By Steve Strang, founder and publisher of Charisma magazine and a supporter of Mike Huckabee for president
As a Christian, my faith is the most important thing in my life. It defines where I work, the friends I have, who I married and the values I cherish.
I'm pro-life not because it’s a nice public policy to support but because my Christian faith says all innocent life should be protected. I support traditional marriage not because I happen to be heterosexual but because the Bible teaches that marriage is designed by God to be a lifelong union between a man and woman.
My faith forms my total outlook on life. So when it comes to deciding what political candidates to back, my faith enters my decision-making process. And why not? Faith colors everything else in my life.
Yet with the constant drumbeat of secularism emphasizing separation of church and state, somehow it seems out of bounds to let one’s faith determine how he'll vote.
Yet people vote for all sorts of reasons—some important, some silly.Sometimes voters simply rely on a “gut feeling” that the candidate is the best choice. Sometimes it’s for pragmatic reasons—they accept a candidate who barely matches their values because the one who does match their values seems like a long shot to win.
Others may choose because they think a candidate is more intelligent or more experienced. Those qualities are important. I want elected officials who have the intelligence and skills to handle the job. That's just common sense.
But what good is intelligence or experience if the candidate has no moral values? I believe values affect everything else about a candidate. I want an intelligent candidate with unwavering core values—a candidate who does not change his or her morality because of politics.
Values form the basis for the policies that a candidate will support in office. Values steer what political appointments are made or how decisions are reached.
So I look for my values in the candidates I support, whether they are running in local, state, or national elections. Often, no candidate matches what I would like to see in a leader. In that case I look to see if his or her values are more or less in line with mine based on their statements or policies.
Sometimes I don't like either candidate, and I must settle for the “lesser of two evils.” But if I find a candidate whose values are like mine and to whom faith is an integral part of his value system, I get excited and support that candidate enthusiastically—as I have former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in this year's Republican presidential primaries.
I love what Huckabee says: “Faith doesn't just influence me, it really defines me. I don't have to wake up every morning wondering what I need to believe.”
I don’t support Huckabee because of his denominational background. He's a Southern Baptist and I'm a Pentecostal. Both Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were Southern Baptists like Huckabee, and I didn't support them. While I hope both of those men are sincere believers, their faith doesn't seem to affect their policies—especially when it comes to the sanctity of life, which I consider the bedrock issue. How we chose to value life as a culture defines everything else about us.
I can support a man who believes what Jesus Christ taught: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” (Matthew 7:12). I can support a leader whose policies while he was governor helped the poor while maintaining fiscal responsibility. Huckabee served tens of thousands of Hurricane Katrina refugees who fled to Arkansas for help. His ARKids First program provided health insurance to children of underprivileged Arkansas families. Yet Huckabee also turned a $250 million deficit into an $800 million surplus during his Little Rock years.
There are many people who share my faith and values, but I would never support them for public office if they aren't qualified. Yet Huckabee is not simply a member of my evangelical culture. He has also gained the important executive experience necessary to govern skillfully, handle any crisis and solve huge problems as governor of Arkansas for 10 years.
I have never believed in a candidate more strongly that I believe in Mike Huckabee. I am impressed by the way his faith affects his policies. While that quality doesn't appeal to many--especially not to secularists, who seem wary of anyone with firm values based on faith-- it makes Huckabee appealing to millions like me. The “Hucka-surge” we've seen in recent weeks wasn't caused by the entrenched power structure. It came from the grassroots.
I'm encouraged that Huckabee may actually win the GOP nomination and be elected. But if nothing else, his candidacy and the recent surge has let party leaders and the media know that there are millions of Americans just like me who won't support someone just because they have raised a lot of money or are backed by the party or media elites or even that they appear "electable."
We won’t even back someone just because of religion. That’s because religion alone isn’t the issue—it’s the candidate’s value system, which arises out of his or her religious faith.
An award-winning journalist and entrepreneur, Steve Strang was named in 2005 by TIME magazine as one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America.
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Diana Butler Bass is a religion scholar and author of Christianity for the Rest of Us: How the Neighborhood Church is Transforming the Faith. She blogs at 
Tony Campolo is Professor Emeritus at Eastern University and author of The God of Intimacy and Action: Reconnecting Ancient Spiritual Practices, Evangelism, and Justice, with Mary Darling. He blogs at 
Rod Dreher is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News and author of Crunchy Cons: The New Conservative Counterculture and Its Return to Roots. He blogs at 
Bruce Feiler is the author of seven books, including Walking the Bible: A Journey by Land Through the Five Books of Moses. He blogs at 
Dan Gilgoff is Politics Editor at Beliefnet and author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War. He blogs at 
David Kuo served as a special assistant to President George W. Bush and is the author of Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction. He blogs at 
Dr. Richard Land is president of The Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and author of The Divided States of America? What Liberals AND Conservatives are missing in the God-and-country shouting match!
Michele McGinty is a mom and a student at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. She blogs at 
Brian McLaren is a pastor, musician, and author of Everything Must Change: Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope. He blogs at 
Steven Waldman is co-founder, CEO, and Editor-in-Chief of Beliefnet. His book Founding Faith will be published in March, and he can be reached through 
Jim Wallis is executive director of Sojourners/Call to Renewal and author of God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It. He blogs at
Quite wrong, Steve.
"You say there is no religious test."
No, the Constitution says it. I just happen to believe it.
"That is for the government saying that ONLY members of some religion can hold office."
That sounds like the Republican party that's saying that. As in, Romney's not "Christian" enough. Doesn't bode well for the Sikh candidates. (Oops, there aren't any. Doesn't bode well for the Hindu candidates. (Oops, there aren't any.) doesn't bode well for the Buddhist candidates. (Oops, there aren't any.) Ah, but a Baptist preacher - that's "just right" - the goldilocks mentality.
Are you catching on yet?
"That's what was happening back in the colonies where ONLY members of certain groups could hold office."
Seems to be EXACTLY what's happening right now in the Republican party. (See above paragraphs.)
"There is no such test, thankfully."
I think Mr. Romney might disagree. I certainly do - bewcause of what I see every night on TV, read every day in the newspapers and on the Internet (and most specifically on THIS website! - heck there's even a daily 'How do the candidates rate on the closest-to-God scale?").
"Space limitations kept me from making that point in my essay."
Space or no space, ALL we hear about is how "Christian" (and absolutely NO other faith need bother applying thenk yew veddy much) a candidate is.
You are simply wrong - there IS such a test and B'net and CNN, etc. enforce it (as in asking a candidate if they believe every word of The Holy Bible [TM] - can you fathom how that question would go over with a Buddhist candidate? What on earth is relevant to a candidate's ability to run a country?).
"But as an American citizen I have the right to evaluate any political candidate through the filter of what I believe is right."
When you speak as an individual, I agree. But by making it a blanket 'qualification' question/statement, you have imposed that test on any/all candidates.
"I seem to hear some anti-Christian bigotry in a few of the comments that comes out in the form of opposing Huckabee just because he's a Christian."
We don't oppose him JUST because he's a "Christian" (quote marks because I do not believe he follows the "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" tenet which is the basic Christian tenet - he wants to quarantine people with AIDS, remember?), we oppose him because he is an intellectual lightweight with little to NO foreign policy experience (or fp smarts, for that matter), because he's soft on crime, because he, himself, imposes his own religious test against his opponent (Mormons aren't "Christian" ENOUGH - this implies one MUST be Christian to hold public office in America - no, make that one must be a "good" Christian, you know, 'like Huck is' [NOT]), not to mention a bit of a ninny with a puerile sense of humour.
Has anyone taken a look lately at the WAR we are involved in? Has anyone noticed that it is a war between Christians and Extremest Islams. We are fighting a religious War weather we like it or not. It has been declared on us by extremest and as in the past history of this same kind of war, the extremest Islamics will not quit until they feel they have won and in this case that means the burning of the White House and the destruction of Christian way of life. Oh and don't think that because your not Christian that you won't be affected by this war. Extremest hate anyone who is not Islam.
It just may take a President with Christian morals to lead us out of this war as it has done in past history. That being said, Mr. Huckabee Will get my vote not based on his religion but on His character that his religion has shaped.
Perhaps I read it wrong but your article seems to be implying that Huckabee is the best candidate because Mitt Romney does not share the same "moral values" that you listed. - "What good is intelligence or experience if a candidate has no moral values?"
I just wanted to make some clarifications about Mormons in general. Mormons believe the Bible to be the word of God. They believe that Jesus Christ is their personal Savior and Redeemer. Mormons, like members of other Christian denominations, also try to pattern their lives after the teachings of Jesus Christ and to do good unto others. Mormons do not support abortion and share strong "family values." Just because a candidate is not an evangelical Christian does not mean that they have "no moral values."
As a practicing Mormon I attend church every Sunday. I freely volunteer not only in my congregation (Mormon congregations are run by members, completely unpaid clergy) but also in my community - currently as a school volunteer and by bringing in meals to the elderly once a week. I am the happily married mother of four children. I vote and am concerned about the general moral degredation that seems to be taking place in some segments of our society. I worked hard to get a good education and received a bachelor's degree in English teaching and attended law school. Over the course of my life I have had good Christian, Jewish and Muslim friends and acquaintances and I do not make snide or unkind remarks about their religious beliefs because I highly respect them as children of God, my brothers and sisters. Mormons are encouraged by their religious leaders to be tolerant and to look for the good in all people. Mormons are extremely supportive of religious freedom and also of the entire system of government enumerated in the Constitution of the United States.
I fail to see how a Mormon has any less "moral values" than a candidate of another faith.
Sincerely,
Elise Ellsworth
Recovering Ex-Pentecostal,
There are hundreds of millions of Christians in this country. Do you really think that those hundreds of millions of people are going to disregard the faith of the leader of their country? People of any faith have just as much of a right to run for president of this nation, they just haven't. Is that our fault for not voting on a candidate belonging to the Buddhism or Hindu religion, (or whatever over faith is out there)? Nope, sure isn't.
No, this country, no matter how much you'd like to deny it, was technically founded on Christian morals. We're a young country, Mr. Pentecostal, and it's going to take a few more centuries before we disengage our spiritual preferences.
As for everyone making a big deal about his AIDS comment. People, that was 16 years ago. The research completed at that time was not nearly what we've discovered about AIDS now. We didn't know too much about it at that time, and even Huckabee said that himself. Here, if you don't believe me, read the The Associated Press said about it:
"Huckabee acknowledged the prevailing scientific view then, and since, that the virus that causes AIDS is not spread through casual contact, but said that was not certain. He cited revelations in 1991 that a dentist had infected a patient in an extraordinary case that highlighted the risk of infection through contact with blood or bodily fluids.
...He said he would state his view differently in retrospect.
...It is the first time in the history of civilization in which the carriers of a genuine plague have not been isolated from the general population, and in which this deadly disease for which there is no cure is being treated as a civil rights issue instead of the true health crisis it represents," he said then.
..."I didn't say we should quarantine," he said. The idea was not to "lock people up."
I'm also curious to know why you think he's an intellectual lightweight? Is that because he's a Southern Baptist preacher from nowhere-ville? Oh yeah, he must be a moron then. Great observation...or as you say, (NOT).
Dan, I like that you're for Huck, but I disagree with your view on this war. I don't see this as a religious war. We happen to be on opposing sides with different religions, but it doesn't make it a religious war, per se. If the Islamic extremists are considering this religious, then they have all the right in the world to think that, it's their right. Americans just want peace, not to convert them all to Christianity.
There is a candidate that, possibly like no other in our lifetimes,
stands for Christian values, but adheres strictly to the Constitution, as Our Founders intended. Watch this short clip about who I feel, we as Christians should really get behind. He doesn't just play lip service to the constitution, his voting record over the last 20 years in Congress is the most conservative of any member. Returning to the constitution and rule of law and giving the authority the courts have given to the federal
government back to the states, is the only real chance Roe vs. Wade will be overturned. Take a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CLsPeR1Zpc
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