(RNS) The Obama administration on Friday sought to address religious objections to its birth control mandate, issuing plans to expand the number of faith-based groups that can be exempt from the controversial rule and proposing that third-party companies administer coverage for self-insured faith-based groups at no cost.

At its heart, the newest offering from the White House would allow religious groups — dioceses, denominations and others — to decide which affiliated institutions are “religious” and therefore exempt from the new requirement that employers offer free contraception coverage as part of employee insurance plans.

President Barack Obama talks with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, whose department is charged with implementing new rules that mandate employers to provide contraception coverage to employees. RNS photo courtesy Pete Souza / The White House.

The proposals are an effort by the administration to blunt criticisms of the controversial birth control insurance regulation, especially by the nation’s Catholic bishops, who have been at loggerheads with the White House since President Obama announced the contraception mandate in January.

Obama was sharply criticized by faith groups and leaders across the board for not providing a sufficiently broad exemption for religious groups; on Feb. 10 he outlined an “accommodation” that tried to circumvent most of the problems by having insurance companies — rather than religious employers — provide the birth control coverage through a separate rider and at no cost to the employer.

While that move appeased some concerns, Catholic bishops and others argued that the religious exemption was still too narrow and could set a dangerous precedent by appearing to allow the government to determine what groups within a faith should be considered religious.

The other principal objection was that many religious groups self-insure in order to save money, and so having the insurer pay for contraception coverage rather than the employer made no difference because insurer and employer are one and the same.

The 32-page proposal, published late Friday (March 16) in the Federal Register, goes out of its way to state that “this religious exemption is intended solely for purposes of the contraceptive coverage requirement” and does not “set a precedent for any other purpose.”

“Whether an employer is designated as ‘religious’ for these purposes is not intended as a judgment about the mission, sincerity, or commitment of the employer, and the use of such designation is limited to defining the class that qualifies for this specific exemption,” states the proposed rule.

The other main innovation in the new proposal is to have a “third-party administrator of the group health plan or some other independent entity” assume responsibility for the contraception coverage for self-insured organizations, with various proposals for ensuring that self-insured groups with religious objections would not directly or indirectly pay for the birth control policy.

Whether any of these ideas will satisfy the die-hard critics of the contraception mandate is unclear. The proposals were issued too late Friday to get comment from a number of Catholic entities, and others contacted by Religion News Service said they would have to take time to review the proposals before responding.

Yet the 90-day open comment period on the proposals, known as an “Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,” could function as a kind of cooling-off mechanism for this issue, which has exploded into an election-year debate that poses risks and rewards for all sides. Conservative groups, however, were quick to denounce the new policy proposal.

“At the end of the day, no accounting gimmick changes the fact that the mandate forces religious organizations to pay health insurance companies for coverage to their employees with drugs and services that simply violates their religious convictions,” said Jeanne Monahan, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council.

By providing details on the proposed accommodation, the Obama administration can now begin to shift discussions to the nuts and bolts of how to address the religious freedom concerns and away from rhetorical broadsides that the White House is launching a “war on religion” and can’t be trusted.

Staff members from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops were involved in initial discussions to work out a deal, but those ground to a halt when bishops accused the White House of negotiating in bad faith, a charge the administration strongly rejects.

A congressman urged recently President Barack Obama to raise the issue of human rights violations in China stemming from its one-child per couple policy, when the president meets with China’s President Hu Jintao this week.

Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey, in a press conference, said women in China are forced to abort their babies and oftentimes, because they can only have one child, they are pressured to abort females, Life News said.

Smith said, “[China’s one-child policy] is ‘marked by pervasive propaganda, mandatory monitoring of women’s reproductive cycles, mandatory contraception, and mandatory birth permits, coercive fines for failure to comply, and…forced sterilization and abortion,’” Life News reported.

Smith said that in China, “illegal children” cannot have access to health care, education and marriage. Fines to bear illegal children are ten times the yearly income of both parents, and families who fail to pay may be jailed or their child may be killed, Life News said.

Smith also said the family of an illegally pregnant woman who flees may be beaten and jailed, and neighbors and colleagues may be denied birth permits because of her. Women are also physically forced to have abortions, according to Life News.

Chai Ling, a former Tiananmen Square student leader, showed a petition of 1,500 signatures and photos of 300 people around the world urging Obama to raise the issue of abortion and gendercide with Hu, Christian Newswire said.

Chai said over 35,000 coerced and forced abortions take place daily in China, and a baby dies every 2.5 seconds. One of every six girls is aborted for her gender, and 500 women commit suicide, “five times the world average rate,” Christian Newswire reported.

Chai also said 3,000 baby girls are abandoned in street corners daily, while over 200 women and children are sold to slavery. Chai said, “The brutal and violent enforcement of the one-child policy is the largest crime against humanity; it is the inhuman secret slaughter against mother and babies,” according to Christian Newswire.

During the press conference Smith told the story of Wujian, a victim of forced abortion. Wujian hid from the population police but was found and brought forcibly to a hospital where she saw “hundreds of pregnant moms,” who were “like pigs in a slaughterhouse,” Life News reported.

Wujian’s baby was cut into pieces in her womb, and then sucked out. In her testimony she said, “I could hear the sound of the scissors cutting the body of my baby…one nurse showed me part of a bloody foot with her tweezers,” Life News reported.

Borrowing from the words of the late Rev. Martin Luther King, Chai said she had a dream of children in China growing up with “brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts,” of  “mothers [who] mourn no more because they are with children, and of tears wiped from the “faces of parents whose children were taken,” Christian Newswire reported.

Chai also said she dreamed that “justice will roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream…that God would bless his promised land of China and the World,” according to Christian Newswire.

China’s President Hu Jintao admitted recently that China still needs to do more to improve human rights in his country.

Hu made the statement during a press conference in the company of President Barack Obama during his state visit, and said China would do more to better the lives of its people, Christian Today said.

Hu said, “China is always committed to the protection and promotion of human rights. China has also made enormous progress recognized widely in the world,” Christian Today reported.

Hu added, “China still faces many challenges in economic and social development, and a lot still needs to be done in China in terms of human rights. We will continue our efforts to improve the lives of the Chinese people and to promote democracy and the rule of law,” according to Christian Today.

Poor track record

During the meeting of Hu and Obama, Tibetans gathered in protest outside the White House, Christian Today said. Critics have strongly condemned China’s poor track record in human rights.

Recently the US urged China to free Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo and other prisoners of conscience, Christian Today said.

Bob Fu, president of China Aid Association, in a statement at a congressional press conference cited other human rights victims, including Uyghur Christian Alimjiang Yimiti, who since 2009 has been serving a 15 year sentence for belonging to an underground Christian church, Christian NewsWire reported.

Fu also mentioned Li Heng, who he said was a ‘prisoner of faith’ and who, after a lengthy imprisonment, was tortured to death. Fu took issue with Sec. Clinton’s statement where she placed China and the US in “the same boat,” Christian NewsWire said.

Fu said, “A regime that imprisons many people of faith in labor camps [and] in prisons in China should not be qualified to share the same boat with a democracy. It totally disregards the rules, regulations, universal values of this boat,” Christian NewsWire reported.

Source of tension

During the press conference with Hu, Obama said he was “very candid” with Hu regarding human rights as a “source of tension” in US-China relations, Christian Today said.

Obama said, “I believe part of justice and part of human rights is people being able to make a living and having enough to eat and having shelter and having electricity,” according to Christian Today.

Obama added, “We just want to make sure that rise occurs in a way that reinforces international norms, international rules, and enhances security and peace as opposed to it being a source of conflict either in the region or around the world,” Christian Today reported.

Overblown fanfare

Critics have decried overblown fanfare for Hu in view of China’s wanting human rights record, including a White House state dinner. Rep. Frank Wolf said, “The Chinese government has done little in [the] past 13 years, almost nothing quite frankly in the past 13 years, to deserve the honor of a White House state dinner,” according to Christian Today.

The leader of a Christian organization said recently that pulling American combat troops out of Iraq will worsen the situation for Christians in that country.

Dr. Carl Moeller, CEO of Open Doors USA said that he believed President Barack Obama’s decision to pull out U.S. soldiers from Iraq is premature and will accelerate the persecution of Christians in that country.

Moeller said, “I believe that we’re turning this country over to a government that is in chaos — it is in transition at best. It hasn’t yet settled on a firm form of government. We have just basically said, ‘Please don’t disturb us as you collapse.’”

Moeller said the Christian community is a definite underdog in the largely Muslim country adding, “We have very clear indicators from the ground that the Christian community in Iraq is suffering greatly by increased violence between factions of Islam. I’ve spoken at length with refugees all around the region [who are] saying it’s an unreported disaster — the extinction of the Christian community in Iraq,” according to a OneNewsNow report

The U.S. Commision on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) noted in its recent 2010 annual report that President Obama has fallen short of doing what he can to lobby for the protection of religious freedom in the world.

The report noted that until now, President Obama has failed to appoint an Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, a request that was made to him last month in a petition signed by lawmakers, scholars and human rights groups.

The same petition requested that the position be given equal level to other Ambassadors-At-Large who report directly to the Secretary of State, according to The Christian Post.

The USCIRF also noted that under Obama’s watch, no countries have been rated CPC, or “countries of particular concern” for having the worst religious violations.

Such a rating can prompt government action including trade restrictions, sanctions, embargoes, and withholding of military or financial aid, among others, The Christian Post said.

The same report said that the USCIRF, an independent US government commission, made these observations even as it said that with every year the issue becomes less and less important to the White House and the State Department.

The position of Ambassador-At-Large for International Religious Freedom, for example, was created in 1998, but it had only been filled in its initial year, and has remained vacant since 1999.

The commission warned Obama that failure to fill the position sent a message to the international community that religious freedom is not an important issue to the American government, the Christian Post said.

The same report noted that USCIRF took issue with the fact that Obama rarely mentioned religious freedom when he visited Ankara and Cairo last year.

Furthermore, Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton replaced the words religious freedom with “freedom of worship.”

The commission said authoritarian governments could skirt the issue by noting that faiths that are okay with them can freely worship.

Credit:svilen001/sxc.hu

They could also permit only token houses of worship for minority faiths.

According to CNN, the USCIRF also reported that:

* Over 24 countries are religious freedom offenders and practice religious persecution.

* Forms of religious persecution may include imprisonment, murder, being fired from jobs, and being kicked out of universities; being forbidden to have bank accounts, driver’s licenses and even birth certificates, among others.

* 13 countries should be rated CPC or “countries of particular concern” because they have the worst religious violations. These countries include Myanmar (Burma), China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Suda, Uzbekistan, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

* 12 countries on the watch list are Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Laos, Russia, Somalia, Tajikistan, Turkey and Venezuela.

* The report has five more countries under CPC rating than does the State Department’s 2009 report, which did not include Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Turkmenistan or Vietnam.

* 3 countries, Bangladesh, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka, should be closely monitored.

Specific Countries

* Egypt. Members of the Baha’I faith and minority Muslim sects are imprisoned, fired from jobs, kicked out of universities, and barred from having bank accounts, birth certificates and driver’s licenses.

* Nigeria. A decade of violence between Muslims and Christians in the Jos state recently culminated in 500 men, women and children hacked to death with machetes and dumped into wells.

* China. Cracked down on Uyghur Muslims in the west.

* Iran. Labeled domestic political opponents “enemies of God” which is a capital offense and can merit severing of the head.

* Eritrea. Harassment of Orthodox Church members and Jehovah’s Witnesses.

* Vietnam. Imprisonment of Buddhists and Protestants.

The USCIRF report urged the government to double its efforts to protect international religious freedom and to raise issues of abuse to the highest levels of the world community, the Christian Post said.

“Anything less betrays our history and values, and fails to leverage the extraordinary capacity we have as a nation to promote religious freedom and related human rights for all,” the report said.

President Barack Obama made a pilgrimage to pray with Billy Graham, the American preacher who harnessed the media and made Christian evangelism a global phenomenon, recently.

Evangelist Billy Graham in 1966. Graham has met with every U.S. president since Harry Truman.

Obama rode in his motorcade to Graham’s mountainside log cabin in Montreat, which is near Asheville, N.C., upon the conclusion of his North Carolina vacation with his wife, Michele, and friends.

It was Obama’s first meeting with the ailing evangelist who has counseled commanders in chief since Dwight Eisenhower.

This makes Obama, 48, the 12th president of the United States to meet with the 91-year-old Graham.

He is also the first head of state to call on the famed evangelist, who is ailing, at the latter’s mountaintop home.

The visit lasted about 30 minutes and included aides and advisers to both men.  Obama had a private prayer and conversation with Billy Graham.

Graham gave Obama two Bibles, one for him and one for the first lady, according to the Associated Press.

The AP report said the older Graham and Obama did most of the talking. They reminisced about their roots in Chicago, where Graham attended college  and began some of his ministry in the region.

Obama moved to Chicago after college and began his political career there.  They also talked about golf.

When the president got ready to leave, the two ended in prayer, according to the AP. The elder Graham prayed for the nation and asked God to give Obama wisdom in his decisions.

The president prayerfully thanked God for Billy Graham’s life, Franklin Graham told the AP.

Obama confided, like other presidents before him, how lonely, demanding and humbling the presidency can be, according to Larry Ross, presidential spokesman.

“That is a discussion that Mr. Graham has had with previous presidents who realize not only the demands but the loneliness of the job. And they’re humbled by that,” Ross said.

“The only way one can do [the job] properly is to draw on spiritual resources,” the AP reported.

The president also spoke to Graham’s son Franklin, also an evangelist.  The Army cancelled an appearance of the younger Graham to pray at the Pentagon for National Prayer Day a few days before.

Billy Graham has met with every president since Harry Truman.  Eisenhower once mused about recruiting Graham as a speechwriter, and the two often read the Bible together.  John F. Kennedy played golf with Graham in Palm Beach.

Graham ministered many times to Lyndon Johnson.  With Nixon, Graham conducted regular worship in the White House.

Gerald Ford played golf with him, Graham visited the Carters in the White House, and with Reagan they had a relationship that spanned 50 years.

George H. Bush vacationed with Graham half a dozen times, and Graham counseled Bill and Hillary in the White House. George W. Bush credits Graham for his spiritual rebirth.

President Barack Obama’s recent nomination of Goodwin Liu  has raised concerns among advocates of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which defines marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman for purposes of all federal laws.”

Liu, 39, is the associate dean of Berkeley Law School.  He has advocated many liberal causes including supporting national health care, affirmative action, same-sex marriage and slavery reparations.

President Obama’s recent nomination of Goodwin Liu Worries Defense of Marriage Advocates

Liu’s appointment was preceded by several tax-paid advertisements by the U.S. Census Bureau urging same-sex couples who “consider themselves married” to fill out the Census form as a married couple.

Only five states and the District of Columbia officially recognize same-sex marriages; meanwhile, the move contradicts the Census Bureau’s July 2008 statement that same-sex couples would not be counted.

Many Republicans oppose Liu’s nomination and are set to grill him before the Judiciary Committee during his hearing which is set for Friday.  Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) who heads the Judiciary Committee was quoted by The Philadelphia Inquirer as saying Liu is “far outside the mainstream of American jurisprudence.”

Concern had also been raised that Liu may eventually become the first Asian American on the Supreme Court.  Curt Levey, executive director of the Committee for Justice raised this point and added, “Look, he was picked because he’s a darling of the left, and that’s exactly the reason conservatives are up in arms about him.”

However, Liu also has his share of conservative supporters, including Kenneth Starr, the lawyer who investigated President Bill Clinton, and California GOP Senate candidate Tom Campbell.

The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was signed into law by President Clinton in 1996 and passed with bi-partisan majorities of 342-67 in the House and 85-14 in the Senate.  It defines marriage as “a legal union between one man and one woman for purposes of all federal laws.”

President Obama declared the H1N1 Swine Flu outbreak a national emergency recently.

The emergency declaration, signed by the president late Friday, purportedly increases the ability of medical treatment facilities to handle a jump in influenza A (H1N1) patients by allowing medical officials to temporarily bypass certain federal requirements.

Swine flu has shut down schools and businesses; but is it really as serious as people are making it out to be?

Since April this year we have seen thousands of schools temporarily closed, and thousands of sick workers told to stay away from the office to prevent the pandemic spread of the virus, but how catastrophic has this outbreak really been in terms of the loss of human life to date?

Well, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1,000 people have died from swine flu-related complications in the United States since April.

Globally, the World Health Organization claims about 5,000 deaths were linked to the disease.

Sound like a pandemic to you?

One thousand deaths from swine flu out of a total U.S. population figure of 300 million people.

I think I’ll take my chances.

Don’t get me wrong, I believe that life is sacred, but on average of seven people die every day in the United States.

That’s something to ponder.

And here’s something else to think about: The annual death toll from the regular flu is estimated to be between 250,000 and 500,000.

Yet, we do not announce national emergencies every year during flu season.

We make sure that the at risk groups are vaccinated and the rest of us continue to go with our daily lives at school or at work; it may cost us a few days in bed with a fever, headache and a runny nose, but nothing more.

We have been dealing with the consequences of the regular flu for many years and have developed a healthy perspective on what the risks versus rewards are of going on with life as normal as against locking ourselves away in our homes for fear of catching the flu.

Unfortunately, this sense of perspective hasn’t taken hold yet when people think of swine flu.

Ignorance, emotion and panic have led the response to this ‘global pandemic’ at every turn.

Nobody is taking a moment to calmly examine the evidence of the effects of the virus especially those in authority, who people are relying on to know all the answers.

Well, if those in secular authority cannot be relied upon to provide a “reality check” in perilous times, surely we can depend on the church to be a shining light.

Right?

Not quite, the Valley Bible Fellowship Church in Las Vegas went so far as to check the temperatures of children before they allowed them to enter their Sunday school recently as part of their effort to protect its flock from catching the virus.

Valley Bible Fellowship Church in Las Vegas checked the temperatures of children before they allowed them to enter their Sunday school recently to protect its flock from catching Swine Flu.

Any family with a child with a temperature of over 99 degrees was asked to leave and the church would send them a copy of the Sunday service on DVD.

Did you know that the symptoms of H1N1 swine flu are just like regular flu symptoms? The usual fever, cough, sore throat, runny nose, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Only lab tests can definitively show whether you’ve got swine flu.

So that means we have Christians turning people away from the house of God because  they may have symptoms of a virus that is less dangerous than the regular flu?

Hardly, the response we would expect from God’s elect.

What can a Christian do then when we cannot rely on the church to set the example?

Go to the Bible and see what our creator, the author of truth, says about sickness and the correct response to it.

As we read through Genesis, we see that sin, sickness, suffering and death came into the world when Adam & Eve rebelled against God. Since then sickness has been a part of our lives here on earth. It afflicts saint and sinner alike.

The Catholic Catechism says, “Illness and suffering have always been among the gravest problems confronted in human life. In illness, man experiences his powerlessness, his limitations, and his finitude. Every illness can make us glimpse death. Illness can lead to anguish, self-absorption, sometimes even despair and revolt against God.”

Sickness can be very destructive. It can cause mental depression and feelings of isolation, discouragement, despair, self-absorption and, worst of all, a sense of feeling of abandonment by God. We only have to look to the Book of Job to see the devastating effects of sickness on the human condition

On the other hand, an encounter with sickness can be the beginning of a great spiritual awakening.

Charles Spurgeon suffered from sickness through his life but he believed it helped him see in his life what is not essential so that he could turn toward that which is.

Very often illness leads to a search for God and a return to Him. After coming close to death, many people also decide to live a life more focused on God and in service of others

We must never forget that God does not want us to be sick. Jesus’ care for the sick is illustrated throughout the four gospels.

In his ministry, Jesus sought to free people from anything that would hinder them from receiving the abundant life that he wanted to share with them. Jesus came to save our souls but also to save, heal, and free the whole person. He healed those with evil spirits and those in slavery to sin. He also cured those whose bodies were lame, blind, and diseased. Jesus never told the ill to endure sickness as a cross to be carried throughout life. God wants to cleanse us of our physical or mental illness.

God also expects Christians to have love and compassion for the sick and to pray for their healing “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5:14-15).

The Church has a responsibility to be concerned and helpful to the sick. All of us can pray regularly for the sick and for their caregivers. We can also support families with a sick member by cooking meals for them and offering to sit and spend time with the sick person.

Our concern for ourselves and our health must never come before the wellbeing of others. God doesn’t want us to recklessly put ourselves in harm’s way, but oftentimes the work of God will lead to situations where there is risk.

The important thing is how we live our life, not how long we live. We must realize that we are all ultimately to die once and then face the judgment. This is not our home.

God has invited us to live with Him where “…God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

How will Future of Equal Rights Affect Christians & Ministry?

Will Washington's new LGBT bill limit the free speech of pastors to speak against homosexuality?

Yesterday, Thursday, October 22, 2009, the United States Senate passed a bill that has been the subject of political debate and controversy for nearly a decade. Since the early days of the late Senator Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., there has been a civil rights push to institute a federal law against all sexual and gender-related hate crimes.

According to both CNN and FOX national political news networks, with a vote of 68-29, the Senate passed a bill which would “make it a federal crime to assault an individual because of his or her sexual orientation or gender.”The new law essentially serves to offer gay, lesbian and transgendered men and women federal protection against hate crimes based on their sexual orientation.

The bill, which President Obama vowed to sign once it reached his desk, was a smaller component of a $680 billion defense authorization bill, according to several national news media. Former President George W. Bush once noted that he would veto a similar proposition if it ever reached his office.

The movement towards such a bill was spurred by the brutal deaths of Matthew Shepherd and James Byrd Jr. Shepherd, a teen from Wyoming, was brutally beaten to death in October 1998 for his sexual orientation. Byrd, an African American man, was dragged to death in Texas of that same year.

The passing of the bill has raised countless concerns among more conservative Republicans, the majority of whom opposed the legislation during its tenure in the Senate. Dozens of religious groups and Christian organizations have also voiced their anxieties, citing their concerns that such a bill will likely infringe on their rights to speak openly and freely against homosexuality.

Under current federal laws, gay, lesbian and transgendered individuals already receive the same adequate protections afforded all other U.S. citizens.

Many church leaders are worried the bill will be used to stifle pastors who preach homosexuality as sin from their pulpits, as this would be deemed “inciting violence.” Opposition to the bill has maintained that it is the First Amendment right of a pastor or religious leader to speak openly from the pulpit on issues related to sexual orientation. Separation of church and state must remain at the forefront of the legislation, lest church pastors be federally prosecuted for their sermons.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has attempted to convince those opposed that the new bill and laws will only be used to prosecute individuals who commit violent acts of aggression based on sexual/gender prejudice. Holder says the bill will not interfere with the religious belief systems or free speech rights of any American.

Recently, while addressing members of the national Human Rights Campaign organization, President Obama called for a “repeal of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy, which bans gays from openly serving in the military” according to The Christian Post. Currently, the Human Rights Campaign is the largest group in the nation publicly promoting and advocating the rights of the LGBT community.

Jon Solmonese, president of the HRC, called the new legislation “our nation’s first major piece of civil rights legislation for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people” according to the Huffington Post. He also noted, “Too many in our community have been devastated by hate violence.”

The question for Christians nationwide has become “How will this new legislation affect the way pastors, religious leaders and conservative men and women voice their opposition to homosexual lifestyles? Or will they be able to at all?”

During his address to the HRC, Obama also stated his desire to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which defines legal marriage as marriage between one man and one woman.

Will Christians vote for their Economy or their Faith in 2012?

Former Arkansas Governor and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is on  Republican voters’ wish list for the 2012 election, according to an October 19 Rasmussen poll. Huckabee carried 44 percent of the telephone survey respondents with Mitt Romney at 39 percent. Where were these voters in 2008? Why was the prospect so gloomy that these men had to leave the race early?

How did Mike Huckabee—an avid, kind, fun-loving and sincere Christian—lose the 2008 primaries so quickly when many now see him as a viable 2012 contender? But the biggest question is, will Christians still trust their pocketbooks more than their God in 2012?

In this reporter’s church experience over 22 years, the split between Democrats and Republicans in various church denominations is nearly 50/50. They continue to vote a certain way simply because “they always have” or “their families always have.” Should this determine who the next leader of the Free World is? It doesn’t matter whether you vote Democratic, Republican or something else…just know why you’re doing it.

In 2008, a common excuse from Christians for not choosing Huckabee was “I heard he wasn’t good for taxes in Arkansas.” And from churchgoing Obama voters it was, “Well, he’ll be good for the economy. I know he’s basically pro-choice, but maybe he’ll do the right thing for pro-life once he’s there.” Both reasons depended on money.

President Obama’s intents toward “pro-life” are now quite clear. Among his appointees to high government posts are:
-Kathleen Sebelius, Director of Health and Human Services. While Governor of Kansas, Sebelius vetoed nearly every pro-life bill from 2003-2007 including a bill strengthening the ban on late-term abortion.
-Dawn Johnsen, Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel (Department of Justice), was former legal counsel for NARAL (Pro-Choice America).
-Ellen Moran, White House Communications Director, a former executive director of Emily’s List, an organization whose goal is to fund the election of only pro-choice Democratic women.
-David Hamilton, President Obama’s first federal pick for a judge (Seventh Circuit Court), whose record demonstrates a strictly anti-Bible, pro-choice stance.

The latest Rasmussen Presidential Tracking Poll for the President’s approval rating from various voters (not just Republican) shows President Obama’s disapproval rating at 40 percent to only 27 percent approval. This may be due to the dismal results of our desire for “Change” and the continuing economic downturn.

The bulk of companies that closed and laid off American employees did so after the election, not under President Bush. This shows such a lack of confidence in the new President that these companies couldn’t even stay open for a few months after the election to see what would happen. So much for voting our trust in the economy.

Jesus says in Matthew 6:19-20, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth…but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven…” and follows it closely with Matthew 6:33: “Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and then all these things will be added [or given] to you.” When will we start voting like we trust God?

Mike Huckabee has gained popularity this year with his new Fox-TV show “Huckabee.”  His guests include well-known political personalities, but also the few outspoken Hollywood conservatives  like Chuck Norris, Jon Voigt who aren’t afraid to bring frightening but well-founded facts to the table about the new administration’s direction. Perhaps this will help at election time, if he runs.�
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As for the 33 percent of undecided voters making up the huge disparity in Obama’s poll popularity, they need to start growing some conviction and know their voting reasons instead of mindlessly following a crowd at the last minute.