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.

Obama Made Gains Among Younger Evangelical Voters, Data Show

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

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

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

How the Faithful Voted

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

Dobson claims Obama election sets pro-lifers back severely

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

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

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

Obama election shows deep racial divide in church

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

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

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

Palin, Again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obama gains historic win; conservatives watch and wait

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

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

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

Obama shifted some church voters

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obama: Bringing (Some) Evangelicals In

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

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

Opinion: Evangelicals and the Obama era

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

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

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

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

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

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

Obama Won’t Have 60 Senators to Back Him Up

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

Evangelicals responsible for Obama victory

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

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

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

Church Reaction to Obama Election

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

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

Christians Respond to Obama as President

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

Dobson Admits to Struggling after Election

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

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

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

Hand of God Has Been Removed

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

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

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

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

by JewsOnFirst.org, May 29, 2007

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

Gary Bauer tells BBC television that Obama has suspect Muslim background

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

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

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

By JewsOnFirst.org, January 27, 2008

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

Vendors asked to leave Values Voter Summit

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

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

9 Jewish Leaders Say E-Mail Spread Lies About Obama

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

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

Smearing Barack Obama

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

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

Richard Cizik: Evangelical Requests to Meet With McCain Unanswered

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

Evangelical leader smacks McCain for lack of "principle"

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

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

McCain Gets Praise, Not Backing, From Grahams

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

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

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

The Reverend McCain

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

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

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

John McCain's Ohio disconnect

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

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

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

McCain's Evangelical Problem

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

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

In Rebuking Minister, McCain May Have Alienated Evangelicals

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

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

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

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

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

Parsing Parsley

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

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

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

McCain Campaign Reaching Out to Religious Leaders

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

McCain, Huckabee and the Evangelicals

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

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

'Obama Knows Best'

Elitism Threatens Parental Rights

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

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

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

McCain Pushes Priorities That Resonate on the Right

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

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

Vital campaign topic: Judicial nominees

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

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

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

McCain's faith, pastor hard to pigeonhole

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

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

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

McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam

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

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

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

McCain’s Critics on Right Look Again

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

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

God and John McCain

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

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

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

McCain taps South Carolina pastors, pols to reach Christian conservatives

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

Fired McCain Campaign Aides Sound Off

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

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

McCain, Romney Vying for Support Of Conservatives

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

McCain To Deliver Keynote Speech For Creationists

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

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

John McCain's Personal Christian Nationalist

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

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

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

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

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

McCain recruits social conservative operative

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

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

McCain's position on marriage amendment tough to label

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

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

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

Dobson says 'no way' to McCain candidacy

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

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

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

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

Too much focus on religion in this election season

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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