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.

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.

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 at the right to listen to the conference, or, if you can't see the player, please click here.

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

[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

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.

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.

God, Back On The Trail

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

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.

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'

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.

Vision America 2007 Gala

Celebrating a Decade

I am writing you to expressly say thank you for being such a faithful and kind friend to my wife and me and the work of Vision America. It's hard to believe, but on September 22 we will be conducting the 10th annual Vision America Gala at the Westin Galleria Hotel in Houston, Texas. We are planning a great celebration both looking back and looking forward as God continues to move Vision America to the forefront of the battle for our deeply held beliefs and values in the public arena. 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 ta