty evangelical leaders, in an unprecedented effort to win their support. Obama insisted that the meeting remain entirely off the record, forbidding participants from disclosing his statements to the press. His campaign has kept the names of attendees a closely guarded secret. But through interviews with participants and overlooked statements in obscure publications of the Christian press, a first-hand picture of the meeting emerges, starkly at odds with the news reports that accepted the formal version at face value.

News accounts about the meeting stated that Obama impressed his audience with his sincerity, depth of theological knowledge and communication skills. But according to those present, he did little to assuage the hostility that many of the assembled--particularly the conservative white evangelicals--harbor toward him and his liberal positions on social issues. Those differences reached a crescendo when the Rev. Franklin Graham directly confronted Obama about his supposedly Muslim background and Christian authenticity.

Franklin Graham, son of the evangelical icon Billy Graham and head of the international Christian aid organization Samaritan's Purse, was seated next to Obama at the meeting. He peppered Obama with pointed questions, repeatedly demanding to know if the senator believed that "Jesus was the way to God or merely a way." Graham, who once incited an international controversy by calling Islam a "very evil and wicked religion," proceeded to inquire about the Muslim faith of Obama's father, suggesting that Obama himself may be a Muslim.

"They focused on abortion, gay marriage, and then Franklin Graham tried to get Senator Obama saved," said Rev. Eugene Rivers, an African-American pastor from Boston who attended the meeting. Rivers told the Religion News Service that Graham pointedly questioned Obama's "father's connections to Islam." Obama reportedly said of his father, "The least of things he was was Islamic." Continue.

Christian Leaders Meet Privately with Obama

CHICAGO (AP) - Barack Obama discussed Darfur, the Iraq war, gay rights, abortion and other issues Tuesday with Christian leaders, including conservatives who have been criticized for praising the Democratic presidential candidate.

Bishop T.D. Jakes, a prominent black clergyman who heads a Dallas megachurch, said Obama took questions, listened to participants and discussed his "personal journey of faith."

The discussion "went absolutely everywhere," Jakes told The Associated Press, and "just about every Christian stripe was represented in that room." Continue.

Can Democrats Close the 'God Gap?'

Warren Olney's radio program today focused on the recent developments regarding religion in the presidential race. With guests Wayne Slater, senior political writer of Dallas Morning News, Mark DeMoss, who advised Mitt Romney's campaign, Ron Walters, professor of Political Science at the University of Maryland, and Jacques Berlinerblau, professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University, Olney discussed Barack Obama's meeting with evangelicals and John McCain's problems with pastors John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Click here.

Analysis: Democrats woo disaffected evangelicals

Washington (CNN) -- Four years ago, Michael Farris was knee-deep in presidential politics.

Early in the 2004 primary season, he got a call from the Republican National Committee: Would he be willing to mobilize his grass-roots army on behalf of President Bush's re-election effort?

By May that year, his organization, Generation Joshua, was deep into fall planning mode. It had laid the groundwork for an ambitious turnout operation for the general election. Continue.

Barack Obama Holds Meeting With Diverse Group Of Religious Leaders

This week Senator Barack Obama met with a wide-range of U.S. religious leaders. The senator’s office promised not to release the names of those in attendance – though some have chosen to talk with the press about their participation – so that everyone there felt free to express views outside of the media spotlight. The meeting was also arranged in a way that made clear that participation did not imply endorsement. Senator Obama simply wanted to meet with religious leaders in an informal gathering. I was glad to learn from sources both inside and outside the campaign that many of those participating in the meeting came from progressive Christian communities concerned with issues such as the war, climate change, equality for all and global poverty. President Bush, during the last seven+ years, has refused to meet with religious leaders that have spoken out against his policies. Senator Obama, on the other hand, gathered religious leaders together of various theological perspectives. Continue

Obama to Woo Young Evangelicals, Catholics

Barack Obama will soon unveil his new plan to woo young evangelicals and Catholics in hopes of turning them into Obama voters this November.

The “Joshua Generation Project” - a name based on the biblical story of Joshua and his generation, which led the Israelites into the Promised Land – aims to reach out to young people of faith on moral issues such as poverty, Darfur, climate change, and the Iraq war, according to Christian Broadcasting Network’s The Brody File.

“There's unprecedented energy and excitement for Obama among young evangelicals and Catholics,” said a source close to the Obama campaign to CBN’s David Brody on Friday. “The Joshua Generation project will tap into that excitement and provide young people of faith opportunities to stand up for their values and move the campaign forward.'" Continue.

Obama Reaches Out to Faith Community

Democrat presidential hopeful Barack Obama reached out to a group of well-known Christian leaders from several denominations, in a private meeting in Chicago Tuesday.

"Just about every Christian stripe was represented in that room," said mega church pastor Bishop T.D. Jakes of The Potter's House.

During the two-hour meeting, the group prayed and talked about issues such as gay rights, abortion, the war in Iraq, and more. Continue.

New Christian Political Action Committee (PAC) Endorses Barack Obama

Barack Obama has some new Christian friends. Mara Vanderlsice is heading up the new Political Action Committee (PAC) called "The Matthew 25 Network" and she tells the Brody File tonight that they will endorse Barack Obama. The group is having a fundraiser tonight but the official rollout isn't for a couple weeks. Vanderslice talked to me about the goal of the group.

"What we found are thousands of Christians across the country who want to find a way to put their faith values in action through supporting candidates and there was no long term organization that existed to galvanize and capture and give voice to that energy that we found around the country. The Matthew 25 network has endorsed Barack Obama. He will be our first candidate but the hope is that this will be an effort that will live long beyond this election cycle and will help give voice to Christians whose gospel values are expressed or lived out in the passage of Matthew 25 that we should care for the 'least of these' as Jesus did. We will be looking for candidates who endorse that agenda, and then we will endorse them." Continue.

Obama's "off-the-record" meeting with Christian leaders

I’ve never been invited to meet with a Democratic presidential candidate. So I was surprised when I received an invitation a couple of weeks ago to join “a small group of religious leaders, academics and faith-based organizations” to meet with Senator Barack Obama in Chicago on June 11. Since I am opposed to the leftist political stands of the Democratic Party and of Obama specifically, I didn’t really want to attend.

But I was curious what the junior Senator from Illinois would say to Christian leaders when it’s well known that he supports abortion and the gay rights agenda. In addition, he has ties to Islam as a child through both his father and stepfather. The denomination he has attended as an adult is the most liberal Protestant denomination. The church in Chicago that Sen. Obama and his family attended, Rev. Jeremiah Wright was its pastor. It’s well known that Rev. Wright believes in Liberation Theology. He has also accused the government of spreading the AIDS virus among blacks and famously preached the Sunday after September 11, 2001, that God should “damn America” rather than bless it for all the so-called evils he thinks America is guilty of. Continue.

Obama Is No Joshua

Barack Obama's presidential campaign plans to strike at the heart of the Republican base by attempting to woo Evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics to his side.

The Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody first broke the story on his blog "The Brody File." Obama's campaign for the conservative Christian vote, which has largely gone to the Republican presidential candidate in recent elections, has been dubbed the "Joshua Generation Project." Joshua, Moses' successor, led the Israelites into the Promised Land. It wasn't the group that fled Egypt in the Exodus, though. They died in the wilderness, lacking faith in God's promise. It was the next generation that Joshua led into Canaan. Apparently, if we have enough faith in Obama, he will lead us all into a new America, but if we vote for John McCain, we will demonstrate a lack of faith (in Obama) and die in the political badlands. Continue.

Democratic Candidates Compassion Forum

Transcript of the Forum sponsored by CNN and Faith in Public LIfe, April 13, 2008

The Democratic candidates Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each divided the time at the Messiah College Forum answering questions on issues of faith and compassion. Click here.

Values Debate Transformed: Compassion Forum Bridges Ideological And Religious Divides

The reviews are in and mainstream, conservative and progressive sources agree: The Compassion Forum, broadcast live internationally on CNN, signaled a dramatic shift in the national conversation about religion and politics.

“Last night, the faith community made a profound statement about our values,” said Katie Barge, Director of Communications for Faith in Public Life, the organizer and co-sponsor of The Compassion Forum. “We simply cannot be pigeonholed into categories of left and right. Faith transcends ideological and religious divides. A new conversation about religion and politics has begun and it’s driven by compassion issues.”

Religious leaders from across the faith and ideological spectrum were present at the Forum to ask Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to address poverty, global AIDS, abortion, climate change, genocide in Darfur, and torture. Their concerns reflected the new faith and values compassion agenda. Continue.

Firing Barbs, but Looking Like a Saint

Both Mrs. Clinton and Senator Barack Obama gave thoughtful, pious answers to questions about faith and moral values at the CNN event held at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Pa. But Mrs. Clinton, who spoke first, didn’t shrink from also going on the attack.

In answer to a question, she decried what she called Mr. Obama’s lack of faith in American values, labeling a description he gave of “bitter” voters in small-town Pennsylvania as “elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronizing.” And with a straight face, Mrs. Clinton simultaneously claimed the high ground, saying twice that she would allow Mr. Obama to speak for himself on the matter, noting “he does an excellent job of that.”

When it was his turn, Mr. Obama tried to explain that his remark, which he said was “clumsy,” had been misunderstood by critics and distorted for political gain by Mrs. Clinton. (Last week, he told donors in San Francisco that some working-class people “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” as a way to explain their frustrations.) But the television camera has a way of zooming in on discomfort. Mr. Obama sounded defensive, and his explanations were stilted and uneven. Continue.

Compassion Forum Video

Senator Hillary Clinton answers the question about concerns of many who feel uncomfortable over the very notion of a forum for candidates for public life on the question of religious faith. Senator Clinton reminds her audience that even if some are uncomfortable talking about religion because they consider it a personal issue, that discussion is a necessary part of running for office. Click here.

David Gushee asks Sen. Obama about torture

Evangelicals for Human Rights Chairman Dr. David Gushee asks candidate Senator Obama a question about torture. Senator Obama responds emphatically that the president needs to say, "We do not torture." Click here.

Nation turns eyes to Messiah College forum

Presidential candidates to talk compassion on a Central Pennsylvania stage

Heather Stauffer, The Sentinel (Cumberland County, Pennsylvania), April 13, 2008

Messiah College hummed with activity Saturday afternoon as the 2,800-student campus prepared to host The Compassion Forum and, with it, the attention that goes with a hotly contested national presidential campaign.

“It was just six weeks ago that the idea of the event was a possibility,” said Beth Lorow, the college’s assistant director of public relations. Standing in the Brubaker Auditorium, which was gradually being transformed from the site of twice-weekly chapel services to a forum stage, she said the days since then have been both busy and exciting.

“I’ve heard of students dodging power washers,” said Amanda McMillan, a senior politics major from Pittsburgh. But, she said, despite such inconveniences, students are thrilled to have the college in the spotlight and enthusiastic about the proximity of Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Continue.

At Messiah, a question of faith

Clinton, Obama take center stage

residential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton took a momentary detour Sunday night from the campaign drumbeat of the economy and Iraq war to answer at times deeply personal questions about how faith influences their decision making and policy.

The two candidates, who appeared separately at Messiah College in Grantham, responded to questions that ranged from abortion and abstinence education to whether they thought God wanted them to be president.

The event was part of The Compassion Forum, an attempt to highlight sometimes overlooked issues in the religious community. The questions came from two moderators ??” Campbell Brown from CNN, which broadcast the event live, and Newsweek editor Jon Meacham ??” and religious leaders in the audience.Continue.

Compassion Forum Falls Short of Mark

Last night's Compassion Forum was billed as a chance for the candidates to discuss how their faith affects their politics, but the journalist-moderators managed to leave out the politics part of the equation. Continue.

Faithfully Liberal?

Email from Tony Perkins, FRC Action (the political arm of Family Research Council), April 14, 2008

It was meant to be a dialogue about faith in the public square, but last night's "Compassion Forum," broadcast by CNN and hosted by Messiah College, may have revealed more about the agenda of those within the ranks of religious liberals than it did about this year's presidential candidates. While the event was endorsed by pro-family champions like former Senator Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, organizations like FRC, which have historically addressed faith issues, were not invited to participate or even submit questions to the candidates. Instead, the event's radical board, which included pro-abortion and homosexual advocates, used the forum as an opportunity to chip away at the traditional agenda of the faith-based community.

The bulk of last night's program was taken directly from the playbook of the Religious Left, focusing not on the issues closest to Christians' hearts but on climate change, AIDS, and global poverty. Although I have argued that those are important issues that demand the church's attention (in fact, in concert with Bishop Harry Jackson I've written an entire book on the subject), our priority as Christians should be as those of the Founding Fathers; protect the sanctity of human life, preserve marriage, and defend religious liberty. Unfortunately, with the help of some of our friends, the Religious Left is trying to realign, and thereby dilute, the values voter message. Have the concerns of our day changed? Yes, of course. But the prioritization of those issues must not. As our own Declaration of Independence states, it is for "life" and "liberty" not "global warming" that government was instituted among men. As Democrats vie for the Christian vote, we must remember that it is not the church that should be affected by their message. Rather, their message should be affected by a faithful church.

Christian college slammed for hosting 'Compassion Forum'

A Philadelphia-based Christian ministry contends Messiah College in Pennsylvania reaffirmed its departure from the Christian faith when it hosted Sunday night's "Compassion Forum" featuring Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Christian evangelist Michael Marcavage, who heads the ministry Repent America, teamed up with some Messiah College alumni and current students Sunday night to call on the school to "return to the God of the Bible." Marcavage says Messiah "opened its doors to promotion of scriptural perversion" by allowing the Compassion Forum on campus.

"It's very clear to us that the objective of this forum was certainly not to discuss biblical compassion, since neither of the featured presidential candidates believes in protecting the most helpless among us, being unborn children ...," says Marcavage. Continue.

Obama, Clinton accused of holding a 'Dred Scott' view on abortion

A prominent evangelical Christian political activist says both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama appeared "halting and uncomfortable" during a recent "Compassion Forum" on CNN when they were asked serious questions about religious liberty, when life begins, and how God created the universe.

Both Democratic presidential candidates reiterated their support for abortion-on-demand during the forum. But when asked if life begins at conception, Senator Clinton (D-New York) would only say "the potential for life begins at conception," while Senator Obama (D-Illinois) claimed the subject was "something that I have not come to a firm resolution on."

Rob Schenck, president of the conservative National Clergy Council, says the event last night reaffirmed that neither Obama nor Clinton are "in the most important ways" compatible with the core beliefs of Evangelicals or core convictions of Christian traditionalists of any kind. Continue.

Obama, Clinton silent on when life begins

Grantham, Pa. (BP)--Democratic presidential candidates Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton tackled a host of tough question about their beliefs during a unique "Compassion Forum" April 13, but on at least one question -- when they believe life begins -- both were less than clear.

The forum at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., was coordinated by Faith in Public Life and televised on CNN. Each candidate appeared on stage separately, taking questions for about 45 minutes from CNN's Campbell Brown and Newsweek's Jon Meacham, as well as from religious leaders in the audience. Republican John McCain also was invited but chose not to attend.

Meacham asked Obama if he believed "life begins at conception" and if not, when he believed it did begin. The question is at the heart of the abortion debate; Obama and Clinton both are pro-choice. Continue.

Pre-primary angst

Numerous reports are appearing about the failure, to date, of the Christian right to line up behind a Republican presidential contender -- and about a meeting last week at which Christian right leaders discussed backing a third-party candidate. We've posted links to some of these reports in this section (and links to reports about candidate John McCain's play to the Christian right during an interview in which he called the US a "Christian nation" here).

We find these reports interesting because they reveal the attitudes and positions of various leaders and factions. However, we deplore the writers' tendency to measure the political vitality of the Christian right solely by its power over the national Republican Party. We believe that the Christian right's real power -- and the unabated threat that it poses -- is in the state Republican parties and state and local governments.

The Evangelical Crackup

In this widely discussed article, Kirkpatrick argues that the Christian right is coming apart as a national movement, losing its power in the Republican Party, while moderate evangelicals are diluting its monolithic focus on the wedge issues of homosexuality and abortion. (We do not contest these points, although we believe that Kirkpatrick, as other writers, misses the continuing, and in some cases growing power of the religious right on the state and local level.) He writes:

Shake, Rattle and Roil the Grand Ol’ Coalition

A Southern Baptist pastor and thoroughgoing social conservative, Mr. Huckabee has struck a distinctly populist chord when it comes to economics. He has criticized executive pay, sympathized with labor unions, denounced “plutocracy,” and mocked the antitax group the Club for Growth as “the Club for Greed.” And when it comes to foreign affairs he sometimes sounds almost liberal; for example, comparing the United States’ place in the world to “a top high school student, if it is modest about its abilities and achievements, if it is generous in helping others, it is loved.”

Yet he has surged to the head of the pack in polls of Iowa Republicans in the week before their caucus and moved close to the front in national polls as well. Now his success is setting off a debate in his party over whether his success marks the fading of the old Reaganite conservative coalition — social conservatives, antitax activists and advocates of a muscular defense — or, rather, offers a chance for its rejuvenation. Continue.

Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani for President

Rudolph W. Giuliani scored a coup today by winning the support of Pat Robertson, who, as one of the nation’s best-known televangelists, could help Mr. Giuliani reassure Republicans who are wary of his support for abortion rights and gay rights.

Mr. Robertson, the founder and chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, said in endorsing Mr. Giuliani in Washington, that he believed “the overriding issue before the American people is the defense of our population from the blood lust of Islamic terrorists” and praised Mr. Giuliani as a “true fiscal conservative.”

While Mr. Robertson did not mention Mr. Giuliani’s support of abortion rights, he said approvingly that Mr. Giuliani “has assured the American people that his choices for judicial appointments will be men and women who share the judicial philosophy of John Roberts and Antonin Scalia,” who have argued against Roe v. Wade. Continue.

Candidate Endorsements Start Shaping Conservatives' Role in '08 Race

Ifill discusses Robertson's endorsement of Rudi Giuliani with two Christian right leaders who are often spoken of as the new generation of leaders: Rev. Joel Hunter (who briefly led Robertson's fading Christian Coalition) and Bishop Harry Jackson. Click here for the transcript, audio and video of the segment.

For a Trusty Voting Bloc, a Faith Shaken

AFTER the 2004 elections, religious conservatives were riding high. Newly anointed by pundits as “values voters” — a more flattering label than “religious right” — they claimed credit for propelling George W. Bush to two terms in the White House. Even in wartime, they had managed to fixate the nation on their pet issues: opposition to abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research.

Now with the 2008 race taking shape, religious conservatives say they sense they have taken a tumble. Their issues are no longer at the forefront, and their leaders have failed so far to coalesce around a candidate, as they did around Mr. Bush and Ronald Reagan.

What unites them right now is their dismay — even panic — at the idea of Rudolph W. Giuliani as the Republican nominee, because of his support for abortion rights and gay rights, as well as what they regard as a troubling history of marital infidelity. But what to do about it is where they again diverge, with some religious conservatives last week threatening to bolt to a third party if Mr. Giuliani gets the nomination, and others arguing that this is the sure road to defeat. Continue.

Evangelical flocks on their own at the polls

Conservative Christian leaders are increasingly reluctant to get political, leaving a key Republican voting bloc divided. The trend may help Giuliani but hurt the GOP in the long term.

Colorado Springs, Colo. -- A fundamental shift is transforming the religious right, long a force in presidential politics, as aging evangelical leaders split on the 2008 race and a new generation of pastors turns away from politics altogether.

The result, in the short term, could be a boost for the centrist candidacy of former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, whose messy personal life and support for gay rights and legal abortion have not produced the unified opposition from Christian conservatives that many anticipated.

Over the longer term, the distancing of religious leaders from politics could prove even more consequential, denying the GOP one of the essential building blocks it has used to capture the White House in five of the last seven presidential races. Continue.

Giuliani nomination could split the right

Five months ago, Deal Hudson, a leading Catholic conservative, sat in a Washington restaurant and made a prediction.He said that if Rudy Giuliani becomes the Republican nominee for president, there will be a third-party challenge by an anti-abortion candidate.

"Almost a certainty," he said over lunch at the politically connected Capital Grille. "Which means you're siphoning off 5 percent, maybe 10 percent, of the vote."

The result, he predicted darkly, would be the election of President Hillary Rodham Clinton.

It is a message that Mr. Hudson, head of the Washington-based Morley Institute for Church and Culture, and others have been pressing for months among social-conservative leaders, hoping to head off a Giuliani nomination. Continue.

Still Looking For Mr. Right

One thing the Council for National Policy (CNP) is never supposed to do is make news. The invitation-only club, whose aggressively vague name is an invisibility cloak for some of the most influential economic and social conservatives in the country, meets three times a year to plot the vast right-wing conspiracy's next moves--and remind its members not to talk to reporters or even refer to the group by name. Those attending the three-day September meeting in Salt Lake City got to hear Vice President Dick Cheney talk about the war and Mitt Romney testify on his home turf for family values. The agenda included sessions like the Next Generation of Conservatives, presented by the Rev. Jonathan Falwell; What Is Endangered: Climate or Freedom?; and Parents' Rights in Public Schools.

But it was a much smaller group of religious conservatives attending the conference who couldn't resist the opportunity to dust off their flamethrowers and aim them squarely at the rest of their party. On Saturday afternoon, a group of about 45 huddled privately to hear Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, handicap the 2008 race. And out of that two-hour rump session came the warning that within 48 hours landed in every political inbox: If Republicans go ahead and nominate the "pro-abortion" Rudy Giuliani, social conservatives will consider a third-party candidate in 2008. Republican leaders, explains conservative patriarch Richard Viguerie, "think they can holler, 'The bogeyman's coming, the bogeyman's coming!' every four years, and conservatives will get on board. There is zero evidence of that. They think we will be so afraid of Hillary and losing the Supreme Court that we will just fall in line. Well, we might want to run another candidate." Continue.

The Values Test

REPORTS have surfaced in the press about a meeting that occurred last Saturday in Salt Lake City involving more than 50 pro-family leaders. The purpose of the gathering was to discuss our response if both the Democratic and Republican Parties nominate standard-bearers who are supportive of abortion. Although I was neither the convener nor the moderator of the meeting, I’d like to offer several brief clarifications about its outcome and implications.

After two hours of deliberation, we voted on a resolution that can be summarized as follows: If neither of the two major political parties nominates an individual who pledges himself or herself to the sanctity of human life, we will join others in voting for a minor-party candidate. Continue.

Christian right is split over GOP field

Washington — Barely three months before the voting for a new president begins, the religious right has yet to unite behind a Republican candidate, heightening concerns among evangelical leaders that social liberal Rudolph W. Giuliani will capture the party's nomination.

The splintering of religious conservatives, if it endures, could ease the way for New York's former mayor to emerge as the party's first nominee to explicitly support abortion rights since the Supreme Court legalized the procedure in 1973.

But the lack of a consensus choice for president is only one of the troubles facing conservative evangelicals, a powerful force within the GOP for more than a generation. Continue.

Influence of Christian right in the GOP wanes

Washington -- Palm Sunday two years ago was a glorious day for Christian conservatives.

A president who had proclaimed Jesus his favorite philosopher was racing back from vacation to sign a bill rushed through a compliant Congress at their bidding -- a last-minute gamble to keep alive a severely brain-damaged woman in Florida.

That, however, was the peak of the Christian conservatives' political power. Continue.

Giuliani's Abortion Views Risk Third-Party Revolt

A group of prominent social conservatives say that if Rudolph Giuliani is the Republican Party's presidential nominee, they will consider bolting the party and fielding a third-party candidate.

The former mayor of New York City, Giuliani has liberal views on a number of social issues, including abortion. He has continued to lead the Republican presidential field in national polls, and he even receives a plurality of support from white evangelical Protestants.

This weekend in Salt Lake City, Utah, a group of leading social conservatives — all members of an organization called the Council for National Policy, agreed on a resolution: If the Republican Party nominates a "pro-abortion" candidate, the group will consider running a third-party candidate. Continue.

Giuliani, Evangelical Rift Grows Over Abortion

Washington – Conservative evangelical leaders have long openly expressed dismay over the prospect of being forced to choose between two pro-choice presidential candidates. But now, a coalition of evangelicals has gone as far as to threaten to pull their support for the Republican Party if such a candidate is selected for the last stretch of the White House race.

Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family – who recently emerged from a controversy over a private email he sent criticizing Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson – says he and others in the social conservative coalition will not support Rudy Giuliani or any pro-choice candidate that the Republican Party picks for its presidential nominee.

“Polls don’t measure right and wrong; voting according to the possibility of winning or losing can lead directly to the compromise of one’s principles,” Dobson wrote in an Op-Ed in The New York Times on Thursday. Continue.

Huckabee: 'Christian Ticket' Would Help Elect Clinton

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee says he would not seek, nor would accept an invitation to run as president from Christian conservative leaders who are considering such a move if the Republican Party nominates a pro-abortion candidate like Rudy Giuliani.

"No, I think a third party only helps elect Hillary [Clinton]," Huckabee said in an interview with washingtonpost.com. "I don't see that being a good strategy for those who really care about pushing a pro-family, pro-life agenda. If they want to do that, the smart thing to do is coalesce their support around Mike Hucakbee. If they do that, I'll become the nominee, I'll win the White House."

Asked if he thinks the evangelical Christian vote still carries as much weight as it once did with the Republican Party, Huckabee said he's not sure. Continue.

Christian Conservatives Mull Third-Party Candidate

Ron Elving and Madeleine Brand, Day to Day. National Public Radio, October 1, 2007

Ron Elving talks with host Madeleine Brand about the possibility of a group of Christian conservatives bringing a third-party candidate into the presidential race. Continue.

Romney To Speak At Council For National Policy

Kudos to Mitt Romney's team for putting his meeting with the Council for National Policy on the campaign schedule. The CNP is a redoubt of earnest conservative hardliners, intellectual warriors of the Cold War, assorted fringe figures and major Republican fundraisers. It is also very private and doesn't like to publicize the fact or location of its meetings.

Before Sen. Fred Thompson entered the race officially, he was a favorite of the CNP, and executive director Steve Baldwin was said to be pressing other CNP members to give Thompson a close look. (Thompson spoke to the CNP's Spring conference in Washington).

CNP seeded Pat Buchanan's protest presidential candidacy in 1992; if there's a third party movement to challenge Rudy Giuliani's nomination, it'll probably be born here, too. Click here. .

Christian Conservatives Weigh Abandoning GOP

Leaders Balk at Supporting Abortion Rights Presidential Candidate, Consider Third Party '08 Run

A group of highly influential Christian conservative leaders met over the weekend to discuss their rising dissatisfaction with the Republican Party and their willingness to consider supporting a third-party presidential bid should a supporter of abortion rights — specifically, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani — earn the GOP presidential nomination.

The meeting took place during a weekend convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, of the highly secretive Council for National Policy, an invitation-only organization of conservative leaders founded in 1981. Participants in the presidential discussion, however, said the smaller gathering was not an official CNP event.

Those at the smaller meeting included James Dobson of Focus on the Family, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, and Richard Viguerie, a direct mail pioneer, who recently authored "Conservatives Betrayed: How George W. Bush and Other Big Government Republicans Hijacked the Republican Base." Continue.

Christian leaders threaten to abandon Republicans

Dobson, others meet in Salt Lake City to plan options in presidential campaign

Washington – Some of the top leaders in Christian pro-family activism – including James Dobson of Focus on the Family – met in Salt Lake City yesterday to plot a strategy should Rudy Giuliani or another supporter of legalized abortion be nominated by the Republican Party as its presidential candidate.

Not only was there a consensus among activists to withhold support for the Republican nominee, there was even discussion about supporting the entry of a new candidate to challenge the frontrunners.

It's no secret that Dobson, founder of one of the largest Christian ministries in the country, has no use for Giuliani Continue.

Fighting Against Rudy

We already knew Evangelical leaders weren't thrilled with Rudy Giuliani as the Republican nominee. Now, there are reports that they may support a third party candidate if Giuliani is the Republican nominee. Read below from NewsMax.com:

Christian conservatives are considering supporting a third-party candidate for president if Rudy Giuliani wins the Republican nomination.

According to the New York Times, a coalition of influential Christian conservatives opposes Giuliani because of his support for abortion rights. Continue.

Election 08: Gingrich says Huckabee GOP's 'best performer'; leaders consider third party

Newt Gingrich isn't endorsing Mike Huckabee for president, but it's becoming apparent it wouldn't brother him if the former Arkansas governor won the Republican nomination.

The former speaker of the house, Gingrich posted a guest blog on Huckabee's website Sept. 24, and then a few days later gave his outlook on the GOP race, putting Huckabee in a pretty good light.

"Both [Rudy] Giuliani and [Mitt] Romney are beginning to articulate really dramatic change. I think that [Fred] Thompson has not yet," Gingrich said Sept. 30 on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos." Continue.

The FundamentaList (No. 2)

Pressure mounts to rally 'round a GOP candidate (but which one?)

While Mitt Romney was courting Michigan's monied elite, Mike Huckabee missed his coach flight and couldn't afford the charter jet to Mackinac Island to join him. No matter. Huckabee had just won the straw poll at the Palmetto Family Council in South Carolina, and he was continuing to feel the evangelical wind at his back.

Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and pastor of a Southern Baptist church in Taylors, South Carolina, told me in an interview this week that Huckabee's candidacy is gaining steam, and that there "are a growing number of people who are convinced that he is a viable candidate." Huckabee, Romney, Rudy Giuliani, and John McCain have all met with Page, recognizing his influence as the leader of the country's largest Protestant denomination and the single biggest component of the conservative evangelical right. Page, who explained to me his comments reflected the views of conservative evangelicals generally and not just Southern Baptists, said that all the candidates, except Huckabee, "struggle with understanding where we [evangelicals] come from, but they all very much want that vote." Page added that in contrast to 2000, when evangelicals were both "more comfortable and more confident" with Bush early in the process, the field remains unsettled. Continue.

What's wrong with the religious right?

Did you miss last week’s Values Voter Debate? Don’t worry. So did Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney and John McCain — the four leading contenders for the Republican presidential nomination. In their place was businessman John Cox, a White House hopeful so minor he has not been invited to the other GOP debates, and perennial candidate Alan Keyes.

No Republican presidential hopeful doing better than the 4 percent Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul each drew in the latest Gallup Poll bothered to show up.

When Democratic constituencies hold candidate forums, their party’s presidential candidates come running. The Democrats have already debated in front of labor unions, African-Americans and the gay community.

Yet when organizations purporting to represent religious conservatives — arguably the GOP’s largest voting bloc — try to hold a debate, the top-tier Republicans all cite scheduling conflicts. Continue.

McCain, Huckabee and the Evangelicals

'Obama Knows Best'

Elitism Threatens Parental Rights

On the contrary, I have every reason to believe that an Obama presidency would be incredibly and particularly harmful to the American family and homeschool community. Continue.

New poll demonstrates Evangelicals' political diversity

In the 2008 election, media organizations and pollsters are relying on an outdated script by treating evangelicals as a monolithic voting bloc. The exit polls (sponsored by the major networks, CNN, Fox, and the Associated Press) provide the data for nearly all post-election analysis. Yet, thus far, exit polls have only asked Republican primary voters whether they considered themselves “born-again or evangelical Christian.”

A new post-election poll in Missouri and Tennessee, commissioned by Faith in Public Life and the Center for American Progress Action Fund conducted by Zogby International, demonstrates the diversity of evangelical voters and the need for more thorough polling and careful analysis. Large numbers of white evangelicals participated in the Republican and Democratic primaries; majorities of both Democratic and Republican evangelical voters want a broader agenda that goes beyond abortion and same-sex marriage, and like other voters, white evangelicals ranked jobs and economy as the most important issue area in deciding how to vote.

One in three white evangelical voters in Missouri and Tennessee participated in Democratic primaries. Comparatively, only one in four white evangelical voters in Missouri and Tennessee supported Senator John Kerry in the 2004 general election. Continue.

Letter from Evangelical Leaders to Polling and Political Directors of Media Outlets Represented in the National Election Pool

dated January 10, 2008. Signed by: Dr. Joel Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland A Church Distributed; David Neff, Editor, Christianity Today; Rev. Jim Wallis, Founder, Sojourners; Randy Brinson, Founder, Redeem the Vote; Paul Corts, President, Council for Christian Colleges and Universities; Dr. David P. Gushee, Distinguished university professor of Christian ethics at Mercer University; Brian McLaren, Author, Founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church; Randall Balmer, Professor of American religious history at Barnard College, Columbia University; Glen Stassen, Lewis B. Smedes Professor of Christian Ethics at Fuller Theological Seminary

Dear Political and Polling Directors:
Religion is playing an unprecedented role in the 2008 presidential campaign; the need for accurate and thorough information about religious voters is difficult to overstate. Thus far, the National Election Pool’s exit poll surveys have pigeonholed evangelicals, reinforcing the false stereotype that we are beholden to one political party.

Your entrance and exit polls at the Iowa caucuses asked Republican caucus-goers if they were “bornagain or evangelical Christian(s),” but did not ask the same question of Democrats. This omission left a substantive hole in subsequent news coverage of the caucuses. Based on your polling, the public helpfully learned that born-again or evangelical Christians played a central role in Mike Huckabee’s victory, but received no information about the impact of evangelical voters in the Democratic race. Continue.

Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani for President

Candidate Endorsements Start Shaping Conservatives' Role in '08 Race

Catholic Neocons on the run?

Neocon Catholic leaders nurtured by GOP and Conservative Philanthropy on their heels

In the 2004 presidential election cycle, Catholics, whose vote was considered open to both parties, were carefully courted by the Republicans. GOP organizers -- accompanied by their neoconservative Catholic brethren -- brought the "traditional family values" mantra to the table, highlighting supposed agreement between Catholics and conservative evangelical Christians on two major issues -- abortion and same-sex marriage.

In the actual election, Republican George W. Bush wound up receiving 52 percent of the Catholic vote, up from 47 percent in 2000, to John Kerry's 47 percent.

In 2006, however, Catholics, who compose a 67 million-person slice of the electorate, favored Democrats by 55 percent to 45 percent, according to National Election Pool exit polls. Continue.

HRC Expands Presence in Key Campaign States of New Hampshire and Iowa

The Human Rights Campaign marked a first in its history this month when it opened a campaign office in Concord, N.H. -- a central hub for presidential candidates on the campaign trail.

Though the move attracted little attention nationally, the ceremony drew about 100 people, including HRC members, staffers from the Obama, Edwards, and Clinton campaigns among others, and key state politicians such as Ray Buckley, the New Hampshire Democratic Party chair. State senate president Sylvia Larsen presented an official proclamation welcoming HRC into the mix. Continue.

Falwell Is Back Mobilizing Christian Voters

Falwell is back. What are centrist-to-progressive people of faith going to do about his agenda of using pulpits to mobilize Christian voters?

When Jerry Falwell first emerged with the Moral Majority in the late 1970s, a lot of centrist-to-progressive faith leaders dismissed his crusade and underestimated the potential of his movement. Prideful dismissal among the religious intelligentsia has resulted in reduced influence in the public square and less moral authority in congregations.

Jerry Falwell's son Jonathan Falwell, the new pastor of Thomas Road Baptist Church, has now picked up his father's moral-majority mantle to elect social conservatives to office. He urged Virginia pastors this week to press their congregants to vote for candidates who "believe the Bible is the truth," according to the Washington Post. Continue.

Iowa same-sex marriage ruling stirs 2008 race

An Iowa county judge's ruling knocking down the state's same-sex marriage ban stirred up the presidential race Friday, as Republicans jostled to stake out a position with the state's conservative voters in mind.

Mitt Romney was the first to seize on the ruling, promptly aligning himself with Iowa political leaders in denouncing the decision.

The former Massachusetts governor's swift criticism served to bolster the conservative image his campaign has been working hard to promote to Iowa's Republican voters. Romney stressed his support for a federal amendment that would ban same-sex marriage-a stand that distinguishes him from his top rivals, who have said they prefer to leave such decisions to the states. Continue.

Leveling the Praying Field

This report surveys the Democrats' opportunities in 2008 for winning over conservative Christian voters who are disillusioned with the current crop of Republicans: "The Democrats are so fired up, you could call them the new Moral Majority. This time, however, the emphasis is as much on the majority as on the morality as they try to frame a message in terms of broadly shared values that don't alarm members of minority religions or secular voters. It has become an article of faith among party leaders that it was sheer strategic stupidity to cede the values debate to Republicans for so long; that most people want to reduce abortion but not criminalize it, protect the earth instead of the auto industry, raise up the least among us; and that a lot of voters care as much about the candidates' principles as about their policies." Click here.

Evangelicals See Dilemmas in G.O.P. Field

Council Bluffs, Iowa, July 3 -- Dell Collins teaches an adult Sunday school class at his evangelical church in central Iowa, and he recently took his students through a series of lessons on the Book of James and its repeated exhortations to put faith into action.

But Mr. Collins is grappling with just how to apply his beliefs when it comes to picking a favorite from a Republican field in which the leading contenders each face serious obstacles to winning over Christian conservatives.

"Do you go with your heart or with your head?" he said. "My first choice is with my heart, but you also have to be realistic."

Unlike in the 2000 presidential campaign, when George W. Bush was able to overcome early doubts among religious conservatives by speaking the language of personal faith, the three most prominent Republican candidates, Rudolph W. Giuliani, Senator John McCain and Mitt Romney, are continuing to have difficulty winning over this crucial constituency in the Republican base. Continue.

As Republicans court evangelicals, some pastors decry partisanship

Folded into the Reverend Frank Page's wallet is a yellow scrap of paper with the date and time he is to speak with yet another Republican candidate for the White House.

He already has visited one Republican front-runner over breakfast at a country club and met another at the headquarters of a car dealership in his home state. Continue.

A Tentative First Step in Addressing Faith and Politics

Almost a century ago, G. K. Chesterton made a comment that could most appropriately be applied to Monday night’s forum at which leading Democratic presidential candidates discussed faith and politics: anything worth doing "is worth doing badly."

The purpose of the forum, organized by the liberal evangelical journal Sojourners and broadcast on CNN, was to hear what Democratic contenders might say about religion and whether they might convincingly enlarge the list of religious and moral (or "values") questions to include topics like poverty, war and the environment rather than only those emphasized by the religious right. Continue.

Can the religious left sway the '08 race?

Democratic presidential candidates are speaking openly about faith, competing for 'values voters.'

Washington - John Edwards spoke about how prayer helped him get through the death of his son and his wife's cancer diagnoses. Barack Obama repeatedly invoked the biblical phrase "I am my brother's keeper" as he spoke about poverty and injustice. Hillary Rodham Clinton credited her faith with getting her through her husband's infidelities. This was no garden-variety political presentation by the top three Democratic presidential candidates Monday night on the campus of George Washington University, in the shadow of the White House. The forum, sponsored by the progressive Christian group Sojourners, represented the boldest indication yet that the "religious left" is building as a political force, no longer willing to cede "values voters" to the religious conservative movement that has long formed the activist base of the Republican Party. The candidates' easy willingness to appear at the forum also represents a watershed for the modern Democratic Party: Intimate discussion of faith, and how it informs policy views and personal behavior, is no longer an arms-length proposition at the party's highest levels. Continue.

Clinton, Obama, other Democrats favor repealing part of Defense Of Marriage Act

Washington (BP) The major Democratic candidates for president believe the federal government should recognize state-level "gay marriages" a position that would require repealing a section of the Defense of Marriage Act, according to a questionnaire the candidates filled out for the Human Rights Campaign. U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, former Sen. John Edwards and four other Democratic candidates all favor repealing Section 3 of DOMA and having the federal government grant the federal legal benefits of marriage to same-sex couples on the state level who are "married," such as those in Massachusetts. As it stands now under DOMA, the federal government does not recognize such "marriages." Continue.

Christians Should Know Candidates' Views on Creation, Says Ken Ham

The president of the apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis says Christians should know and be concerned about the views of presidential candidates when it comes to the debate over evolution and creation. In different forums this week, both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates were asked their views on evolution.

On Monday, Democratic candidate John Edwards said he believes in the theory and does not see that as conflicting with his professed Christian faith. "I think a belief in God and a belief in Christ, in my case, is not in any way inconsistent with that because the hand of God was in every step of what's happened with man," he replied. "The hand of God today is in every step of what happens with me and with every human being that exists on this planet."

The following day, during a debate featuring the GOP contenders, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was one of three who said they did not believe in evolution. Huckabee, who is an ordained Baptist minister, was asked if he believed in a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis, which states God created the universe in six days. "Whether God did it in six days or whether he did it in six days that represented periods of time, he did it -- and that's what's important," the former governor responded. And regarding evolution, he remarked that "if anybody wants to believe that they are the descendants of a primate, they are certainly welcome to it." Continue.

Debate evolves into religious discussion

MANCHESTER, New Hampshire (CNN) -- During the first GOP presidential debate last month in California, three Republican candidates raised eyebrows by indicating they did not subscribe to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.

When the topic came up again Tuesday night in a CNN-sponsored debate in New Hampshire, one of those evolution skeptics, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, offered a spirited defense of the biblical creation narrative.

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth," said Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister. "A person either believes that God created the process or believes that it was an accident and that it just happened all on its own." Continue.

Abortion, evolution topics of GOP debate

Manchester, N.H. (BP) On a night that lightning literally struck when Rudy Giuliani talked about abortion, the Republican candidates for president talked about a host of faith-based issues June 5, including evolution and creationism, the pro-life plank in the party platform and what they deem as the most pressing moral issue of the day.

It was the third GOP debate and the first in New Hampshire, the site of the first primary in January. Giuliani, seeking to break recent Republican history and win the nomination as a pro-choicer, was asked his thoughts about an Internet editorial by Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, who compared Giuliani's position on abortion -- he says he hates it but wants it to remain legal -- to the New Testament account of Pontius Pilate finding no fault in Christ but nevertheless handing Him over to be crucified. As Giuliani, who is Catholic, began to speak, the audio buzzed and crackled, and CNN's Wolf Blitzer told viewers lightning was at fault. To laughter, the candidates to each side of Giuliani -- including Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain -- backed a few steps away from Giuliani, as if they were in danger of being struck. Continue.

Gingrich tells graduates to challenge "radical secularism"

Former House speaker Newt Gingrich told Liberty University's graduating class Saturday to honor the spirit of school founder Jerry Falwell by confronting ''the growing culture of radical secularism'' with Christian ideals.

Gingrich, who is considering a 2008 presidential run, quoted Bible passages to a mournful crowd of about 17,000 packed into the university's football stadium in Lynchburg, Va., four days after Falwell's death.

Despite the somber tone of the day, graduates who covered the football field chanted ''Jerry! Jerry!'' in tribute to Falwell.

''A growing culture of radical secularism declares that the nation cannot profess the truths on which it was founded,'' Gingrich said. ''We are told that our public schools can no longer invoke the Creator, nor proclaim the natural law, nor profess the God-given quality of human rights...

...''Anybody on the Left who hopes that when people like Reverend Falwell disappear, that the opportunity to convert all of America has gone with them, fundamentally misunderstands why institutions like this were created,'' Gingrich said. Click here.

A Holy-Roller Democrat

John Arthur Eaves baptized three of his four sons in the Jordan River, an event he highlights in a radio campaign ad. The candidate for governor of Mississippi thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned, calls for reintroducing school prayer and wants limits on riverboat gambling -- all hot-button issues among evangelical pastors. A baby-faced trial lawyer with a flair for self-promotion, Eaves is employing the same tried-and-true campaign tactics as many Republicans running in the South, the Midwest and other culturally conservative parts of the country.

But Eaves isn't just any old run-of-the-mill evangelical candidate -- he's a Democrat. And he's challenging not just any first-term governor, but Haley Barbour, a former chairman of the Republican National Committee and a Goliath in the GOP, with possible designs on the White House.

At stake is more than the governor's mansion in Jackson, but arguably the future of the national Democratic Party. That's because Democrats have almost completely lost their grip on the South, with the number of Southern Democratic U.S. senators dwindling from 20 in 1980 to five today. In the past two presidential elections, the Democratic ticket lost every Southern state. Continue.

The Evangelical Surprise

FitzGerald's essay discusses the relationship between right-wing evangelicals and the Republican Party Click here.

Mounting fears from Jewish leaders of a religious test for candidates.

For Jewish leaders concerned about the growing mingling of sectarian religion and presidential politics, the surging campaign of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is taking some ominous turns.

The Republican Romney, facing polls indicating that only 29 of Americans believe the nation is “ready” for a Mormon president, has been working frantically to reinforce his religious credentials with the conservative Christian leaders who could play a big role in deciding the outcome of key GOP primaries next year.

And those credentials aren’t entirely confined to his positions on the issues so-called “values” voters care about the most.

In a recent conference call with voters in Iowa, he said “my faith includes a fundamental belief that we are all sons and daughters of a loving God,” and added that “I happen to believe that Jesus Christ is my personal savior and the son of God.” Continue

Social conservative leaders take stock of GOP field

Tony Perkins, Mark Earley, and Gary Bauer gave their take on Giuliani's lead, the prospect of a Fred Thompson candidacy, and McCain's struggles.

WASHINGTON - As poll after poll shows former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani continuing to lead among Republicans running for their party's 2008 presidential nomination, the obvious question for social conservatives is this: Why?

Mr. Giuliani, after all, takes liberal positions on abortion, gun control, and gay rights. At a Monitor breakfast on Wednesday, reporters posed this question to three presidents of top social conservative groups: Gary Bauer of American Values, Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council, and Mark Earley of the Prison Fellowship. Continue.

To Beat the Right, Clinton and Obama Need to Be Clear About Supporting Gay Rights

Democrats will keep getting attacked on sexuality, marriage and abortion for as long as they dodge the discussion.

In 2004 it was Swift Boating. In 2008 will it be gay-baiting that skewers the Democratic candidate? It's not too late for Democratic contenders to start thinking about the so-called culture wars. Indeed they'd better do more than think, if the campaign so far is any indication of where it might be headed.Continue

Evangelicals feud as religious right founders leave public stage

As they court the evangelicals who have become so crucial to their party, Republican presidential candidates are stepping into the middle of a family fight.

Christian conservative activists are more split than ever over whether to keep the movement’s focus on abortion, marriage and sexual chastity - or scrap that approach as too narrow.

The founders of the religious right, now in the twilight of their leadership, see even the suggestion of expanding the agenda as a dangerous distraction. In public, and sometimes in personal ways, they are trying to beat back the challenge. Continue.

The Dems Get Religion

A new approach for the 2008 campaign

John Kerry struggled to overcome his secular image in 2004, but the current crop of Democratic presidential front-runners is determined not to repeat his mistakes.

One of New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's first campaign hires was a top evangelical staffer on Capitol Hill. U.S. News has learned that an aide in Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's office tasked with religious outreach is joining his presidential campaign this week. And former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is framing poverty relief as a moral issue that's helping to drive his campaign. "Two thousand eight could be the first time since Jimmy Carter that the presidential candidate who's really good on faith issues is the Democrat," says Eric Sapp, a Democratic consultant. So the Democratic primaries could see serious competition among candidates for the faith vote. Continue.

Keeping the Faith

Evangelicals know what they want in a candidate. But the current crop may not have it.

Veteran Christian activist Marlene Elwell is not inclined to make political compromises. She helped engineer Pat Robertson's victory over George H. W. Bush in 1988's Iowa caucuses and led Michigan to constitutionally ban gay marriage in 2004. But after meeting with Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, interviewing California Rep. Duncan Hunter, and studying former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee-all 2008 presidential hopefuls who, like Elwell, are dyed-in-the-wool religious conservatives-she concluded that none could raise the tens of millions of dollars necessary for a competitive campaign. So she looked to the top-tier Republican candidates who were less ideologically pure on abortion and gay marriage. Continue

Christian Right Labors to Find ’08 Candidate

Washington, Feb. 24 -- A group of influential Christian conservatives and their allies emerged from a private meeting at a Florida resort this month dissatisfied with the Republican presidential field and uncertain where to turn.

The event was a meeting of the Council for National Policy, a secretive club whose few hundred members include Dr. James C. Dobson of Focus on the Family, the Rev. Jerry Falwell of Liberty University and Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform. Although little known outside the conservative movement, the council has become a pivotal stop for Republican presidential primary hopefuls, including George W. Bush on the eve of his 1999 primary campaign. Continue.

Religion and Politics in the 2008 Race

What role is religion likely to play in the 2008 presidential election? How are the candidates dealing with the issue? John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, offers his insights to Steve Inskeep. Click here for the audio link to the report.

Rightwing warrior Falwell has eyes on 2008

DALLAS (Reuters) - His influence may be diminished but his zeal is undaunted. Evangelist Jerry Falwell is on a mission to keep a like-minded Republican in the White House and get at least one more conservative judge on the Supreme Court.

Despite his years in the trenches of America's culture wars, Falwell -- who founded the Moral Majority political movement in 1979 and helped propel the rise of the religious right -- said a major victory in his broader crusade to restore the country's moral righteousness has so far eluded him.

With abortion still legal, prayer banned in public schools and pornography rife, he sees a long struggle ahead. For now, he is focusing on voter registration drives and rallying the faithful with his eyes on the twin prizes of the 2008 presidential election and control of the Supreme Court. Continue.

Carter, Clinton Seek To Bring Together Moderate Baptists

Exiles From Conservative Group Targeted

Former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton are leading an effort to forge dozens of small and medium-size, black and white Baptist organizations into a robust coalition that would serve as a counterweight to the conservative Southern Baptist Convention.

The giant SBC, with more than 16 million members, has long dominated the political, theological and social landscape among Baptists, often spawning resentment among smaller Baptist groups. It has also been closely aligned with the Republican Party.

The new coalition, which is Carter's brainchild, would give moderate Baptists a stronger collective voice and could provide Democrats with greater entree into the Baptist community. But Carter and other organizers are trying to walk a fine line, insisting that the alliance is not directly political while touting its potential to recast the role of religion in the public square. Continue.

Are Prez. Hopefuls ‘In It’ for Gays?

A Blade Analysis of How LGBT Issues are Shaping Up for the 2008 Race

If you thought the gay and lesbian community was going to once again be the whipping post of Republican Presidential contenders, hang on to your seats.

Witness champion of the Federal Marriage Amendment Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) last Sunday on ABC’s "This Week" as host George Stephanopoulos questions him about Mary Cheney and gay adoption. Continue

Two Values Voters programs draw Republican presidential candidates

In September Vision America, a theocratic group headed by Texas-based Rick Scarborough put on a televised/streamed debate for Republican presidential hopefuls. There are reports about that event below.

In October, the Family Research Council sponsored a Washington DC Values voters "summit" which again turned out the Republican presidential candidates. You'll find reports on that event here.

Texan works to energize GOP's 'values voters'

Anna M. Tinsley, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram via AccessMyLibrary.com, September 9, 2007

One of the names coming up most frequently as the 2008 presidential campaign gears up isn't even a candidate.

It's Rick Scarborough, an East Texas Baptist minister and evangelist determined to bring conservative Christian Republicans back to the polls next year.

The presidential election is still more than a year away, but the primary campaigns are in full swing, and Scarborough and other religious leaders are stepping up in the battle being waged for control of the White House, Congress and the GOP itself. They want the full force of conservative Christian voters to be felt in the primaries and general election.

As Scarborough, president of Lufkin-based Vision America, put it in a recent e-mail to supporters: "We are in a battle for the soul of our nation." Continue.

Gala a Grand Success

Vision America’s annual dinner and gala turned out to be everything we could have hoped for and more. Over 500 people attended this wonderful event including Texas Lt. Governor David Dewhurst, State Comptroller Susan Combs, more than 50 state and local elected officials and judges, and numbers of ministers and church members, as we celebrated the mixing of church and state the way our founding fathers intended. Continue.

The Washington Briefing 2007

October 19-21

Don't miss the largest gathering of values voters from across the nation and the gala dinner honoring Dr. James Dobson with entertainment by Lee Greenwood. Continue.

Values Voter: 2008 Presidential Debate

Mark the date! September 17 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern. The Values Voter Presidential Debate held in Fort Lauderdale will be streamed live by the American Family Association.

What makes this debate different? The candidates will be asked questions related to abortion, immigration, marriage and other issues Values Voters consider important. If you want to see where they stand on the traditional, pro-family issues, don't miss this debate.

The debate will be moderated by Joseph Farah who is the founder of the very popular website WorldNetDaily. Continue.

Dennis Talks To Dr. James Dobson About Who He Will And Won't Vote For.

Dennis Prager,: Perhaps the most influential Evangelical leader in the United States is on with me, Dr. James Dobson. And Jim, welcome to the Dennis Prager, you’ve been on many times, and I’ve been with you, and welcome back.

James Dobson: Dennis, we’ve been friends for a long time. This is only interview I’ve taken today, and I’ve been called by just about everybody in the media. So that tells you what I think of you.

DP: Thank you, and it means a lot to me, and that’s why I asked to have you on for the same reason, because of my respect for you. And you are, you’re not a very happy man right now, are you? Continue.

The Values Test

FOF Leader: Thompson Not Anti-Gay Enough

(Denver, Colorado) James Dobson, one of the nation's most politically influential evangelical Christians, made it clear in a message to friends this week he will not support Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson.

In a private e-mail obtained by The Associated Press, Dobson accuses the former Tennessee senator and actor of being weak on the campaign trail and wrong on issues dear to social conservatives. Continue.

Thompson Scoffs At Anti-Gay Leader's Criticism

(Dallas, Texas) Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson is shrugging off harsh criticism from James Dobson, saying he has friends who likely know the influential Christian leader and they hold him in high regard. Continue.

Dobson Offers Insight on 2008 Republican Hopefuls

Focus on Family Founder Snubs Thompson, Praises Gingrich

Focus on the Family founder James Dobson appeared to throw cold water on a possible presidential bid by former Sen. Fred Thompson while praising former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is also weighing a presidential run, in a phone interview Tuesday.

"Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said of Thompson. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian; at least that's my impression," Dobson added, saying that such an impression would make it difficult for Thompson to connect with the Republican Party's conservative Christian base and win the GOP nomination.

Mark Corallo, a spokesman for Thompson, took issue with Dobson's characterization of the former Tennessee senator. "Thompson is indeed a Christian," he said. "He was baptized into the Church of Christ."

In a follow-up phone conversation, Focus on the Family spokesman Gary Schneeberger stood by Dobson's claim. He said that, while Dobson didn't believe Thompson to be a member of a non-Christian faith, Dobson nevertheless "has never known Thompson to be a committed Christian—someone who talks openly about his faith."

"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," Schneeberger added. Continue.

Focus defends Dobson's skepticism of Fred Thompson's Christian faith

Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson is attempting to clarify remarks he made to a reporter regarding possible Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson.

Dobson recently told Dan Gilgoff of U.S. News & World Report he did not think former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson was a Christian. "Everyone knows he's conservative and has come out strongly for the things that the pro-family movement stands for," Dobson said in the interview. "[But] I don't think he's a Christian -- at least that's my impression."

A Thompson spokesman took umbrage with Dobson's statement and responded by saying, "Thompson is indeed a Christian. He was baptized into the Church of Christ." Continue.

Dr. Dobson's Comments on Sen. Thompson Clarified

(CR) – Focus on the Family has issued a statement clarifying statements made by founder Dr. James Dobson. The statements appeared in a story on the U.S. News & World Report website. Continue.

Brownback quietly courting religious, social conservatives

Republican presidential hopeful Sam Brownback is counting on his conservative credentials and a Midwest bond to lift his candidacy in Iowa. The Kansas senator is making some inroads.

Although far behind in the polls and fund-raising, Brownback has stuck to a well-honed strategy, waging a classic grass-roots campaign away from the glare of the media spotlight by mingling with activists in living rooms, parks and churches. He's made repeated trips from his nearby state to campaign in Iowa, where he underscores his cultural ties. Continue.

Brownback seeks conservative mantle, in part by opposing gay rights

It's just past 8:30 a.m. on a snowy weekend morning in Des Moines when the unassuming presidential candidate strolls into a hotel conference room. "Hey, folks. I'm Sam Brownback. Good to meet you," says the Republican senator from Kansas, personally greeting the sparse crowd of some two dozen people munching on pastries and sipping coffee.

Standing at the podium, Brownback eschews talk of his accomplishments and criticism of his better-known rivals. Instead, he explains where he stands on various issues and seeks to define himself for the right-leaning GOP voters who matter in primaries as "a full-scale economic and social conservative with a smile." Continue.

Brownback Questions Romney's Conservative Credentials

BOSTON (AP) - Sen. Sam Brownback argues he's the true conservative in the race for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, while former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney may have trouble explaining flip-flops in his background.

"I think you have to look at where he stood on the issues and what he said publicly," the Kansas Republican told the Christian Broadcasting Network in an interview published Wednesday. "At times he's said different things on these issues. I think that's all going to come out during a long campaign."

Romney, for example, ran for governor in 2002 touting his support for abortion rights; now he highlights his opposition to abortion. Social conservatives have also expressed concern about him declaring in 1994 that he would be a better activist for the gay agenda than his then-opponent, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass. Romney now touts his opposition to gay marriage. Continue

Iowa Pro-Life Leader Endorses Kansas Republican Senator for President

Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, a 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, has received the endorsement of Iowa pro-life leader Kim Lehman, president of Iowa Right to Life. Lehman has agreed to serve on the senator's Leadership Committee.

Lehman is slated to hold public forums across Iowa this year to educate people on pro-life issues and to discuss why she believes Brownback should be in the White House. In what is perhaps an indirect swipe at Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, the pro-lifer points out the main reason why she feels the Kansas Republican is different from other GOP presidential hopefuls -- that is, the fact that he has been consistently pro-life. Continue

Race for '08: Edwards' wife says local homicide illustrates danger of hate speech

Elizabeth Edwards said Saturday she is troubled by the suspected anti-gay beating death of a Sacramento man, and said the killing of Satender Singh demands renewed condemnations of hate speech in America.

Singh, a 26-year-old Fijian immigrant, died four days after he was attacked July 1 at Lake Natoma by an angry group hurling explicit gay slurs and racial remarks.

Edwards, campaigning in Sacramento for her husband, Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards of North Carolina, said she was so affected by news of Singh's death that she rewrote a speech on human rights she was due to deliver later Saturday in San Francisco. Continue.

Edwards' Gay-Positive Bloggers Apologize

(Washington) Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards said Thursday he was personally offended by the provocative messages two of his campaign bloggers wrote criticizing the Catholic church, but he's not firing them.

Edwards issued a written statement about the fate of Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwen, two days after the head of the conservative Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights demanded they be fired for messages they wrote before working on the campaign. Continue.

Americans United Cautions Southern Baptist Convention About Partisan Politicking

SBC President's Call For United Evangelical Front Against Giuliani Raises Tax Law Issues, Says Church-State Watchdog Group

News release, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, January 24, 2008

Americans United for Separation of Church and State has cautioned the top official of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) that using his denominational news agency to oppose Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani raises federal tax law issues. Continue.

Pat Robertson Endorses Giuliani for President

Candidate Endorsements Start Shaping Conservatives' Role in '08 Race

Evangelical Split Seen Fueling Giuliani Bid

Rudy benefiting from tough talk on terror, which is emerging as key ‘values’ issue for conservative Christians.

A behind-the-scenes struggle among politically active Evangelicals could boost former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s 2008 presidential ambitions.

Some Christian conservative leaders now say the global fight against Islamic extremism trumps the social issues, such as opposition to gay rights and abortion, that pushed the religious right into the political big leagues — a fight they depict as a to-the-death clash of civilizations.

Giuliani’s tough talk and artful positioning on the issue and carefully nurtured 9/11 reputation have won him strong support from that faction despite a personal history that offends many “values voters” and his relatively moderate positions on hot-button issues like abortion. Continue.

The Giuliani-Driven Christians

Prioritizing foreign policy over cultural concerns, evangelicals testify for America’s liberal mayor

Support for former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani among the Religious Right and particularly among evangelicals is a surprising development in American political culture. According to Quinnipiac polls, Giuliani is the Republican presidential candidate who enjoys the most popularity among evangelical Protestants, and the lead in polls that he commands in certain swing states, especially Florida, is attributed to “white Evangelical voters.” On April 30, the Baptist Standard announced that “Giuliani leads among Evangelicals; Clinton leads among Catholics.” Although the report about Clinton’s support may have been news, the information about Giuliani was, by the end of April, old hat. Already in February the Washington Post had him “surging among white Evangelicals.”

At the beginning of May, among this group, which is essential for large Republican turnouts on election day, Giuliani ran 11 points ahead of his closest competitor, Sen. John McCain, whose positions on abortion and other social issues would suggest closer agreement with evangelical values. For a while it seemed that Giuliani’s social positions—which are generally garden-variety leftist on abortion, gay marriage, and amnesty for illegal immigrants—plus his publicized dalliances, two failed marriages, and the attacks on his lack of paternal sense of responsibility made by his son would end the Religious Right’s love affair with the candidate. But this has not been the case. Continue.

Social conservatives bite bullet, back Rudy

Social conservative support has proven central to the making of the modern Republican president since 1980.

Rudy Giuliani, whose positions on abortion and homosexuality mark him as the most socially liberal Republican presidential candidate in more than a generation, is so far winning the contest for the support of social conservatives, according to a new analysis of recent polls.

Widespread perceptions that Giuliani is the most electable Republican in this year's field are driving his support among social conservatives, according to the analysis by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Continue.

Baptist leader says evangelicals have doubts about divorced Giuliani

A Southern Baptist leader said Tuesday in Nashville that evangelical voters might tolerate a divorced presidential candidate but they have deep doubts about Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani, who has been married three times. Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention, told the Associated Press that evangelicals believe the former New York City mayor showed a lack of character during his divorce from second wife, television personality Donna Hanover. Continue.

Fundamentalist Christian Mike Huckabee victorious in Iowa Republican caucuses

Christian right volunteers out-organize better funded campaigns to secure win for former pastor

Background by JewsOnFirst.org, January 4, 2008

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee's strong victory in the Iowa caucuses was based on his appeal to Christian conservative voters in the state. Christian right activists turned out their networks to provide Huckabee's winning vote over the much better funded Mitt Romney,

In selecting Huckabee, a Southern Baptist pastor, those Christian conservative voters knew what they were voting for -- and now it's time that Jews also know about some of Huckabee's fundamentalist positions. Continue.

Mike Huckabee, Christian Zionist

Huckabee's proposals amount to ethnic cleansing of Palestine

Rev. Stan Moody, Christian Policy Institute, December 16, 2007

Orthodox Jews love him. The Christian Right loves him. The LaHayes (authors of the Left Behind series) love him. Tele-Zionist John Hagee loves him.

It is not because Gov. Huckabee is not a Mormon that they all love him. It is because his foreign policy as President will be to put the finishing touches on the Bush Doctrine in the Middle East.

In a nutshell, Huckabee is a Rapturist. I’ll explain. Continue.

Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney vie for Christian right voters in Iowa

Romney speech pushes favorite buttons of right-wing evangelicals -- who are flocking to Huckabee

by JewsOnFirst.org, December 8, 2007

With the Iowa caucuses less than a month away, Mike Huckabee, an avowed biblical literalist with a television ad (below, right) identifying himself as a "Christian leader," is surging ahead in the polls. He is getting a national bounce from the surge. Meanwhile, Mitt Romney, who has poured millions of dollars into his Iowa campaign only to be overtaken by the cash-starved Huckabee, gave a speech on religion aimed in part at ingratiating himself with right-wing evangelical Christians.

The big story a couple of months ago was how the leaders of the Christian right could not agree on a candidate. The movement's leaders are still divided, with Pat Robertson backing Rudy Giuliani while Paul Weyrich and Bob Jones III back Romney. But in Iowa, the religious right rank and file is increasingly polling for Huckabee, a Baptist pastor as well as a past governor of Arkansas. He has taken the lead in state polls and is rising in national polls as well. Continue.

McCain, Huckabee and the Evangelicals

'Obama Knows Best'

Elitism Threatens Parental Rights

On the contrary, I have every reason to believe that an Obama presidency would be incredibly and particularly harmful to the American family and homeschool community. Continue.

Dobson backs Huckabee after Romney bows out

The Evangelicals' New Clothes

So only after Fred and Rudy and Mitt have dropped out, and McCain has all but mathematically sealed the GOP nomination, does Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson come out and endorse Mike Huckabee as "our best remaining choice for President of the United States," now that it can't possibly make a difference. Given how this season has unfolded, there is something beautifully appropriate about that.

Back at the end of September, after Dobson and his disciples had their private meeting to publicly threaten a third party run if the GOP went with a social liberal like Giuliani, I asked Richard Land, the Southern Baptists' political ambassador, what was the problem with Huckabee, since Land understands these weather systems better than most.

Here was a candidate that you would have thought the social conservative leadership could embrace without reservation, a fresh, appealing, Southern Baptist preacher-pol who didn't believe in evolution, whose wife (by covenant marriage, no less) has slept under bridges with homeless people, and who was more consistently pro-life than anyone in the field. So what was Paul Weyrich doing backing Romney and Pat Robertson endorsing Rudy and the National Right to Life committee supporting Thompson? "I've known Mike a long time," said Land. "I think Mike would be a fine president. But he's the one who has to close that deal. He has to convince significant numbers of Americans that he'd be a fine President and that he can beat Hillary Clinton." Continue.

James Dobson endorses Huckabee

Colorado Springs, Colo. (BP)--Focus on the Family founder James Dobson endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee Feb. 7, giving the former Arkansas governor a boost heading into a series of upcoming primaries.

The endorsement by Dobson came the same day that Mitt Romney withdrew from the GOP race. Huckabee won five states on Super Tuesday and still trails by a wide margin in the delegate count, although he hopes to win a handful of states in the next week, including Kansas and Louisiana Saturday and Virginia Tuesday.

Dobson's endorsement, which came as a private citizen, came two days after he once again said he would not support frontrunner John McCain if he is the nominee. Dobson first made the statement in January 2007 during the "Jerry Johnson Live" radio program hosted by Johnson, president of Criswell College in Dallas. Continue.

Primary states hold pastor briefings much like Texas Restoration Project

Austin – The Texas Restoration Project, aimed at motivating pastors to influence state elections, has become a national model to boost evangelical influence in the presidential race.

Mike Huckabee hopes to be the beneficiary, meeting privately next week with Christian pastors in Florida after similar briefings in Iowa and South Carolina.

In Texas, the project held a series of closed-door pastor briefings, urging ministers to encourage their congregations to register and vote for candidates who match their moral agenda. Continue.

Thousands of Pastors Applaud Huckabee

[TEXT]More than 5,000 American pastors gave standing ovations to the former Baptist preacher turned politician Mike Huckabee Monday night during his speech defending moral and social issues at a conference in Florida.

The “Rediscovering God in America” pastor's conference, hosted by the influential American Family Association, featured Huckabee Monday and will present former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich as Tuesday’s keynote speaker.

Huckabee, who said he was not there as a presidential candidate, warmed up his conservative audience by declaring that overturning the Roe v. Wade court ruling was not enough because it would leave individual states to decide their own laws on abortion – a moral issue where there is a right and a wrong, he contends. He argues that a constitutional amendment that defines life at conception is necessary to prevent “50 versions of right and wrong.” Continue.

Greenhut: Identity politics on the campaign trail

Mike Huckabee has campaigned as the only true Christian candidate, a dangerous evolution of the religious right's political movement

A lot of observers have wondered how ordained Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses this month, and why he has done so well elsewhere, given his transparent appeal to Christian fundamentalists – a group with only modest political influence in California and other urbanized states. I lived in Iowa when the religious right was ascendant in the early 1990s, and I saw up-close how religion could be used to win converts to a political cause. A consumer magazine editor in Des Moines by day, I spent my free time helping the conservative grass-roots. At that place and time, that meant working with the Iowa Christian Coalition.

Don't hold old mistakes against this libertarian, but do indulge a little personal history here, as it sheds light on the rise of one of the most influential modern U.S. political movements. It's also germane to the current presidential election. Continue.

Base Runner

Huckabee tries but fails to win the votes of non-evangelicals.

Mike Huckabee tried his best to expand beyond his evangelical base in South Carolina and appeal to what his campaign called "Joe Six Pack" voters. Mr. Huckabee was the only candidate to pander to devotees of the Confederate flag, telling crowds that outsiders should leave the banner flag, now displayed in a corner of the grounds of the state capitol, alone: "If somebody came to Arkansas and told us what to do with our flag, we'd tell 'em what to do with the pole, that's what we'd do." Contrast that with the comments of Mr. Huckabee's fellow Southerner Fred Thompson: "For a great many Americans, [the flag] is a symbol of racism. I'm glad people have made a decision not to display it . . . in a state capitol." Continue.

Huckabee Looks to Evangelicals for Win in South Carolina

Mike Huckabee, nursing a second third-place finish in northern states, looked ahead to the South, where he hopes his Arkansas roots and Baptist background will put him back on a winning track in South Carolina.

''Ladies and gentlemen, we're going to win South Carolina,'' he declared to supporters in Lexington, S.C.

Huckabee, the winner of the Iowa caucuses, has emerged from the back of the pack into an improbable contender. But he has since had to watch John McCain win New Hampshire and, now, Mitt Romney win Michigan. He is staking his new foothold on South Carolina's social conservatives and religious voters as well as young working-class voters attracted to his economic populist message. South Carolina's GOP primary is Saturday.

''We put a flag in the ground here Saturday,'' he said of the state. ''We're going to make it real clear that the first-in-the-South primary is going to give their support to the first-in-the-South candidate.'' Continue.

Huckabee: Evangelical Christians Now Have a Chance to Lead GOP

"A Unique Kind Of Opportunity"

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Jan. 12 -- Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee touted his candidacy Saturday as a chance for evangelical Christians to lead the Republican Party rather than just support its candidates.

"I don't presume that you automatically support me because of a common faith," Huckabee told a group of more than 100 conservative pastors. "I know I have to earn that. But I also recognize that there is a unique kind of opportunity. For a long time, those of us who are people of faith are asked to support candidates who would come and talk to us. But rarely has there been one who comes from us." Continue.

Luckily for Chabad lawmaker in New.Hampshire Huckabee is too big for lobster joint

Manchester, N.H. (JTA) -- Jason Bedrick, the first Orthodox member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, loves former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. But he was going to have to skip a Huckabee campaign event Sunday in his hometown of Windham because it was to be held at the Lobster Tail restaurant.

Bedrick a member of a Chabad synagogue in Massachusetts and a fervent Huckabee supporter, informed the campaign last week he would be unable to attend the event at a non-kosher establishment.

A larger than expected turnout, however, led the Republican's campaign to relocate the rally to the Windham Center school, and Bedrick showed up with a reported 600 others. Continue.

Stem cell, gun control groups paid Huckabee

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee last year accepted $52,000 in speaking fees from a biotech giant that wants to research human embryonic stem cells, a non-profit working to expand access to the morning-after pill and a group pushing to study whether tightening gun control laws will reduce violence.

Huckabee opposes embryonic stem cell research, emergency contraception and stricter gun laws — all of which rank high on the list of deal-breakers for many of the religious conservatives whose support he's ridden to the top of the Republican presidential field.

Payments came from drug-maker Novo Nordisk, which engages in stem cell research; the Public Health Institute, which works to expand access to "morning after" contraception; and Grant Makers in Health, which is seeking to steer funding to studies of gun violence. The fees highlight the delicate line Huckabee has walked on the profitable speaking circuit. Continue.

Matt Taibbi on Mike Huckabee, Our Favorite Right-Wing Nut Job

Mike Huckabee, The Latest It Girl of the Republican presidential race, tells a hell of a story. Let your guard down anywhere near the former Arkansas governor and he'll pod you, Body Snatchers-style — you'll wake up drooling, your brain gone, riding a back seat on the bandwagon that suddenly has him charging toward the lead in the GOP race.

It almost happened to me a few months ago at a fund-raiser in Great Falls, Virginia. I'd come to get my first up-close glimpse of the man Arkansans call Huck, about whom I knew very little — beyond the fact that he was far behind in the polls and was said to be very religious. In an impromptu address to a small crowd, Huckabee muttered some stay-the-course nonsense about Iraq and then, when he was finished, sought me out, apparently having been briefed beforehand that Rolling Stone was in the house.

"I'm glad you're here," he told me. "I finally get to tell someone who cares about Keith Richards." Continue.

Five Things Mike Huckabee Doesn't Want You to Know About Him

The former Arkansas governor is surging in the Republican polls for the presidency, but with popularity comes greater scrutiny into his odd past.

Look who's the dark horse now: Not Fred Thompson, the Law & Order actor whose get-off-my-lawn glower was initially mistaken by the media for Reaganesque magic, but Mike Huckabee, the ex-Arkansas governor with the beady stare and steely proclamations about the Iraq war. You might remember him from the Fox News Channel debate in September, when he reproached Ron Paul by appealing to the "honor" of the Republicans as a reason to keep occupying Baghdad -- winning both applause and comparisons to Star Trek's Klingons.

Suddenly, heading into the primary season, it's Huckabee who is making moves, polling at 24 points in the crucial primary state of Iowa. (Thompson: three points.) His ratings, as his campaign is gloating, puts him within striking distance of Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachussetts

So who is he? His latest ad find him repeating Chuck Norris internet jokes, borrowing for his campaign a har-har style from Jesse "The Body" Ventura that would suit him well if it were 1999 and he were promising to give Minnesotans tax breaks instead of vowing (as he did the other day) to bomb Iran "in a heartbeat" without consulting Congress if President Huck deems it necessary. "Like our Founding Fathers," Norris wrote in a mass email to Huckabee supporters on Nov. 13, playing to conservative evangelicals frustrated by bad choices, "he's not afraid to stand up for a Creator against secularist beliefs." Continue.

Is GOP race crazy or what?

Steve Barnes, Opinion Article, The Baxter Bulletin (Mountain Home, Arkansas), November 25, 2007

Mike Huckabee, running for president, has the endorsement of Chuck Norris, the kung fu actor. The two appear in a television spot in which Huckabee introduces Norris as his solution to the immigration problem. Norris talks about Huckabee the gun lover and IRS hater. Then, after attesting to one another's manliness, Norris throws a fist at the camera.

Is Huckabee going to sic revenue agents on undocumented workers, or shoot them? And then shoot the IRS agents? Or just commission Norris to jump-kick the illegals back across the Rio Grande and karate chop the tax collectors into the Potomac?

It's less cute than kind of crazy. But the Iowa caucuses are drawing near, with the endorsement game lending itself to craziness as never before. So ardent is their courtship of Christian evangelical voters, who are a critical component of the delegate selection process, that the candidates have made a board game of the craziness. Continue.

Huckabee: 'Christian Ticket' Would Help Elect Clinton

Asked if he thinks the evangelical Christian vote still carries as much weight as it once did with the Republican Party, Huckabee said he's not sure. Continue.

Election 08: Gingrich says Huckabee GOP's 'best performer'; leaders consider third party

Newt Gingrich isn't endorsing Mike Huckabee for president, but it's becoming apparent it wouldn't brother him if the former Arkansas governor won the Republican nomination.

The former speaker of the house, Gingrich posted a guest blog on Huckabee's website Sept. 24, and then a few days later gave his outlook on the GOP race, putting Huckabee in a pretty good light.

Huckabee sees 'new life' in presidential bid after Iowa straw poll

The former Arkansas governor who came in second in the contest last weekend told reporters at a Monitor breakfast that his campaign has signed up 1,000 new contributions and scheduled 16 new fundraisers.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee came to a Monitor-sponsored breakfast with reporters Thursday morning still reveling in the political lift from a better-than-expected showing in last weekend's Iowa straw poll.

"There is a new life in our campaign" as a result of coming in second in the Iowa contest among Republican presidential candidates, Mr. Huckabee said. The two-term former governor won 18.1 percent of the votes last Saturday versus front-runner Mitt Romney's 31.6 percent.

As a result of the strong Iowa showing, Huckabee said his team had scheduled 16 new fundraisers. "We had 1,000 new contributions, new donors to our website, from Saturday night to Tuesday morning. So clearly there is some momentum," he said. Continue.

The Other Candidate From Hope

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's surprising second-place finish in last week's Iowa GOP straw poll may be the answer to Christian conservatives' prayers or just the latest media sensation in an overly long 2008 presidential race.

But several experts agree on one thing: it could be bad news for Jewish Republicans.

"Any gains for Huckabee are just devastating for Jewish Republicans and Republicans in general," said Kenneth Wald, a University of Florida political scientist who follows Jewish politics. "Huckabee is exactly the wrong face for the GOP to put forward." Continue.

The Christian Right's New Man

No one is happier with the results of the Iowa Straw Poll than charismatic evangelical Christians, who recently declared former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee "one of our own."

Just a few weeks before the Iowa straw poll, a prominent evangelical publication identified the Republican presidential candidate whom it thought most resembled Ronald Reagan and deserved the support of evangelical voters. That candidate was not the actor turned politician Fred Thompson, but rather the Baptist minister turned governor, and now presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee.

The endorsement came from New Man, one of eight magazines published by Strang Communications, whose founder and president, Stephen Strang, is a highly influential voice among charismatics -- evangelicals who attend non-denominational churches such as those of John Hagee or Rod Parsley, as well as denominational Pentecostals. Continue.

Whither Social Conservatives?

A Conversation with GOP Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee

The Pew Forum invited former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee to discuss the fate of social conservatives and how he sees religion playing out in 2008 and beyond. He also addressed how he has witnessed religion impacting public affairs in his roles as a pastor and governor, and how his own faith guides his public life.

Former Governor Mike Huckabee established a 2008 presidential exploratory committee in January 2007, shortly after leaving office as the 44th governor of Arkansas.

A significant part of Huckabee's adult life was spent as a pastor and denominational leader. He became the youngest president ever of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, the largest denomination in Arkansas. He led rapidly growing congregations in Pine Bluff and Texarkana, Ark., and spoke about how those experiences gave him a deep sense of the problems faced by individuals and families. Continue

Huckabee moves away from Bush, moves on from evolution

Washington - Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Wednesday distanced himself from the Bush administration in the aftermath of a New Hampshire debate, while seeking again to move past questions about his beliefs on divine creation. In the debate among GOP presidential hopefuls Tuesday in New Hampshire, Huckabee said Republicans have lost credibility with voters through corruption scandals, poor job performance and Iraq War mistakes. He also said President Bush was a poor communicator and followed up Wednesday by adding he has never been shy about criticizing the Bush administration for its botched response to Hurricane Katrina.

The former Arkansas governor hoped to emerge from a crowded field of candidates with a breakout performance in the debate, the third assembly of GOP contenders in recent weeks. In Washington on Wednesday, Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister, said Americans don't care about his thoughts on evolution. He has been questioned by reporters about his beliefs several times since he was among three candidates who indicated they believed in creation during a May 3 debate in California. "I had to ask myself how many people sitting around their dinner tables asked themselves, 'I wonder what the next president thinks about evolution?'" Huckabee said Wednesday. "I didn't know I was running to design an eighth-grade science text book." He said the issue should be irrelevant to his campaign for the presidency. Continue.

Political Hay

Huckabee, Darwin, and Democracy

The MSNBC debate last month took presidential debates to a place they've never been before when the Republican candidates were asked for a show of hands if they believed in evolution. Mike Huckabee did not raise his hand that evening in South Carolina, so perhaps it is unsurprising that he was asked Tuesday night in New Hampshire just what exactly he believes about human origins. Sensibly, Huckabee wondered aloud what the relevance of the question was to his ability to do the job of president of the United States. Nevertheless, it was clear enough that he had practiced his answer when he won the applause of the crowd by stating that he viewed the bald question as one of whether he believes in God and believes God created man. Taking that as the question, he stated his belief in "a God who knows us and loves us and created us for His own purpose." Continue.

Huckabee Announces Presidential Bid

Former Arkansas Governor Courts Conservative Republicans

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee yesterday announced plans to form a presidential exploratory committee, hoping to carve out a conservative niche in an increasingly crowded field of Republican candidates.

The onetime Southern Baptist minister, perhaps best known for losing 100 pounds in two years, said he will file papers with the Federal Election Commission today, which will enable him to start raising money. Continue.

In apparent bid to Christian right, Sen. McCain calls US a "Christian nation."

During a video interview with BeliefNet.com, candidate John McCain made a number of Christian nationalist statements, including the claim that this country was established as a Christian nation. Jewish organizations reproached McCain, whom JewsOnFirst.org recorded a few months ago making religiously coded remarks to a right-wing Christian audience.

John McCain: Constitution Established a 'Christian Nation'

He expresses discomfort about a Muslim in the White House and says he won't undergo a full-immersion baptism while campaigning.

In this interview with BeliefNet, Republican presidential contender Senator John McCain makes Christian nationalist statements about this nation's founding and its current composition. He also talks about what he calls the nation's "Judeo-Christian" roots and his discomfort with the prospect of a Muslim in the White House. He also discusses leaving his Episcopalian to worship at a Baptist church, though says he wouldn't undergo a full-immersion baptism until his presidential campaign is over.

McCain Casts Muslims as Less Fit to Lead

Washington, Sept. 29 — Senator John McCain said in an interview posted on the Internet on Saturday that the Constitution established the United States as a Christian nation and that his faith is probably of better spiritual guidance than that of a Muslim candidate for president.

“I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, that’s a decision the American people would have to make, but personally, I prefer someone who I know who has a solid grounding in my faith,” Mr. McCain said in response to a question about the possibility of a Muslim’s running for president.

The interview was conducted by beliefnet, a Web site that writes extensively about religious issues of virtually every denomination. After the interview, Mr. McCain contacted the Web site to clarify his remarks, saying, “I would vote for a Muslim if he or she was the candidate best able to lead the country and defend our political values.” Continue.

McCain comments draw ire

Presidential candidate U.S. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was blasted for characterizing the United States as a “Christian nation.” In an interview with the non-denominational Web site beliefnet.com, McCain made the statement when he was asked if he would support a Muslim running for president. The Republican hopeful said he agreed with the majority of Americans who believe the Constitution establishes a Christian nation, adding that he would prefer to vote for someone who had “a solid grounding” in his faith.

The Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman had harsh words for McCain. “We would have thought that a senator as experienced and respected as John McCain would place himself above such divisive appeals to religious intolerance,” Foxman said. “His remarks were inaccurate and ill-advised for any candidate seeking to lead a nation as religiously diverse as ours.”

Foxman in a letter appealed to the senator to withdraw his statements, as did Jeffrey Sinensky, the general counsel to the American Jewish Committee. "Our individual rights cannot be secured if the government promotes one religion over others,” Sinensky said, adding that the founding fathers created a government free of religious ties because they knew all too well about the dangers of a church-state union. Continue.

National Jewish Democratic Council Strongly Condemns Mccain For Calling Us A Christian Nation; Calls On Gop To Denounce Comments

NJDC Condemns Former Maverick John Mccain For Calling America A Christian Nation

Washington, D.C. – Today, the National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC) condemned Republican Senator John McCain in the strongest possible terms for saying that a candidate’s Christian faith is “an important characteristic” for a President, that he would prefer a Christian president and that the "Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation." Additionally, NJDC called on the GOP leaders and fellow Presidential candidates to denounce McCain’s comments.

Furthermore, NJDC criticized the McCain campaign for sticking by his statements, and releasing a statement from his official campaign spokeswoman that defended the comments and said again, "America is a Christian nation, and it is hardly a controversial claim." [AFP, 10/1/07]

“Former maverick John McCain’s statements were repugnant. It’s been sad watching him transform from political maverick to religious right mouthpiece” said NJDC Executive Director Ira N. Forman. “And, someone running for President ought to understand the Constitution a little better. Nowhere does it say the United States is a ‘Christian’ nation. How can we trust someone to uphold the constitution who doesn’t even know what is in it? Continue.

A Nation of Christians Is Not a Christian Nation

Opinion article by Jon Meacham, New York Times, October 7, 2007. Meacham is the editor of Newsweek.

JOHN McCAIN was not on the campus of Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University last year for very long — the senator, who once referred to Mr. Falwell and Pat Robertson as “agents of intolerance,” was there to receive an honorary degree — but he seems to have picked up some theology along with his academic hood. In an interview with Beliefnet.com last weekend, Mr. McCain repeated what is an article of faith among many American evangelicals: “the Constitution established the United States of America as a Christian nation.”

...The only acknowledgment of religion in the original Constitution is a utilitarian one: the document is dated “in the year of our Lord 1787.” Even the religion clause of the First Amendment is framed dryly and without reference to any particular faith. The Connecticut ratifying convention debated rewriting the preamble to take note of God’s authority, but the effort failed. Click here.

Not a Theocracy

Letter to the editor by Kareem Shora, New York Times, October 7, 2007. Shora is executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.

To the Editor:
Senator John McCain said in a recent interview that the United States is a Christian nation and that his Christian faith is of better spiritual guidance when compared with a hypothetical Muslim running for president (“McCain Casts Muslims as Less Fit to Lead,” news article, Sept. 30).

In making such a statement, Senator McCain has lent his respected voice to those who preach intolerance and prejudicial fear. Continue.

McCain Says He Isn't a Baptist

GOP presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain said in a Web interview last week that he misspoke when he said recently he is "an active member" of a Southern Baptist church in Arizona and has been for years.

While campaigning in South Carolina, McCain corrected a reporter's question about his Episcopalian faith by saying he is a Baptist and that he and his wife had been members of North Phoenix Baptist Church for more than 15 years. The candidate said his religious affiliation is "well known, because I'm an active member of the church."

That comment sparked speculation when coupled with another comment by McCain that he had not been baptized by immersion, a rite required by the vast majority of Baptist churches for full inclusion into membership. McCain reportedly said he didn't find it necessary for his spiritual needs, and his pastor told him there was no need for him to be baptized in order to be a church member.

Officials at the church didn't respond to questions about McCain's membership claims. In an interview posted late last week on the religion Web site BeliefNet, however, McCain, attributed the confusion to "one comment, on the bus, after hours." Continue.

Mitt Romney speech pushes dozens of religious right buttons

Background by JewsOnFirst.org, December 7, 2007

In an effort to "sell" himself to Christian right voters, especially in Iowa where Mike Huckabee is overtaking him, Mitt Romney gave a speech on religion on December 6th. In the speech he downplayed specific tenets of his Mormon faith and assured conservative evangelicals that he supported their goals of injecting religion into government.

After some perfunctory nods to religious freedom and John F. Kennedy's famed 1960 speech, Romney pushed a virtual panel of the religious right's favorite buttons, saying:

We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It is as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America - the religion of secularism. They are wrong.
The founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square. We are a nation 'Under God' and in God, we do indeed trust.
We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders - in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'

Romney also got in a dig against "radical Islam" and repeated a prevalent piece of theocratic mischief, saying: "Americans acknowledge that liberty is a gift of God, not an indulgence of government."

You'll find a transcript of Romney's speech, an audio link to the speech, as well as background and analysis here on the National Public Radio website. Additional links relating to Romney's speech are here.

Televangelist Bill Keller calls Mormonism and Islam "False Religions"

TV preacher riffs on Mitt Romney's underwear

by JewsOnFirst.org, June 23, 2007

A Florida televangelist whose attack on presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith as satanic sparked a watchdog complaint last month has again used his tax-exempt ministry to electioneer against Romney. The new attack came in a television program entitled "Mr. Romney, show me your underwear!"

On May 11, Televangelist Bill Keller warned readers of his Daily Devotionals that a vote for Mormon Mitt Romney is "a vote for Satan." Keller called Mormonism a cult and its founder Joseph Smith a "murdering polygamist pedophile." He said "Romney getting elected president will ultimately lead millions of souls to the eternal flames of hell!!!" Continue.

IRS investigating televangelist Keller

By Waveney Ann Moore, St. Petersburg Times, June 25, 2008

Controversial televangelist Bill Keller is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service for violating federal regulations that prohibit tax-exempt organizations from political partisanship.

Keller, host of a live television program on the Internet, said the IRS investigation was triggered by his criticism of former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney and his Mormon faith.

Keller, 50, said that "a vote for Romney is a vote for Satan." He insists he did nothing to break the law.

"My whole issue with Romney is, just be honest about what your cult believes and quit trying to pass yourself off as a Christian," he said, adding that his responsibility is to educate people about spiritual matters. Continue.

Challenging the I.R.S.

By Laurie Goodstein, New York Times Caucus Blog, June 23, 2008

Bill Keller, an evangelist based in Florida, runs “Liveprayer.com,” an Internet call-in program. Because he receives a government tax exemption, he is prohibited by law from endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.

But during the Republican primary battle, Mr. Keller proclaimed to his followers and the news media that “a vote for Mitt Romney is a vote for Satan.”

Now Mr. Keller says he is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service for involvement in partisan politics. Continue.

What Is It About Mormonism?

Our post-denominational age should be the perfect time for a Mormon to become president, or at least the Republican nominee. Mormons share nearly all the conservative commitments so beloved of the evangelicals who wield disproportionate influence in primary elections. Mormons also embody, in their efficient organizational style, the managerial competence that the party’s pro-business wing considers attractive. For the last half-century, Mormons have been so committed to the Republican Party that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints once felt the need to clarify that Republican affiliation is not an actual condition of church membership.

Yet the Mormons’ political loyalty is not fully reciprocated by their fellow Republicans. Twenty-nine percent of Republicans told the Harris Poll last year that they probably or definitely would not vote for a Mormon for president. Among evangelicals, some of the discomfort is narrowly religious: Mormon theology is sometimes understood as non-Christian and heretical. Elsewhere, the reasons for the aversion to Mormons are harder to pin down — bigotry can be funny that way — but they are certainly not theological. A majority of Americans have no idea what Mormons believe.

Mormonism’s political problem arises, in large part, from the disconcerting split between its public and private faces. The church’s most inviting public symbols — pairs of clean-cut missionaries in well-pressed white shirts — evoke the wholesome success of an all-American denomination with an idealistic commitment to clean living. Yet at the same time, secret, sacred temple rites and garments call to mind the church’s murky past, including its embrace of polygamy, which has not been the doctrine or practice of the mainstream Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or LDS, for a century. Mormonism, it seems, is extreme in both respects: in its exaggerated normalcy and its exaggerated oddity. The marriage of these opposites leaves outsiders uncomfortable, wondering what Mormonism really is.

For Mitt Romney, the complex question of anti-Mormon bias boils down to the practical matter of how he can make it go away. Continue.

Will Christians Turn on Mitt?

"Family values" advocate Peter LaBarbera is urging pro-family leaders who have endorsed presidential candidate Mitt Romney to rescind their support. According to a press release distributed by Christian News Wire, Romney's recent comments about state-recognized civil unions and gay rights on NBC's Meet the Press have disqualified "him as a pro-family leader."

LaBarbera, who is the founder of the website Republicans for Family Values, wrote: "Laws that treat homosexuality as a civil right are being used to promote homosexual 'marriage,' same-sex adoption, and pro-homosexuality indoctrination of schoolchildren. These same laws pose a direct threat to the freedom of faith-minded citizens and organizations to act on their religious belief that homosexual behavior is wrong. Continue.

The Crisis of Faith

Mitt Romney obviously felt he had no choice but to give a speech yesterday on his Mormon faith. Even by the low standards of this campaign, it was a distressing moment and just what the nation’s founders wanted to head off with the immortal words of the First Amendment: A presidential candidate cowed into defending his way of worshiping God by a powerful minority determined to impose its religious tenets as a test for holding public office.

Mr. Romney spoke with an evident passion about the hunger for religious freedom that defined the birth of the nation. He said several times that his faith informs his life, but he would not impose it on the Oval Office.

Still, there was no escaping the reality of the moment. Mr. Romney was not there to defend freedom of religion, or to champion the indisputable notion that belief in God and religious observance are longstanding parts of American life. He was trying to persuade Christian fundamentalists in the Republican Party, who do want to impose their faith on the Oval Office, that he is sufficiently Christian for them to support his bid for the Republican nomination. No matter how dignified he looked, and how many times he quoted the founding fathers, he could not disguise that sad fact. Continue.

Romney Gets Major Backer on the Right

Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign announced yesterday an endorsement from the man whom some consider the father of the religious right, Paul M. Weyrich, chairman of the Free Congress Foundation and a founder of the Moral Majority.

Mr. Weyrich, who also founded the Heritage Foundation, had been critical of talk this year among Christian conservative leaders about possibly bolting the Republican Party and backing a third-party candidate if Rudolph W. Giuliani, a supporter of abortion rights, is the nominee. Continue.

The Romney difference

Paul Weyrich, Editorial, The Washington Times via WideAwakes.net, November 16, 2007

Why did I endorse Gov. Mitt Romney for president of the United States? Let me count the ways. But first let me comment on the Mormon question. Nearly every critical message against my endorsement used the governor's Mormon religion as the reason I should not have done so. If we were endorsing Mr. Romney for head of the Southern Baptist Convention, or in my case as head of the synod of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, the objections of these Evangelical Christians would be wholly appropriate. But we are not.

The issue here is simply this: Is Mr. Romney competent to be president of this great country? Indeed he is. Mr. Romney has the experience, vision and values to be president. He has spent most of his career in the private sector turning around companies and the 2002 Winter Olympics. He has actually met payrolls. How many of the other candidates running can match that? And, he successfully ran a very liberal state for four years by governing as a conservative.

And while I very much disagree with the theology of the Mormon Church, its principles have given him the ethical standards needed for an American president. Can anyone point to scandals connected with the governor? Continue.

Romney wins backing from Paul Weyrich

Paul M. Weyrich, considered by many to be the father of the modern religious conservative movement, yesterday became the latest in a string of prominent conservative leaders to endorse Mitt Romney for president.

Weyrich's support could help Romney make further inroads with evangelical Christian leaders who consider his Mormon faith heretical, and could also aid Romney in blunting the surging candidacy of Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist preacher who is an ally of the causes that are dear to Weyrich. Continue.

Romney’s Faith, Eyed Warily by Religious Right, Wins Him Sympathy From Jewish Republicans

Washington - As a diehard Republican who lived in Los Angeles County for more than two decades, Jonathan Lange is accustomed to defending politicians he favors against attacks from the left. But in the course of recent discussions about Mitt Romney, the 45-year-old businessman admits he has also grown plenty alarmed by the views of the Christian right.

“It bothers me as a Jew that so many people allegedly, or so the story goes, won’t support a Mormon,” Lange said last week at a presidential forum hosted by the Republican Jewish Coalition in Washington. His sympathy for Romney was echoed throughout the event, and while Rudy Giuliani may have received the lion’s share of the attention, many attendees said they wanted to learn more about Romney, a challenger with a record of success in business, a Harvard pedigree and, like them, the problem of having to explain one’s religion.

As the former Massachusetts governor continues his quest to win over Christian conservatives deeply suspicious of his Mormon faith, Jewish Republicans are sounding a note of tolerance within the GOP. Many long ago came to view their party’s Evangelical wing as a close ally in the fight to protect Israel. At the same time, though, some Jewish Republicans say they would be uneasy if Romney fails with the party’s base solely because of misgivings about his faith. Continue.

Dallas minister: Vote for a Christian, not Mitt Romney

Mormon candidate is winning over many religious conservatives

A prominent Dallas minister told his congregation that if they wanted to elect a Christian to the White House, Republican Mitt Romney wasn't qualified.

Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, said Mormonism is a false religion and that Mr. Romney was not a Christian.

"Mitt Romney is a Mormon, and don't let anybody tell you otherwise," Dr. Jeffress said in a sermon on Sept. 30. "Even though he talks about Jesus as his Lord and savior, he is not a Christian. Mormonism is not Christianity. Mormonism is a cult." Continue.

Romney Preaches to the Christian Right

In a Conservative Crowd, Candidate Talks About Marriage, Child-Rearing

Virginia Beach, May 5 -- Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney (R) did not discuss his Mormon faith as he continued his outreach Saturday to conservative Christians in a graduation speech at Regent University, the school founded by televangelist Pat Robertson.

Instead, Romney, who is intensely courting this key segment of the Republican base in hopes of winning the party's 2008 presidential nomination, expounded on conservative themes such as the importance of child-rearing and marriage and the presence of evil in the world.

"There is no work more important to America's future than the work that is done within the four walls of the American home," Romney said. He also criticized people who choose not to get married because they enjoy the single life. Continue.

Christian Coalition officer backs Romney

A Christian Coalition of America officer who ran a successful campaign to ban same-sex marriage in South Carolina said Thursday he is endorsing Republican Mitt Romney's presidential bid and will work for the campaign.

Drew McKissick, the national coalition's secretary and board member, will be a paid ''South Carolina grassroots adviser'' for the campaign, Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said Thursday. Continue.

Romney faulted for not defending general's comments on homosexuality

A former Republican presidential candidate says former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney has hurt his run for the White House by not supporting America's top general over remarks the military leader made that homosexual acts are "immoral."

Governor Romney told CNN's Larry King that the condemnation of homosexuality by Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman General Peter Pace was "inappropriate for the public discourse." Romney went on to say "in a governmental setting, the right way to go is to show more of an outpouring of tolerance."

Gary Bauer, who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2000, says Romney's decision not to back Pace was "a mistake" that will probably come back to bite him. Continue

McCain, Romney Vying for Support Of Conservatives

DNC: With Conservatives Rejecting His Smooth Talk, What Will Romney Tell Religious Broadcasters Now?

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following release was issued today by the Democratic National Committee:

Days after announcing that Mitt Romney will try to smooth talk graduating students in a commencement address at Pat Robertson's Regent University, Romney is heading to Florida to drop by the National Religious Broadcasters convention in Orlando. The move is part of Romney's unrelenting campaign to charm Republican primary voters into ignoring his real record. So far, it has been a bumpy road for Romney's smooth talking ways. Continue.

Faith Could Be Hurdle in Romney's White House Bid

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney has long believed that religious faith is important for presidential candidates.

"People in this country want a person of faith to lead them as their…president," Romney said on Fox News Sunday last year. But he bristles when his particular faith attracts attention, as it did in 1994, when he tried to unseat Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy. Continue.

What Evangelical Problem?

Some of the biggest power brokers of the Christian right are lovin' Mitt.

Just a few months ago, word on the street was that Mitt Romney had an "evangelical problem." His quest for the Republican presidential nomination was dead on arrival, the thinking went, because the Christian right -- essential to putting him in the White House -- wouldn't endorse a Mormon. Then, as he began to emerge as a serious contender for the hearts and minds of the true believers, Romney got hammered for his flip-flop on abortion and metamorphosis from a left-of-Ted Kennedy gay-rights advocate to the only governor in American history to compare his own state unfavorably to Sodom.

But none of this has stopped some of the Christian right's most influential power brokers from offering endorsements and strategic help, signaling that Romney is doing more than pandering on abortion and gay marriage. He’s on board to change the courts and their interpretation of the Constitution. Continue.

Brownback Questions Romney's Conservative Credentials

Thompson backs state bans on same-sex marriage

Hollywood, Fla. — Cautioning against a federal solution to the controversy over gay marriage, Republican presidential candidate Fred Thompson on Friday applauded a Florida group for "taking care of business at home" by seeking a statewide ban on same-sex marriages.

Thompson, who along with other GOP hopefuls has aggressively courted social conservatives before Florida's Jan. 29 primary, spoke to a Florida Family Policy Council dinner audience of more than 300.

The group is trying to get a referendum on the 2008 Florida ballot defining marriage as a union between a man and a woman and forbidding recognition of any other type of union "that is treated as marriage or the substantial equivalent thereof." Continue.

Evangelicals turn on Thompson

Thompson's refusal to back a nationwide ban on gay marriage has irritated potential supporters.

Fred Thompson is failing to meet expectations that he would rally widespread support from Christian conservatives, and he almost certainly will not receive a joint endorsement from the loose coalition of "pro-family" organizations, according to leaders of the movement.

Many religious conservatives, faced with a Republican primary top tier that lacked a true kindred spirit, initially looked to Thompson as a savior. But the former Tennessee senator has disappointed or just not sufficiently impressed the faith community since his formal campaign launch earlier this month.

While Christian conservatives once seemed willing to readily give Thompson the benefit of the doubt earlier this summer, when questions were raised about his lobbying for a pro-abortion-rights group, they are not willing to turn the other cheek anymore. Continue.

FOF Leader: Thompson Not Anti-Gay Enough

Thompson Scoffs At Anti-Gay Leader's Criticism

Evangelicals hesitant about Thompson's stance on social issues

Prominent evangelical leaders who spent the summer hoping Fred Thompson would emerge as their favored Republican presidential contender are having doubts as he begins his long-teased campaign.

For social conservatives dissatisfied with other GOP choices, the Law & Order actor and former Tennessee senator represents a Ronald Reagan–like figure, someone they hope will agree with them on issues and stands a chance of winning.

But Thompson's less-than-clear stance on an antigay federal marriage amendment and his delay in entering the race are partly responsible for a sudden shyness among leading evangelicals. Continue.

Fred Thompson Declares Pro-life Stance Before National Right to Life Committee

NewsMax report questions Thompson's pro-life convictions

Kansas City, June 19, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Although Fred Thompson is not officially in the running as a GOP presidential candidate, the veteran politician and actor to all outward appearances is in the campaign as much as any of the other Republican hopefuls; and, like many of the others, Thompson has begun courting the religious and pro-life right, touting his solidly pro-life voting record.

Earlier this week Thompson sent a video to the National Right to Life Committee. In the video former Senator Thompson is found standing in his garden outside his house, where he first introduces his wife and children. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there with you," he says, "but I appreciate you letting us be with you anyway, and I especially appreciate what you're doing."

"When I was in the Senate a lot of people would come to see me and it usually would have to do with business matters or financial matters, or something pertaining to their financial welfare. When you came to see me," Thompson said to the crowd of pro-life activists, "I always knew it was about something much more important than that, the most important thing of all in this world, and that is life." Continue.

Dobson Offers Insight on 2008 Republican Hopefuls

Focus on Family Founder Snubs Thompson, Praises Gingrich

"We use that word—Christian—to refer to people who are evangelical Christians," Schneeberger added. Continue.