When it comes to this presidential race, it's almost stunning how many Christian voters have got their wires crossed. It seems as though they're dead set on rabidly attacking the very candidates who might do this nation good while shamelessly supporting those who would turn America on its head.

In Ann Coulter's latest column, she noted her belief that Mike Huckabee's astounding conquest of the national polls is due largely to the attention the liberal media assigns him: 

"As far as I can tell" she said, "it's mostly secular liberals swooning over Huckabee. Liberals adore Huckabee because he fits their image of what an evangelical should be: stupid and easily led."

I beg to differ, Ann. What makes you think Huckabee doesn't have much support among evangelicals? His soaring poll numbers perhaps? Do you honestly think it's the liberal voters who've helped him rise to number one in Iowa? Because that doesn't seem very likely to me. 

Over the past several weeks, I've spoken with fellow Christians in Bible study groups, at church, among my friends, on the internet and at Christmas parties who all seem to have fallen for Mike Huckabee. None of them are the slightest bit liberal (which hardly comports with Huck's demonstrated policies), and they're generally smart people. But not one of them has been able to clearly explain for me why they're so in love with the former Arkansas Governor.

And so I was at a loss. 

That is until last night, when I spoke extensively with the author of a popular Bible Study curriculum who has chosen to back the Huckster. After almost an hour of trying to convince him of how silly it is to reject Mitt Romney based solely on the the poor man's religion (which I'll discuss more in a moment), I asked why he had come to his decision to support Huckabee. 

Essentially, his answer was this: that he would be willing to abandon every core principal of the Republican Party and of conservative government in general simply to elect an "Evangelical Christian" to office. 

"Umm...excuse me?" was more or less my reply.

I don't care if Huckabee is heir to the Apostle Paul. His fiscal and criminal policies ALONE should be more than enough to convince Republicans that he is thoroughly unfit for office. His wanton pardoning and commuting of hundreds of dangerous felons for instance, disturbing propensity for signing tax-hikes and irksome foreign policy views convinced me not to support him long before I discovered his glaring lack of social conservatism. But this also deserves some serious attention, especially among those who have naively settled on Huckabee as the "moral candidate."

Consider for instance, his support for the Supreme Court decision in the 2003 case Lawrence v. Texas, which concluded that the government has no place regulating the sex lives of consenting adults, including homosexuals.

"[The majority decision] probably was right." said Huckabee, as reported in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette under the headline, "Huckabee Says Sex Lives of Adults not State Affair."

Now, I realize that many legal conservatives agree with the court's decision to keep the government out of citizens' private lives. And yes, I can see where Huckabee is coming from on this issue. It shocks me however, that he is still characterized among Christian voters as a "social conservative." Leaders of the movement like Dr. James Dobson and the late Reverend Jerry Falwell have adamantly denounced judicial decisions such as Lawrence. So why do Christians continue to flock toward Mike's campaign? 

As if that shouldn't be enough to convince evangelicals that Huckabee isn't who they think he is, the man also refuses to stand on the authority of scripture on a number of key issues. Perhaps the most significant was his vague assessment of the clear, six-day Genesis Creation Week during one of the most recent Republican Debates:


Wolf Blitzer: "Governor Huckabee, during a previous debate, you and two of your colleagues indicated that you do not believe in evolution. You're an ordained minister. What do you believe is the story of creation as it is reported...in the Bible?"

Mike Huckabee: "In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. To me it's pretty simple. A person either believes that God created this process, or believes that it was an accident. And the basic question was an unfair question because it simply asks us in a simplistic manner whether or not we believe...there's a God...Well let me be very clear. I believe there is a God. I believe there's a God who's active in the creation process. Now how did He do it and when did He do it and how long did he take? I don't honestly know. And I don't think knowing that would make me a better or a worse president. But I'll tell you what I can tell this country: if they want a president who doesn't believe in God, there's probably plenty of choices. But if I'm selected as President of this country, they'll have one who believes in those words--that God did create."

Wolf Blitzer: "Governor Huckabee, the specific question was: "do you believe literally that it was done in six days and that it was six thousand years ago?" 

Mike Huckabee: "I did answer that Wolf. I said I don't know. My point is I don't know, I wasn't there. But I believe that whether God did it in six days, or whether he did it in six days that represented periods of time, He did it. That's what's important." 

At first glance it seems that Huckabee has just made a heroic stand on the authority of God's Word. Indeed, many of my friends and even family members came to that very conclusion after watching the debate. Unfortunately however, that's just not the case. If you look at the verses which follow Genesis 1:1 (verses which Pastor Huckabee has no doubt read countless times), you will see an interesting trend:

Genesis 1:5: "And the evening and the morning were the first day."
Genesis 1:8: "And the evening and the morning were the second day."
Genesis 1:13: "And the evening and the morning were the third day." 
Genesis 1:19: "And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." 
Genesis 1:23: "And the evening and the morning were the fifth day." 
Genesis 1:31: "And the evening and the morning were the sixth day." 

You almost expect a partridge in a pear tree at the end there, don't you?

But as if that's not clear enough, God seems to have dropped other subtle hints all throughout Scripture: 

Exodus 20:11: "For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day."

Exodus 31:17: "It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested." 

Now I want you to think carefully about what Huckabee said during the debate, because I don't think he did:

"...how did [God] do it and when did He do it and how long did He take? I don't honestly know."


Yeah. Way to stick up for the Bible there, Reverend. 

Okay, so we've established the fact that Huckabee's sole claim to fame among Christian Right-Wingers is his opposition to abortion. He obviously doesn't have a major problem with homosexual rights, lousy immigration policies (see my last post), or releasing droves of mentally unstable killers on society. Heck, he's even open to re-interpreting Genesis to include the billions of years of Darwinian evolution. 

So tell me again. Why does he have more evangelical votes than all other candidates combined?

Remember, we're talking about someone who is quite possibly the most liberal of all the Republican candidates to date. This is the man who called the Bush Administration's terrific stance against terrorism an "arrogant bunker mentality." (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice did an excellent job of putting the Huckster in his place by the way. You can read about it here.) This is the man who thinks the situation with Iran is comparable to sibling rivalry. And this is the man who ran such a liberal government  in Arkansas that he prompted this rather amusing comment from the Wall Street Journal: 

"Some say Mr. Huckabee is the tribune of the 'religious left,' and that strikes us as about right. He exhibits protectionist instincts, distancing himself from Nafta and says he would insist on penalties and barriers to countries that don't support his conception of "fair trade." He delivers populist sermons against income inequality, but in favor of farm subsidies and an expanded government role in health care. He regularly knocks Wall Street, and he borrows from the Democratic playbook with digs at 'the rich.'"

Clearly, there's very little if any reason for Evangelicals, Christians or even conservatives for that matter to choose Mike Huckabee as their candidate. And yet they have largely done so. Pastors, churchgoers, Focus on the Family constituents and 'born-again believers' nationwide are falling head over heels for this fraud. You'd think they'd have learned their lesson with Jimmy Carter, but it seems not. If this is some sort of political joke, I think I missed the punch line.



But what am I complaining about? It's guys like former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney who get the raw end of this deal. As I mentioned earlier, I spent a considerable amount of time last night defending Romney against a rather determined 'evangelical' author who claimed I was Biblically wrong for actually considering him a viable candidate. I'll give you one guess why.

BINGO! Mormonism.
 
I had assumed this issue had finally been put to rest after Romney's recent historical speech on politics and religion, but I guess not. It seems there's still a disgruntled remnant out there who thinks it's okay to boycott the man simply because his branch of Christianity takes a slightly different view from their own. 

Remember, we're not talking about some dangerous, satanic cult whose members bite off the heads of bats and commit human sacrifice (like the Ozzy Ozborne fanclub). Mormons are some of the most peaceable, law-abiding and conservative citizens in our nation. Maybe they're going to Heaven, maybe they're not. It all depends on their view of the person of Jesus Christ, and I'm in no place to make a judgement like that. 

The point is that Mormonism, in almost every area, concurs with mainstream Christianity. As a result, politicians like Mitt Romney have proven themselves to be men of tremendous integrity and wisdom. If there's a problem with electing someone like this to public office, then please enlighten me, because I can't see it. 

"These American values, this great moral heritage, is shared and lived in my religion as it is in yours. I was taught in my home to honor God and love my neighbor. I saw my father march with Martin Luther King. I saw my parents provide compassionate care to others, in personal ways to people nearby, and in just as consequential ways in leading national volunteer movements. I am moved by the Lord's words: 'For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me.' My faith is grounded on these truths. You can witness them in Ann and my marriage and in our family. We are a long way from perfect and we have surely stumbled along the way, but our aspirations, our values, are the self-same as those from the other faiths that stand upon this common foundation. And these convictions will indeed inform my presidency."

Mitt Romney is not my first choice for president of the United States. I simply don't see him as the ideal leader for our nation. But I have other, more legitimate reasons for believing this besides an irrational case of 'Mormophobia.' 

But last night, things weren't so simple. After I successfully exposed Mike Huckabee for the liberal he is and detailed the extensive conservatism of Mitt Romney, I found myself facing a barrage of Old Testament Scripture from the gentleman with whom I was speaking. Apparently there are lists found in Exodus 18 and Deuteronomy 1 which detail the criteria every civil magistrate in the fledgling nation of Israel was required to uphold. As far as I could tell, there are five basic prerequisites found therein: Impartiality, fearlessness, representation of the people before God, honesty and fear of the Lord.
 
Besides the apparent contradiction between numbers two and five, this seemed like a pretty decent list to me. The problem I quickly pointed out however, is that the United States is NOT Ancient Israel. Right off the bat, we've got the issue of a leader being a "representative of the people before God." That's all well and good for a Hebrew Nation led by Moses in an era when Jehovah seemed to drop by for a chat every few days. But 21st Century America? I don't think so. So with the exception of numbers three and five, the entire passage is simply a subjective laundry list of random, albeit important qualities. But that's kind of why we hold elections. 

The problem my friend from last night raised was based solely on criterion number five: fear of the Lord. He argued that, because Mormonism is a 'cult,' Mitt Romney does not "fear the Lord."   

Okay. 

"We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders – in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'"

--Mitt Romney

I'm sorry. But if that's not a healthy respect for the Almighty, I don't know what is. And keep in mind that we're not talking about some pagan moon-god here. When Mitt Romney refers to 'God,' he's talking about the God of the Bible who created the world, judged with a flood, brought the Children of Israel out of Egypt, and offered his only Son as a vicarious atonement for the sins of mankind.

Whether or not Romney's Mormon faith reconciles his soul to that God is really none of my concern. What I'm looking for are values. And so far, Mitt Romney has demonstrated an array nearly identical to my own and the Christian Conservative Community (CCC) at large.  Mike Huckabee has not.
 
Ultimately, our conversation came down to a single question: would you or would you not vote for a presidential candidate whose religion--but not values--differs from your own? My reply was a resounding YES. My newfound confidant however, refused to answer.

Nevertheless, he continues to support Huckabee...for reasons only God knows.