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LYNCHBURG, Va. — Evangelical leaders praised Mitt Romney’s speech today at Liberty University, saying that the Mormon candidate was right to acknowledge his religious differences with other Christian voters. “It was an acknowledgment that the issues that social conservatives and evangelicals care about are important issues to Gov. Romney and as he sees them [as] part of a successful economic platform for the country,” said Family Research Council President Tony Perkins. Perkins added that there wasn’t anything the presumptive GOP presidential nominee — who many evangelical voters regarded with skepticism during the primary while backing Rick Santorum — should have...

The conventional wisdom about Mitt Romney’s vice-presidential short list, according to a handful of Romney insiders, may be wrong. Instead of picking a straitlaced Midwestern senator such as Ohio’s Rob Portman, or an outspoken northeastern Republican governor such as Chris Christie, there is a chance Romney will tap an evangelical from the South. And the name on the lips of Romney friends and supporters isn’t a rising southern senator or a current Dixie governor. He has been out of office for five years, resides on a beach in the Florida panhandle, and hosts a television show. In other words, Mike...

Mitt Romney and the Republican Party's sizable bloc of evangelical voters are about to engage in a marriage of political convenience. The presumptive GOP presidential nominee's march to the nomination proceeded largely without strong backing from the conservative Christian community. But with Romney now the only hope that conservatives have to beat President Barack Obama in November, a partnership has begun to jell. Gary Rose, the chairman of the politics and government department at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., agreed. "Santorum was their guy, but more important is their agenda of dislodging Obama," he said. "I don't believe they'll...

It's often taken for granted that Christian conservatives' uneasiness with Mormonism best explains why Mitt Romney has struggled to win-over those voters. In Inside the Circus, a new e-book about the 2012 campaign by Politico's Mike Allen and Evan Thomas, the Romney campaign is depicted as so consumed with worry that the candidate's faith would hurt him with the evangelicals that dominated the Iowa caucuses that it failed to anticipate Rick Santorum's rise. "Part of the reason for the ceiling [of support], quite frankly, is the Mormon thing," a Romney aide told the authors. "If he was even an Episcopalian,...

As the nation faces a crucial election in a little over six months, the Republican Party appears to be caving in on a social issue that many conservatives consider of major import: same-sex marriage. What the GOP felt strongly enough about some 16 years ago to lead the fight for passage of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), many members are beginning to consider an issue open to compromise. Not only do many Republican House and Senate members consider “gay” marriage a “dead issue,” according to Politico.com, but Republican leadership has “evolved” to the point that it has quietly...

Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum has the media pulling their hair out. And that is no surprise. Rick represents old fashioned American politics that is 180 degrees away from the anything-goes, high-tax, high-spend, blame-Christians philosophy that they support. But there is one story they don't want to tell. And that is how Evangelical Christians are happily supporting Mr. Santorum, because they feel that he best represents their interests. And the fact that he is a Catholic doesn't matter to them at all. This is a sea change that is incredibly beneficial to the movement to conserve America. With Protestants and Catholics...

In state after state, evangelicals have sent Mitt Romney a clear message: We’re just not that into you. Some evangelicals do pull the lever for Romney. But consistently there is a wide gap between Romney’s support among evangelicals and his support among other groups. On average, there is a 19-point difference between Romney’s support among non-evangelicals and his support among evangelicals in Republican primaries, according to ABC News’s survey of primary states with exit- or entrance-polling data available. That’s a sizeable gap — and one that has complicated Romney’s path to the nomination. Evangelical leaders are dismissive of the notion...

A group of conservative leaders pledged to raise a combined $1.78 million for Rick Santorum's campaign and SuperPAC after meeting privately in Texas this weekend with the Republican presidential hopeful, POLITICO has learned. More than 200 conservatives from all over the country convened at the Houston Omni for a Friday fundraising reception for Santorum's campaign. They then met to plot strategy with the former senator Saturday morning, discussing how to overcome Mitt Romney's growing advantage in the GOP primary and fend off Newt Gingrich. "The message was, 'we're all in,'" said South Dakota businessman and conservative organizer Bob Fischer, one...

Atlanta, GA – Pastors and faith leaders from throughout Georgia — including from more than a dozen churches — announced Monday they are personally endorsing Newt Gingrich in Tuesday’s Republican primary and joining his Faith Leaders Coalition. The pastors include Dr. Richard Lee, pastor of First Redeemer in Cumming, Dr. Michael Youssef, an Atlanta Christian author and broadcaster, and the Rev. Benny Tate of Rock Springs Methodist in Milner, Ga. Lee, Youssef and Tate are national co-chairs of Gingrich’s Faith Leaders Coalition. They will be working with the new Georgia faith leaders on Gingrich’s advisory coalition. “Our nation sorely needs...

Newt speaks at Oral Roberts University Monday February 20, 2012 - 2:00pm CT The Mabee Center 7777 South Lewis Avenue Tulsa, OK Note: This event is free and open to the public. It will be streamed live here.

Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar of the hit TLC reality television series “19 Kids and Counting” told The Daily Caller why they are supporting former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum for president. “Most definitely Rick Santorum has a proven track record for family values and definitely for life,” Mrs. Duggar told TheDC at CPAC. “We feel like he has consistently stood for life.” “He authored the bill to ban partial birth abortion, whereas Romney in Massachusetts with Romneycare, there actually is allowable in the state — still today — $50 abortions for any pregnant woman and that was under the care...

South Carolina represents the heart of the conservative movement because its Republican voters are fierce fiscal and social conservatives, which means they fervently support the Tea Party and evangelicals. These voters are now popularly referred to as “Teavangelicals” and, predictably, dominated the Palmetto State’s primary. According to exit polling from Saturday’s first-in-the-South primary, 64 percent of those who voted in the GOP primary in South Carolina supported the Tea Party and another 27 percent were neutral. Only 8 percent opposed. In addition, 65 percent of primary voters were “Born-Again or Evangelical Christian.” What happened in South Carolina is important for...

At the now-controversial meeting of evangelicals at a Texas ranch, influential evangelical leader James Dobson made a strong pitch for Rick Santorum's wife — and noted that Callista Gingrich was her husband's "mistress for eight years," questioning whether that's what people want in a first lady, three sources told POLITICO. The moment left several attendees at the confab at the Pressler ranch stunned, according to the sources. It came on Saturday, before the group of about 150 conservatives voted on a candidate they wanted to back. On the third round of balloting, the vote went to Santorum, but Gingrich backers...

Will the Brenham Ranch, owned by former Judge Paul Pressler, be looked back upon as the place where the plans for a Republican coronation were upset? Will it mark the beginning of a surge of support for the candidacy of former Senator Rick Santorum for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination? It was at that ranch that 150 evangelical Protestant Christian leaders met to choose a candidate whom they could all unite behind. Speculation over the meeting, who attended it, and who would receive the nod of support from among former Governor Rick Perry, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich...

"After a two day meeting at a ranch outside of Houston a group of 150 Christian leaders, business leaders and conservative activists have coalesced behind Rick Santorum."

Ron Paul picked up a major endorsement from an evangelical leader when Dr. James Linzey, president and founder of the Military Bible Association, endorsed the candidate. Lizney, who served as a military chaplain for over 24 years and retired with an honorable discharge, has hosted Operation Freedom, a television program in Europe. Before founding the Military bible Association, he travelled the world as an evangelist. In a statement to Congressman Paul declaring his endorsement, Lizney said, “Having thoroughly examined your political philosophy and finding that your platform is 100% in line with the Constitution of the United States of America,...

Tim LaHaye, the co-author of the best-selling Christian book series “Left Behind,” and his wife, Beverly, plan to endorse Newt Gingrich’s bid for president, The Daily Caller has learned from three sources. The campaign learned of the endorsement from the influential Christian conservatives Thursday night, one source said. That person told TheDC that the campaign is “very encouraged” by it. (RELATED: Full coverage of Newt Gingrich’s campaign) LaHaye’s “Left Behind” series sold more than 63 million books. It’s the bestselling Christian fiction series in history, according to its website. LaHaye supported former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the 2008 Republican...

According to the Associated Press, Tim Tebow will not be endorsing a candidate for President in 2012. Sensing the excitement and loving his message, Tebow is also being courted by Republican presidential candidates. The quarterback recently told The Associated Press he's been asked by more than one of the contenders for his support. He wouldn't name names, but did say he'd declined the offer. "I think you have to have so much trust in who you support, just from product endorsements to endorsing a candidate because if that person or company does something (bad), it reflects on you," said Tebow....

Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary looms large on the political horizon. In the midst of lively public debates over taxes, jobs, the national debt and similarly important questions related to the future vitality of our nation, a different kind of question continues to privately occupy the minds of some prospective voters: Can I vote for a Mormon? ... If an unbeliever such as Jefferson or non-churchman like Lincoln can serve brilliantly as president, then America should stand — in an intolerant world characterized all too frequently by religious persecution — as a stirring example of welcoming hospitality for highly qualified men...

Gannett Newspaper, Link Only: http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120108/NEWS02/301080082/Evangelicals-may-face-choice-electable-candidate-moral-one?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Google "Romney's Mormon problem" and you'll receive thousands of references to what the conventional wisdom says is the Republican presidential candidate's greatest liability among his party's largest voting bloc, religious conservatives. In the eyes of many Christians, Mitt Romney's Mormon faith is incompatible with Christian theology. Ironically, however, Romney can reassure skeptical Christian conservatives by stressing his Mormon values. That's because Mormonism is strongly associated with conservative positions on social issues such as abortion and marriage -- the very issues that are the greatest source of doubt about Romney among religious conservatives. As a member of the Church of Jesus...

The Rev. Donald E. Wildmon, founder and chairman of American Family Association (AFA) and American Family Radio (AFR), has endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich for the Republican nomination for president. "Newt Gingrich recognizes the threat to our country posed by judges and lawyers imposing values upon the country inconsistent with our religious heritage, and has proposed constitutional steps to bring the courts back in balance under the constitution,” Wildmon said in announcing his endorsement today. “We need someone in the White House who can balance the budget and get the economy moving again. Newt has done it before, and...

Click below for the Ken Cuccinelli speech at this year's Value Voter Summit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-fBVtFv8No

At 12 minutes 30 seconds into this video at the Western GOP Debate, Las Vegas, NV, started a question that Newt Gingrich gave the most important and best answer in the whole debate. ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR AND DEBATE MODERATOR: And welcome back to the CNN GOP debate live from the Venetian in Las Vegas. Let's continue. We've got an e-mail question that was left at cnnpolitics.com. This is from a Mike Richards who says: "With the controversy surrounding Robert Jeffress, is it acceptable to let the issue of a candidate's faith shape the debate?" Senator Santorum, this is...

This is being broadcast on C-SPAN now. Also, webstreaming at http://www.afa.net/vvs/ The Values Voters Summit in Washington DC runs through tomorrow evening.

Mike Huckabee‘s faith made up a significant part of his political identity during his 2008 Republican Presidential bid, and as such Huckabee came out this morning to defend the open airing of faith by other Republican candidates this time around. Speaking to the Fox & Friends crew this morning, Huckabee said he appreciated Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s openness with his faith, but didn’t see it as a way of “other”-ing the Mormon candidates in the field, Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman. “I want to know what a candidate believes,” Huckabee explained, arguing that electing a religious candidate is not the...

A non-profit group in liberal Silicon Valley is seeking to register 5 million new Christian conservative voters from across the country, who according to its research, can decide the 2012 presidential election and bring the biblical worldview to the forefront of American life and politics. Of the estimated 60 million Christians in the United States, only 30 million vote in any given election. The rest do not realize the power they hold in one single vote, says United in Purpose, a group backed by a few Silicon Valley venture capitalists that is running a project caklled “Champion the Vote.” The...

“I can assure you that there is nothing in my life that will embarrass you if you decide to support me for president,” Perry said. … Anita Perry also faced questions, the source said. One questioner wanted to know if the first lady shared her husband's conservative views on gay marriage and abortion. She assured the participants that she did.

God will not be mocked, as the Scriptures tell us, but the pundits and politicians keep trying. Rick Perry is bringing out both the believers and the scoffers. This is a phenomenon that seems to happen with the presidential cycles. Jimmy Carter was born again, Barack Obama was once the messiah, and his followers -- millions of them -- thought he could walk on water. Now not even Michelle is sure he could walk to Alexandria without getting wet to the knees. All that is gone with the wind and Irene's rain. Perry, who has turned the Republican primary race...

Texas Governor Rick Perry is polling very well at the national-level. In fact, the longest-serving Texas Governor recently won a Gallup poll of Republican and Republican-leaning independents. Perry pulled in a larger percentage of the vote than former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Tex.). Perry won the Gallup poll with 29 percent of the vote. Romney took second place with 17 percent of the vote. Paul grabbed third place with 13 percent of the vote and Bachmann took fourth place with 10 percent of the vote. This is the first Gallup poll to...

The hysterical reaction to Republican presidential hopeful Governor Rick Perry's faith is about as overblown as his home state of Texas is big. Perry is facing a federal lawsuit filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) - purportedly because Perry prayed publicly for our nation. America is headed south to a place much hotter than Texas, and you would think national figures offering prayers for the nation would be a source of inspiration. Even still, FFRF filed the lawsuit to prevent the beckoning of blessing from the God of whom this country was founded. Filing the lawsuit in the...

For evangelicals, Bachmann ‘speaks our code’ June 6, 2011 By DANIEL BURKE WASHINGTON (RNS) Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour warned several hundred Christian conservatives gathered here last week (June 3-4) not to expect a “perfect candidate” to emerge from the field of Republican presidential contenders. “There’s only been one perfect person that ever walked on this earth,” Barbour said, sounding as much like a preacher as a politician. “And there ain’t gonna be another one in this election.” None of the half-dozen or so rivals for the GOP nomination who addressed the Faith & Freedom Coalition conference walked on water, of...

In the prevailing wisdom of polls and pundits, Mitt Romney is a "top tier" contender for the Republican nomination for President. The prevailing wisdom also says that Romney's Mormonism will not be, or should not be, a factor in the election. Romney's Mormonism is purportedly like Kennedy's Catholicism: interesting, perhaps troubling from a theological point of view, but irrelevant to his governing philosophy. I believe this prevailing wisdom is all wrong. His religious worldview will be vital to his governing philosophy, and will ultimately be the issue that undermines his candidacy. Let's begin by noting that several prominent social conservatives...

NEW YORK CITY - If nothing else, people know two things about Donald Trump: He's got a lot of money and the bravado to go with it. The outspoken billionaire is attracting attention, as he rises in GOP polls and decides by June whether he will run for president. In an exclusive interview with CBN News, Trump talked about his faith, his views on the Koran, gay marriage, and everything in between. "I think people want the truth. I think they're tired of politicians. They're tired of politically correct stuff." Trump told CBN News. A Frontrunner? That could be one...

A new poll spotlighting the faith community's outlook on the 2012 campaign shows that evangelicals have high views of Mike Huckabee and Sarah Palin, less-than-enthusiastic views of Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney, and low views of President Obama. The Barna survey is the latest round of good polling news for Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Southern Baptist minister who is weighing whether to run for the Republican nomination. He already has said he will not participate in the early GOP debates, set to begin this spring. The fact that he leads among evangelicals is no surprise -- he rode...

WASHINGTON- A coalition of 34,000 black churches is blasting President Barack Obama's decision to stop defending the federal law that bans recognition of gay marriage. The Rev. Anthony Evans, who heads the National Black Church Initiative, says Obama "has violated the Christian faith" by failing to uphold Jesus' teaching that marriage is between a man and a woman. As a result, Evans says black churches must "reassess their extraordinary support for him."

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s decision to abandon his legal support for the Defense of Marriage Act has generated only mild rebukes from the Republicans hoping to succeed him in 2012, evidence of a shifting political climate in which social issues are being crowded out by economic concerns. The Justice Department announced on Wednesday that after two years of defending the law — hailed by proponents in 1996 as an cornerstone in the protection of traditional values — the president and his attorney general have concluded it is unconstitutional. In the hours that followed, Sarah Palin’s Facebook site was silent. Mitt...

As we are on the brink of another election cycle in our country, many American Christians will soon go to the polls and cast a vote for their favorite candidates and preferred political party of choice. I have often wondered how a professing Christian could vote so casually and without considerable reflection upon the character, integrity and values of the candidate of their choice. Yet millions of professing Christians will support candidates who are openly wicked, leading scandalous lives, and holding convictions that are anathema to the faith and even, in some cases, detrimental to the moral direction of America...

Mike Pence takes top spot in Values Voter Summit straw poll By Felicia Sonmez Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) took the top spot Saturday in a presidential straw poll of social conservatives meeting in Washington, a surprise victory over last year's overwhelming favorite, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Pence placed first with 24 percent in the straw poll of 723 social conservatives at the Family Research Council's fifth annual Values Voter Summit. Huckabee took second place with 22 percent, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney came in third with 13 percent and former House speaker Newt Gingrich took fourth with 10 percent....

"Everybody sing ee-oo," declaims the clean-cut thirtysomething at the front of the vast auditorium. Ten thousand Californian voices respond. Over a backing of soaring power chords, the soloist launches into an ecstatic, 1980s-style anthem: "If you're alive and you've been redeemed,/Rise and sing, rise and sing." Pastor Rick Warren, America's most im­portant religious leader since Billy Graham, emerges from the wings, wearing jeans and a short-sleeved shirt, a trimmed CEO beard and a little more weight than his doctor might recommend. When he speaks, his words are as warm as the Orange County sunshine: the homily is a practical one,...

The Black Church's Commitment to Obama By Lloyd Marcus Dear Black Church, What I am about to say will probably anger you. As a black Christian, I have struggled with whether or not to address this sensitive topic. I only ask that you give my statements prayerful consideration. Ninety-six percent of black voters, many of whom are Christians, cast their votes for Barack Obama. I question: Did your desire to see a black man in the White House trump your commitment to Christ and Christian values and principles? While I believe many white Christians also made a racist decision by...

Dr. James Dobson, founder and former chairman of Focus on the Family, has endorsed Rand Paul, son of Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.). The irony of it is that Dobson had formerly endorsed Paul’s opponent, Trey Grayson, because, as he put it, “Senior members of the GOP told me Dr. Paul is pro-choice and that he opposes many conservative perspectives.” Paul is, in fact, simply a federalist with regard to abortion, just as his father is. That is, he believes that abortion is an issue to be dealt with at the...

Thursday April 22, 2010 Black Minister Forms PAC to Break Dems Party's 'Death Grip' on Black Community WASHINGTON, D.C., April 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) -- Bishop E.W. Jackson Sr., retired attorney and Harvard Law graduate, is declaring political war on the Democrat Party and the liberal Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), the pro-life leader announced this week.Bishop Jackson, who has fought for pro-life and pro-family causes for 25 years, formed STAND AMERICA PAC on April 1. The committee aims primarily to recruit and support conservative black candidates to run against liberals in Congressional Black Caucus districts. "The black community has been...

Mark Chaves of the National Congregations Study has put together an interesting graph demonstrating the ways that different religious groups engage in politics. The numbers may surprise you:  Chaves breaks down the results: First, notwithstanding extensive media coverage of political mobilization within conservative churches, conservative white Protestant churches do not stand out in their level of political activity. Catholic and black Protestant churches, overall, are more politically active than either liberal or conservative white Protestants. About three-quarters of Catholics and black Protestants attend churches that engaged in at least one of these eight political activities, compared to about half of...

Mitt Romney, the once and likely future presidential candidate, didn’t show up to address the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, but that didn’t stop him from walking away with the big prize from the gathering. The former Massachusetts governor bested the competition in a straw poll conducted here over the past two days. Romney received 24 percent of a total of 1,806 ballots cast when voters were asked to name the candidate they would support if the Republican primary for president were held today. [snip] A group whipping votes for Romney, Evangelicals for Mitt, spent the day handing out plastic pink...

.."Over the years, Gov. Perry has established a record that is consistently pro-life, pro-marriage and pro-religious liberty,” said Dr. Dobson. “He has demonstrated his deep regard for the sanctity of life by signing more pro-life bills into law than any other governor in Texas history. He demonstrated his support for the God-given institution of marriage by strongly supporting the Texas Marriage Amendment. And he has helped lead the effort to establish the strongest protections for religious liberty in the state of Texas. No other candidate in this race measures up to the high standards established by Gov. Perry on these...

I’m resisting the idea that he said this purely out of personal pique but I can’t come up with a good alternative strategic explanation. What political benefit is there, in this year of all years, to knock CPAC for being “more libertarian” and “less Republican”? Libertarianism has never had more cachet within the GOP than it has right now; it’s not perfectly synonymous with the tea-party movement (of which Huckabee is predictably complimentary) but it’s close enough, especially with Beck in the role of TPers’ patron saint. Maybe Huck thinks finding any reason to knock an “establishment” event like CPAC...

"While I was flipping through the autobiography, a woman approached the booth. Catherine Sumner, it turned out, was part of GOProud, a group of openly gay Republicans and conservatives that for the first time is taking part in CPAC. “Is this your flyer?” Sumner demanded, waving the white and green pamphlet. Thus launched a debate about gays in the military that pretty much ended when the booth attendee told her that homosexuality is a sin and she’s going to hell. “It’s insulting,” Sumner, 31, who edits a military magazine, said turning away. “Across the board the reaction to GOProud’s presence...

It’s hard to call for an end to the culture wars when your own side is manning the barricades. President Obama is big on civility. He talks a very good game. But his nominee for a top slot at the Department of Justice--Dawn Johnsen--is a leading exponent of incivility. Johnsen worked with the ACLU for years. And she joined ARM--the so-called Abortion Rights Mobilization--to strip the Catholic Church of its tax-exempt status because of its pro-life advocacy. The Catholic Church eventually won that case--but not until it had spent years and millions of dollars defending itself. The Catholic Church was...

Last weekend's National Tea Party Convention in Nashville was remarkably lacking in evangelical Christian leaders and rhetoric. There were enough references to indicate that "most of the Tea Partiers were strong Christians," as Melinda Warner reported on Huffington Post. Prayers opened and closed many gatherings ("Be with Sarah Palin. Protect her, Lord"). There was a workshop called "Why Christians Must Engage." Discussions and speeches were peppered with phrases such as "Judeo-Christian nation." But overall, the convention wasn't at all like those revivals of the Reagan- and Gingrich-era or the more recent Bush-era Values Voter Summits. Fiscal conservative reformers might have...