Governor Romney: Lying Is No Way To Prove You Are A Christian

As anyone who has been in South Carolina in the past few months knows, the Romney campaign is vicious and deceitful, and like their candidate, will say or do whatever it takes to win. Perhaps one redeeming feature of endlessly long presidential campaigns is that as Shakespeare wrote, "the truth will out." Governor Romney is going to find out that lying to the people of South Carolina is a poor way to prove that he is, in fact, a Christian.

To set the record straight, the Huckabee for President Campaign today issued the following "Truth Squad" response to a new TV ad by the Romney campaign:

Response to Romney December 17 Attack Ad

TRUTH: Governor Huckabee was tougher on methamphetamine manufacturers than Governor Romney.

In a new attack ad released today, Governor Romney attempts to contrast his position on drugs with that of Governor Huckabee. The ad says that Romney got "Tough on Drugs Like Meth," while Governor Huckabee "Reduced Penalties for Manufacturing Meth." What Romney fails to mention is that -- even with the reductions -- Governor Huckabee was tougher on methamphetamine manufacturers than Governor Romney was.

• The "reduced penalty" in Arkansas was a requirement that meth manufacturers serve 50 percent of their sentence rather than 70 percent before being eligible for parole.


• In Arkansas, the average meth dealer spends an average of 10 years in prison.


• In contrast, the source quoted in the Romney ad that claimed Romney "got tough" on drugs notes, "The punishment would be either 2 1/2 years in jail or five years in prison."

Let's compare: Under Huckabee, 10 years; Under Romney, 5 years.

The ad also states that Romney "never pardoned a single criminal." But this begs the question: how many clemency cases did he actually review while he was governor of Massachusetts? Or did he simply avoid his responsibility as chief executive of the state to review clemency cases and give petitioners a fair hearing?

The ad also points out that Governor Huckabee granted more clemencies than the "previous three governors…combined." It doesn't mention that two of the previous three governors were Bill Clinton and convicted felon Jim Guy Tucker. Governor Huckabee's clemency rate, however, was in line with other governors who have served the state.

Romney also fails to acknowledge that in Arkansas, every person who is convicted of a crime and every person in prison is eligible for clemency. Because of this, the number of clemency applications is extraordinarily high. Governor Huckabee had 8,698 applications during his 10 ½ years in office.

Some Governors are content to simply deny the vast majority of clemency applications without bothering to consider their merit. Governor Huckabee, however, believed that respect for the legal process required that he give them the consideration for which they were entitled. During his tenure, Governor Huckabee denied over 80 percent of the applications.

Before granting clemency, the Governor issues a notice of intent and opens a 30-day public comment period in which people can protest the decision. Very rarely does the public oppose a clemency because almost all are granted for minor offenses, involve reductions in fines, or reduced prison sentences that were longer than the average for a particular crime.

During the 10 ½ years Mike Huckabee was governor the number of government agencies and businesses that conducted background checks increased at an incredible rate. The terrorist acts of September 11, 2001, have resulted in increased concerns regarding security. Potential job candidates and long-time employees considered for promotion are under increased scrutiny.

Before the mainstream use of background checks, most people could have some youthful arrest, change their lives and become good, tax-paying citizens without that earlier arrest coming back to haunt them.

Governor Huckabee found during his time in office that each year the number of people needing clemency to clear their record increased. Denying their request prevented them from continuing to earn a good living and pay taxes. The majority of the clemency requests he granted were for this reason.

Nevertheless, on behalf of the Mike Huckabee for President campaign, we want to wish Governor Romney, his family and his staff, a very merry Christmas.

Additional Notes:

What is Clemency?

Clemency is the process through which the Governor considers requests for granting reprieves, commutations of sentence, and pardons after conviction.

What is a Pardon?

A pardon is the exemption of a convicted person from the penalties of an offense or crime. A pardon can be requested by someone who is no longer incarcerated.

Who May Apply for Clemency?

Any person serving a term of any number of years, life, life without parole, or a sentence of death may apply for executive clemency. A person who is not presently incarcerated may also apply.

What are the Steps in the Clemency Application Process?

1. Any person making a request for clemency must first have their application processed by the Board of Parole in what is called a screening. This will determine if there is any merit to the application. A victim can only make written recommendations to the Board of Parole during this step of the process.

2. If the application is found to have merit, it will most likely be scheduled for a hearing before the Board of Parole. A victim will be notified (if they have requested these notifications) when a hearing is scheduled and can contact the Board of Parole about providing written or oral recommendations. Once the hearing is complete the Board will vote on a recommendation to send to the Governor for final action.

3. The Governor will review the application, the recommendation of the Board of Parole, and all other pertinent materials before making his decision. If the Governor intends to grant the application for clemency, he will announce his intent and allow a 30 day period for public comment. If the Governor decides to deny the application it will be announced and no further action will be taken.

GOVERNOR HUCKABEE'S INTERVIEW WITH CATHOLIC ONLINE

By Deacon Keith Fournier 12/15/2007

In the midst of campaigning for the Republican Presidential nomination, the former Governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee, whose rise in the polls has been the story of the hour, took time out of his busy campaign schedule to speak with Catholic Online on issues of concern to Catholics.


Deacon Keith Fournier: “Governor Huckabee, we thank you for taking this time to speak with Catholic Online. We want the millions of people who view our network to have access to your positions on the vital issues of our day.


As you know, American Catholics are deeply concerned about this upcoming Presidential election.


We were recently instructed by our Bishops to inform our conscience with the truths presented to us in Catholic social teaching and then to exercise our citizenship accordingly.


This Social teaching is not “left” or “right”, “liberal”, “conservative” or “neo-conservative.” It is also not only for Catholics, other Christians or even just “religious people”. It is for all people, offered by the Church to all who seek to build a truly just society. It is called “social” because it speaks to human society and to the formation, role and rightful place of social institutions.


Catholic Social teaching maintains that there are some unchangeable truths, such as the dignity of every human person, and the right to life, from conception to natural death; the primacy of authentic marriage and the family founded upon it; and our obligation in solidarity to one another, and, most especially, to the poor and needy in our midst.


The Catholic position is that these truths can be known by all men and women because they are revealed in the Natural law and expounded upon in Revelation.


It also presents an understanding of human freedom as being properly exercised only with reference to the truth and at the service of our obligations to one another. Any authentic understanding of human freedom must also promote religious freedom because it is a good of the human person and a fundamental human right.


Finally, the compass that is to guide us all as we seek to be both faithful citizens and faithful Catholic Christians is our commitment to the Common Good.


Catholics do not accept the notion that these truths, such as the fundamental right to life, are “religious” positions, in the sense that only religious people need assent to them. Rather, they are human positions. They obligate us all.


Also, we do not accept the notion that our commitment to respect every human life from conception to natural death is a “single issue” approach. Rather, it presents a framework through which we must evaluate every other issue. Children in the womb are our first neighbors. They are also, in the words of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta, the ‘poorest of the poor’.


Catholic Social teaching also offers principles for good governance. Because they are “principles”, they leave room for the application of prudential judgment. Included among these principles is the principle of subsidiarity which, simply stated, says that government is best when it is closest to those being governed and that it should begin with, and defer to, the smallest governing unit, which is the family.


Governor, we have followed your campaign with great interest. As your numbers have begun to rise in the polls, there appears to be an effort underway to ‘marginalize’ you by saying that you appeal only to ‘Evangelical Protestants’, or to call you the candidate of the so called ‘religious right’.


As a Catholic, I know that a growing number of people like me, who consider ourselves to be whole life/pro-life, pro-marriage and family, pro-poor, pro-freedom and pro-peace, (and therefore do not like the prevailing labels), are greatly interested in your positions.


Please accept these questions as the beginning of what I hope can be the beginning of further discussions between you and Catholic Online.


QUESTION: What do you think is the biggest challenge facing America today?


Governor Huckabee: “We are, right now, a very polarized country, and that polarized country has led to a paralyzed government. I think the first priority of the next president is to be a president of all the United States. We've got to be the united people of the United States. And a president has got to somehow remind us that we are a great, resilient nation that has to stick together to solve our problems.


I think people in this country are looking for leadership. They're looking for change. They're looking for the people who would be elected to be not so much a ruling class but a servant class.


We've forgotten that. Our Founding Fathers had a brilliant, really revolutionary idea, that the people elected would not represent the elite, but would represent the ordinary people. Our Founding Fathers had the idea that when we are elected, we're not elected as a part to be elevated up, but to truly remember who it is we work for.”


QUESTION: What is your position on the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death and the fundamental right to life?


Governor Huckabee: “I believe that life begins at conception and ends at a natural death. Life is a gift from God.


Every child deserves a quality education, first-rate health care, decent housing in a safe neighborhood, and clean air and drinking water. Every child deserves the opportunity to discover and use his God-given gifts and talents.


What I accomplished as Governor proves that there is a lot more that a pro-life President can do than wait for a Supreme Court vacancy, and I will do everything I can to promote a pro-life agenda and pass pro-life legislation. I'll veto any pro-abortion legislation Congress passes. I will staff all relevant positions with pro-life appointees. I will use the Bully Pulpit to change hearts and minds, to move this country from a culture of death to a culture of life."


QUESTION: How have you lived that commitment personally, as well as in your years of public service as an elected official?


Governor Huckabee: “I have always been actively and aggressively pro-life. No candidate has a stronger or more consistent record on the sanctity of life than I do.


When I was elected Lieutenant Governor, and later Governor, I marched in the annual Right to Life parade down Capitol Avenue in Little Rock. I did this at a time when no other state-wide elected official in Arkansas would participate in this event.


I first became politically active when I helped pass Arkansas' Unborn Child Amendment, which requires the state to do whatever it can to protect life.


As Governor, I used that Amendment to pass pro-life legislation. The many pro-life laws I got through my Democrat-controlled Legislature are the accomplishments that give me the most pride and personal satisfaction.”


QUESTION: What have you done to build a new culture of life and defend the right to life against the encroachment of what the late Pope John Paul II rightly called a culture of death?


Governor Huckabee: “As Governor, I banned partial birth abortion; I required parental notification; I required that a woman give informed consent before having an abortion; I required that a woman be told her baby will experience pain and be given the option of anesthesia for her baby; I allowed a woman to have her baby and, if she was unable to care for it, leave the child safely at a hospital; and I made it a crime for an unborn child to be injured or murdered during an attack on his mother.


I support and have always supported passage of a constitutional amendment to protect the right to life. As President, I will fight for passage of this amendment. My convictions regarding the sanctity of life have always been clear and consistent, without equivocation or wavering.


I believe that Roe v. Wade should be over-turned.


I applaud the Supreme Court's recent decision in Gonzales v. Cathcart forbidding the gruesome practice of partial birth abortion. While I am optimistic that we are turning the tide in favor of life, we still have many battles ahead of us to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and so it is vital that we elect a pro-life President.”


QUESTION: Because of our obligation to respect the good of life and our obligation to hear the cry of the poor, what is your plan to help us as a Nation ensure the availability of health insurance coverage for all Americans, including the poor?


Governor Huckabee: “The health care system in this country is irrevocably broken, in part because it is only a "health care" system, not a "health" system. For example, insurance companies will pay $30,000 for a diabetic to have his foot amputated, but won't pay far less for special shoes that would save his foot.


We don't need universal health care mandated by federal edict or funded through ever-higher taxes. We do need to get serious about preventive health care instead of chasing more and more dollars to treat chronic disease, which currently gobbles up 80 percent of our health care costs, and yet is often avoidable. The result is that we'll be able to deliver better care where and when it's needed.


More than that, preventive health care improves the quality of life. A man who learns to eat right, exercise and not smoke has a better quality of life than one who doesn’t do those things, has a heart attack and the pain and limitations on life that follow.


I’ve seen such pain. My father smoked, didn’t exercise or eat right. He had open heart surgery and five bypasses. His quality of life after his heart attack was never as good as it was before. I often think how much better and longer he would have lived if he’d taken better care of himself.


Also, I advocate policies that will encourage the private sector to seek innovative ways to bring down costs and improve the free market for health care services. We can make health care more affordable by reforming medical liability; adopting electronic record keeping; making health insurance more portable from one job to another; expanding health savings accounts to everyone, not just those with high deductibles; and making health insurance tax deductible for individuals and families as it now is for businesses.


Low income families would get tax credits instead of deductions. We don't need all the government controls that would inevitably come with universal health care. When I'm President, Americans will have more control of their health care options, not less.”


QUESTION: Many Catholics opposed the initial decision to enter Iraq, not believing it fit a "just war" analysis. However, most now agree that we have an obligation to do what is right for the struggling people of that Nation and to support our troops. What are your thoughts on the way forward in Iraq?


Governor Huckabee: “Iraq is a battle in our generational, ideological war on terror. I am focused on winning. Withdrawal would have serious strategic consequences for us and horrific humanitarian consequences for the Iraqis.


If we leave, Iraq's neighbors on all sides will face a refugee crisis and be drawn into the war: Iran to protect the Shiites; Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan to protect the Sunnis; and Turkey to protect its control over its own Kurd population. Iraq is a crossroads where Arab meets Persian and Kurd, Sunni meets Shiite, so if it's not a peaceful buffer, it can easily become a tinder box for the region.


When we deposed Saddam, we emphasized Iraq's central location as a prime place to establish democracy and have it spread. That was the potential dramatic upside. Now we're faced with the potential dramatic downside that the terrorists are fighting to take advantage of: Iraq's central location as a prime place to create chaos and have it spread.


The surge is working as we’ve seen the Sunni tribes turn against Al Qaeda and work with us. The same strategy is working in turning Shiites against their militias. So I have confidence in “bottom up” reconciliation and in General Petraeus. We have started to withdraw troops and expect to be down to pre-surge levels by next summer.


Also, casualties – both civilian and military – are way down.”


QUESTION: What would you do to protect and defend marriage and the family founded upon it as the first institution of society?


Governor Huckabee: “Marriage is the foundation of civilization. Marriage must remain what it has always been – a union between one man and one woman. And I would add to that, a union for life.


No other candidate has supported traditional marriage more consistently and steadfastly than I have.


While Massachusetts was allowing homosexuals to marry, I got a constitutional amendment passed in Arkansas in 2002 defining marriage as between one man and one woman.


In an effort to turn the growing tide of divorce, I led Arkansas to become only the third state to adopt "covenant" marriage.


My wife Janet and I renewed our vows on Valentine's Day, 2005 as a covenant marriage. Today, many churches in Arkansas will perform only covenant marriages, so I'm hoping we'll see a decline in our divorce rates.


The late Cardinal O'Connor decried a domestic partnership law (which provided that all couples who signed up, whether heterosexual or homosexual, would be treated the same as married couples) as legislating that "marriage doesn't matter."


I agree with the Cardinal: marriage does matter. And, I would add that nothing in our society matters more.Our true strength doesn't come from our military or our gross national product, it comes from our families.


What's the point of keeping the terrorists at bay in the Middle East if we can't keep decline and decadence at bay here at home? The growing number of children born out of wedlock, and the rise in no-fault divorce, has been a disaster for our society.


They have pushed many women and children into poverty and onto the welfare, food stamp, and Medicaid rolls. These children are more likely to drop out of school and end up in low-paying, dead-end jobs, they are more likely to get involved with drugs and crime, they are more likely to have children out of wedlock or get divorced themselves someday, continuing the unhappy cycle.


My wife, Janet, and I celebrated our thirty-third wedding anniversary this past May. For us, every anniversary is a miracle. When we were both twenty and married just over a year, when I was in my last semester of college, Janet was diagnosed with cancer of the spine.


I can't tell you what a stunning blow it was - two kids just starting out, you don't think something like that can happen when you're so young. Yet there we were, staring death in the face.


At first, they told us that even if she lived, she might be paralyzed from the waist down, so I'd be a young man with an invalid wife. After I learned she wouldn't be paralyzed, I was told that because of the radiation she had to receive following surgery, we'd probably never have children. I wanted children very much, I couldn't imagine never being a father.


During that time, a lot of things went through my mind. But one thing never did - the thought of leaving her. If Janet were in a wheelchair today, if we'd never had children, I can tell you this - she would still be my wife.


We have a loving and merciful God, and I want you to know that Janet and I did have three children – John Mark, David and Sarah."


QUESTION: How would you expand participation in the great promise, opportunity and bounty of America to those less fortunate?


Governor Huckabee: “I believe that every child should have the opportunity for a quality education that teaches the fundamental skills needed to compete in a global economy. As I traveled the country and the world over the last decade bringing jobs to Arkansas, the business leaders I met weren't worried about creating jobs, they were worried about finding skilled and professional workers to fill those jobs.


The success of our schools has to be judged by the results we obtain, not the revenues we spend. A focus on true quality rather than mere quantity requires us to set high standards for our students and teachers, measure their performance diligently, and hold educators and administrators accountable for the results in an atmosphere of transparency and efficiency.


As Governor of Arkansas, I created intensive reading and math programs that went back to basics. I started with elementary students and, as those children thrived, I expanded the program to middle and then high schools. Our test scores rose dramatically. I then created one of the most demanding high school curricula in the country, and the number of students taking advanced placement classes grew by leaps and bounds. I also fought hard for more charter schools, with their strong parental involvement and their unique ability to serve as laboratories for education reform, and for the rights of parents to home school their children. I am proud that my three children attended public schools from K through twelve, as did my wife and I.


Lastly, I want to provide our children what I call the "Weapons of Mass Instruction" - art and music - the secret, effective weapons that will help us to be competitive and creative. It is crucial that children flex both the left and right sides of the brain. Art and music are as important as math and science because the dreamers and visionaries among us take the rough straw of an idea and spin it into the gold of new businesses and jobs.”


QUESTION: Catholics believe that parents are the first teachers of their children and that they should be able to choose how to extend their own teaching office from among all of the available alternatives; public schools, charter schools, private and parochial schools and home schools. What is your position on parental choice in education?


Governor Huckabee: “I support parental choice. Parents are much better able to make those decisions for their children than a government bureaucrat.”


QUESTION: Another Governor from Arkansas - who became President - reminded us during his campaign that, "It's the economy, stupid."


What are your plans to improve the economy and expand participation in the market economy to more and more Americans?


Governor Huckabee: “I want a major change in the tax system in this country, The FairTax will replace the Internal Revenue Code with a consumption tax, like the taxes on retail sales 45 states and the District of Columbia have now.



Everyone will get a monthly rebate that will reimburse us for taxes on purchases up to the poverty line, so that we're not taxed on necessities.



That means people below the poverty line won't be taxed at all. We'll be taxed on what we decide to buy, not what we happen to earn.


We won't be taxed on what we choose to save or the interest those savings earn. The tax will apply only to new goods, so we can reduce our taxes further by buying a used car or computer.


Our current progressive tax system penalizes us for working harder and becoming more successful. As we climb the ladder, the government lurks on each rung, hungry for a bigger bite out of our earnings.


The FairTax is also progressive, but it doesn't punish the American dream of success, or the old-fashioned virtues of hard work and thrift, it rewards and encourages them. The FairTax isn't intended to raise any more or less money for the federal government to spend - it is revenue neutral.


Expert analyses have shown that the FairTax lowers the lifetime tax burden for everyone: single or married; working or retired; rich, poor or middle class.


The FairTax will instantly make American products 12 to 25 percent more competitive because the cost of those goods will no longer be inflated by corporate taxes, costs of tax compliance, and Social Security matching payments.


When we buy products now, those taxes are built into the cost, so all of us pay corporate taxes indirectly on top of the personal taxes we pay directly. Compliance costs are just make-work with no real added value, yet they consume as much as 3 percent of our gross domestic product annually. These costs are an especially heavy burden on small businesses, which generate most of our jobs."


QUESTION: Your position on illegal immigration has been criticized for allowing higher education benefits for the children of illegal immigrants while you were Governor.


However, many Catholics, like you, are also concerned for the children of illegal immigrants. In a recent debate you said to one of your opponents "We are a better country than that." What did you mean?


Governor Huckabee: “Children are not given a choice in where their parents raise them. I don’t believe we should punish children for the sins of their parents.


That’s why I said we are a better country than that.


I once supported the measure before the Arkansas Legislature that would have allowed the children of those here illegally to apply for one particular scholarship in Arkansas if they met some qualifications.


They had to have gone through the Arkansas public school system, have a grade point average of 3.0 or higher, be drug-free, have applied to become American citizens and already been admitted to an Arkansas college or university as a full-time student.


Those students student would simply have been treated as any other graduate of an Arkansas High School, and not given any special consideration. That bill didn’t pass and it has been greatly distorted in this election."


QUESTION: Are you in favor of amnesty for illegal immigrants?


Governor Huckabee: “I oppose amnesty. It would be unfair to those who have waited for years to legally immigrate to this country.


I am proud to live in a country where people want to break in rather than want to break out."


QUESTION: What will be your position with regard to the growing threat of extremist acts of terrorism at home and abroad?


Governor Huckabee: “I believe that we are currently engaged in a world war. Radical Islamic fascists have declared war on our country and our way of life. They have sworn to annihilate each of us who believes in a free society, all in the name of a perversion of religion and an impersonal god.


We go to great extremes to save lives, they go to great extremes to take them. This war is not a conventional war, and these terrorists are not a conventional enemy.


We are dealing with people who will put a bomb on their own children to kill innocent people and then they celebrate as if this is a great victory. I will fight the war on terror with the intensity and single-mindedness that it deserves.


The top priority of the President as Commander in Chief is first and foremost protecting our own citizens. While we live in a neighborhood of nations and must strive to be good neighbors, as President, I will ensure the peace, safety, and well-being of American citizens at home and abroad.”


Deacon Keith Fournier: Governor, thank you for taking the time to answer our questions. And, thank you for your service to our Nation. May the Lord bless you and your family.



Catholic Online has not endorsed any candidate in the Presidential primary. We have raised the questions which we believe are of special importance to many Catholics. We will offer a similar opportunity to answer these questions to any candidate running for the Presidency. (For interviews and inquiries, please contact Catholic Online Publisher - mlg@catholic.org)

A Response to "Mike's America"

A Higher Power

By Liz Clarke

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 15, 2007; A08

When he climbed out of the car at Fort Robinson that morning in June 1972, Mike Huckabee found himself surrounded by 1,200 other high school juniors, each a leader in his Arkansas home town, each primed for an election. Several were carrying posters touting their platforms. Others were handing out cards.

Then as now, Huckabee didn't have the campaign apparatus of his peers. The 16-year-old arrived at Boys State, a prestigious and civic-minded youth camp run by the American Legion, from the small southwest Arkansas town of Hope with nothing but a suitcase and a gift for oratory.

By week's end he was its brightest star, elected governor in a landslide. He left Boys State with a network of high-achieving new friends who were eager to hitch their futures to his. And he'd soon have a letter from Gov. Dale Bumpers encouraging him to consider a career in public service.

It was a heady triumph for a teenager who already harbored big ambitions. But it wasn't enough -- not yet -- to lure him from his chosen path: preaching the word of God.

Three days after Boys State, Huckabee and two buddies from Hope piled into a car and headed to the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, where they joined 80,000 other teenagers at Explo '72, the first worldwide gathering of evangelical youth. Time magazine dubbed it "the Jesus Woodstock." There, Huckabee spent six days learning from the Rev. Billy Graham and Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, how to lead others to the Lord.

"It was transforming," Huckabee recalls. "Suddenly, I'm one of nearly 100,000 very young evangelical Christian believers who had a very fervent faith and wanted to change the world. Suddenly, I was confronted with a feeling of 'Wow! There are a lot of people like me, too.' "

Huckabee's decision to enter the ministry, announced before his senior year of high school, disappointed a number of admiring teachers and classmates. Why would he squander such obvious leadership potential, they asked, to be a preacher?

"But this is what he knew in his heart he was supposed to do," says his older sister, Pat Harris. "I don't think Mike ever quibbled or felt like he was giving up anything. He was totally committed to what he was doing."

It would take almost two decades for Huckabee's ministerial calling to yield to his political aspirations. And when it did, many of those closest to the evangelical Baptist minister were shocked. But Huckabee has always been comfortable navigating both the spiritual and secular realms. For him, one form of power has always fueled the other.

* * *

Huckabee's rise to political prominence -- first among Southern Baptists, then among Arkansas Republicans and now among the candidates vying for the GOP presidential nomination -- had an implausible beginning.

Huckabee was reared in a one-story brick rental house in Hope, the small town that also produced Bill Clinton. The Huckabees lived near Hope's railroad depot. Mike's father, Dorsey, a burly firefighter who never finished high school, was a "spare the rod, spoil the child" disciplinarian. Huckabee once referred to his father as a "patriot," saying: "He laid on the stripes, and I saw stars."

His mother, Mae, was a clerical worker at the local gas company. Every Sunday morning, she would take Mike and Pat to Garrett Memorial Baptist Church -- a small Missionary Baptist congregation that stressed the inerrancy of the Bible, the memorization of Scripture and the importance of saving souls through mission work. Huckabee was taught as a child that Adam and Eve were real people, that God created the Earth in seven days, that evolution is a false doctrine and that homosexuality is a grave sin -- all views he still holds today.

Huckabee says he was shy and insecure as a youngster. That began to change in fifth grade when he received a guitar for Christmas and, coached by an Assembly of God preacher, tackled basic chords and his fear of performing in public.

At 14, he got a job at the local AM radio station, where the station manager, a passionate, deeply conservative Republican, became his first political mentor. Haskell Jones gave Huckabee a copy of Phyllis Schlafly's 1964 book, "A Choice Not an Echo," written in part to promote Barry Goldwater's presidential bid. Schlafly railed against the moneyed East Coast elites who she argued were diluting the Republican Party's core values. Huckabee found the ideas in the book electrifying.

His work at KXAR was equally transforming. He became a minor celebrity in Hope by announcing high school sports, reading the news and giving away tubes of Fostex acne cream to callers who answered trivia questions he made up.

"I didn't have to see my audience," Huckabee, now 52, explains, "but I had one. And it helped me develop a sense of confidence -- a sense that I could do this."

But nothing supplied the confidence he found in Philippians 4:13, which he first read at 15. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me," it says. God was telling him, he says, "that there were really no limits to what was ahead of me."

Soon after that, he preached his first sermon, titled "Watering Down the Blood of Christ," and he illustrated his message by holding up a pitcher of bright-red liquid and pouring plain water into it. "The point of the sermon was Jesus had died, and his blood was there to cover our sins," says his sister. "But because sin kept creeping in, it watered down his blood and diluted the purity of Christ, and we became less because we let sin in."

Huckabee's budding gift for oratory carried over at school. He was such a star in speech class that fellow students took him out in the hall at one point and asked him to quit volunteering to go first.

In 10th grade, he was elected class president. He started the Christian Student Union because he was concerned about the spiritual lives of his peers. It wasn't so much that he viewed them as sinners, he insists. "It was really to encourage Christian behavior," he says. "It was an 'anything goes' world at that time. And this was to offer an alternative to the alternative."

In his book "Character Makes a Difference," Huckabee describes 1968 as the year that marked the death of American innocence. "From that year onward," he writes, "we have lived in the age of the birth control pill, free love, gay sex, the drug culture and reckless disregard for standards."

But Huckabee had little firsthand exposure to the excesses of the 1960s. By all accounts, the strife that erupted across much of the nation after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy bypassed Hope. The high school there integrated fairly smoothly in 1969-1970. Drugs were unheard of.

It didn't occur to Huckabee that not everyone went to church until he won a scholarship to a two-week space camp at Cape Canaveral in the summer of 1971. The camp drew top high school sophomores from all over the country. "I was shocked by how many of them had no belief in God at all," recalls Huckabee, who was singled out by one boy as the camp's sole "Jesus freak." Huckabee says he didn't retreat from his beliefs or chide the doubters. "I was the one kid who would explain why it was important."

The invitation to Boys State followed the next summer.

All of the participants campaigned for office, with the prestige of the position sought, from alderman to governor, betraying the extent of each boy's ambition. Huckabee sought the top job from the moment he arrived.

Winning an election was hard work. A candidate had to collect 25 signatures on a petition from members of his own party, survive a primary and, ultimately, appeal to enough members of the opposing party to prevail, making speeches at every stage of the process. Huckabee swept into the governor's office with more than 80 percent of the vote.

"He challenged the young men to get involved and told us we could make a difference," recalls Jonathan Barnett, then chairman of the Arkansas High School Republicans. "He talked about how fortunate we were that we lived in the United States. And he talked about how the Bill of Rights guaranteed us 'the pursuit of happiness' -- not the guarantee of happiness."

When Boys State ended, Barnett told Huckabee that he wanted him to run for public office someday and asked if he could manage his campaign when the time came. Huckabee demurred, explaining his call to the ministry. Barnett didn't try to talk him out of it. But at least once a year, he'd phone to ask whether Huckabee had changed his mind.

"I'd say, 'Mike, are you ready?' " says Barnett, now a general contractor in Siloam Springs, Ark. "And he'd say, 'No, I'm not ready.' I took that to mean he might not ever be ready."

Boys State ended on June 9. On June 12, Billy Graham opened Explo '72 with a rousing call to action. "We are here to say to the world that Christian youth are now on the march," Graham said to thunderous cheers. "And we're going to keep marching until millions of people are brought into the kingdom of God!"

Tens of thousands of teenagers each received a yellow pamphlet containing Bright's treatise, "The Four Spiritual Laws," which explained how to lead nonbelievers to Christ. In the days that followed, they attended training sessions to hone their evangelical skills and fanned out in Dallas-Fort Worth neighborhoods to talk with residents about God's word.

Huckabee roomed in a Southern Methodist University dorm with Lester Sitzes, his best friend since second grade. They did their evangelizing together, with Huckabee, the more polished speaker, taking the lead. "I was always Mike's wingman," Sitzes says with a chuckle.

On the last night, they returned to the Cotton Bowl for a huge concert headlined by Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Christian artists. As attendees filed into the stadium, each person was handed an unlit candle.

Huckabee has vivid memories of what followed. After Graham finished speaking, the lights were turned off. Graham lit his candle and then lit Bright's, turning one light into two. Each man lit another candle, so two became four. The audience was told to follow suit, lighting their neighbor's candle as soon as theirs was lit.

"Two things made an impression," recalls Huckabee, who was seated at the opposite end of the stadium. "Even though I was extremely far away, that tiny flickering of the one candle penetrated the darkness, and I saw it. That told me that even a little bit of light in the midst of darkness is worth something. . . . The second thing that happened was, as those candles began to accelerate -- because obviously it happens pretty quickly through the principle of multiplication -- this light just starts expanding around the stadium, faster and faster, until the stadium is aglow. It had a big impact on me -- the rapidity with which something can spread, good or bad, and the impact that one life, and one light, can make. That's when it really sunk in to me that one person can make a difference."

Once back in Hope, Huckabee wore his Explo '72 T-shirt until it was threadbare, determined to be that candle.

* * *

It was another huge gathering of evangelicals in Dallas that reignited Huckabee's interest in politics. In 1980, he and 15,000 other pastors and conservative Christians gathered at Reunion Arena in what is often characterized as a political "coming-out party" for the evangelical movement.

At the time, Huckabee was working for James Robison, a television evangelist known for his fiery sermons. Huckabee, who had attended seminary for a year after graduating from Ouachita (pronounced "WASH-uh-taw") Baptist University in Arkadelphia, was Robison's publicist. He orchestrated Robison's prayer meetings and promoted his television show, while Robison railed against homosexuality, abortion and the country's moral decay.

Robison's Fort Worth-based ministry helped host the gathering in Dallas, organized at a time of great political ferment among evangelicals, remembers Richard Land, then a 33-year-old Christian broadcaster and now head of the public policy arm of the Southern Baptist Convention. The Rev. Jerry Falwell had formed the Moral Majority the year before and registered 12 million church members. Now evangelicals wanted to figure out how to mobilize their newfound political strength.

Ronald Reagan, who had just won the Republican nomination for the presidency, was the event's keynote speaker. And he brought down the house by famously telling the believers: "I know you can't endorse me, but I want you to know that I endorse you."

Land says the event made a huge impression on Huckabee: "It was there that Mike caught a new vision for the potential of faith in politics and faith in public policy. There were a lot of younger evangelicals who had been raised to believe that politics was dirty business and the last thing a Christian would do is get involved in politics."

Huckabee's wife, Janet, who had just given birth to the couple's second child, says he began talking about running for office himself. Right around that time, she says, he was offered an opportunity to serve as interim pastor of a small Baptist church in Pine Bluff, where Huckabee had identified a potentially promising congressional seat. But before he could explore a run for Congress, church leaders asked him to become their full-time pastor. And a full-time job, for a young family with few means, was hard to turn down. Politics would have to wait.

* * *

One night in late 1991, Huckabee suggested that he and Janet take a walk. He told her he was thinking about running for the U.S. Senate and asked what she thought. She was supportive and not at all surprised. "I think we both felt the same thing, but neither one wanted to talk about it," Janet recalls.

That feeling, as Huckabee would explain in "Character Makes a Difference," was mounting frustration. After 12 years as a minister, he'd begun questioning the significance of the work he was doing.

"In my early years of ministry, I was quite idealistic, thinking that most people in the congregation expected me to be the captain of a warship leading God's troops into battle to change the world," he writes. "As the years passed, I became increasingly convinced that most people wanted me to captain the Love Boat, making sure everyone was having a good time."

At the time, Huckabee was finishing a two-year term as president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, which he had held together during a period of deep division between fundamentalists and more moderate Baptists. In his outgoing speech to the convention, recounted in the Arkansas Baptist Newsmagazine, he hinted at the career change that he would announce in a matter of weeks.

"We cannot change the world if we refuse to participate in the institutions of society that dictate its direction," Huckabee said. "Christians have a message to America that would save many a person such misery. . . . If we want to stop the spread of AIDS and deal with the teen pregnancy problem, we must play by the rules of our Creator -- one man with one woman for life in a monogamous marital relationship."

He pleaded for tolerance, telling his fellow Baptists: "Our most important fight is not with each other. [It is] a battle to salvage our culture and our very civilization from a world view that thinks man is good and God is dead."

Years later, after he'd lost the Senate race but become governor of Arkansas, Huckabee would explain in starker terms his motivation for "getting inside the dragon's belly."

"I didn't get into politics because I thought government had a better answer," he told a group of pastors on the eve of the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention. "I got into politics because I knew government didn't have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives." He concluded that speech with words he says he'd phrase differently today: "I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."

ED ROLLINS TO LEAD HUCKABEE CAMPAIGN

Little Rock, AR - Former Arkansas Governor and Presidential Candidate Mike Huckabee has named Republican political strategist Ed Rollins as his National Campaign Chairman.

"I am proud to announce the addition of Ed Rollins as my National Campaign Chairman," said Huckabee. "Ed is an unparalleled strategist and is well-known as the man who directed the most successful Presidential campaign in the history of the United States. Ed's experience and track record of building winning coalitions within our party, bringing together social, economic and foreign-policy conservatives, and reaching across party lines, makes him a good fit for our campaign."

Rollins served as the National Campaign Director to Ronald Reagan in the 1984 presidential election in which Reagan won 49 states.

"I am honored to be joining Governor Huckabee's remarkable campaign," added Rollins. "I have always said that I want to work for candidates with convictions who can communicate those convictions. And Governor Huckabee is that candidate. He has the ability to change the political conversation in this country. Among the presidential contenders, he is also the one with the most executive experience. I look forward to working with the Governor over the coming year on the road to the White House."

Rollins served in the administrations of Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan, including serving two tours of duty at the highest level of the White House as Assistant to the President and White House Political Director. His book, Bare Knuckles and Back Rooms, was the number one selling political book in America in 1996 and made the top of the New York Times and every other national best seller list. He is currently the Chairman of the Rollins Strategy Group, a communications and crisis management firm with offices in New York and Washington, D.C.

Minuteman Project Founder Endorses Mike Huckabee

Minuteman Project Jim Gilchrist on Tuesday endorsed Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

Noting that he might not agree 100 percent on immigration with Huckabee, the firebrand illegal immigration opponent said Huckabee's recently released immigration plan won him over.

"The governor has a plan and I appreciate his plan. That's why I'm supporting him. He's one of the few who's actually brought forth a plan and gone public with it. It shows to me that he's willing to engage in the tough love necessary to fix this problem," Gilchrist said.

Gilchrist, whose organization is separate from the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, has drawn protests in appearances at college campuses in recent months for his views on strict illegal immigration laws. Unlike the MCDC, whose primary role is to park volunteers along the U.S.-Mexico border to report jumpers to Border Patrol agents, the Minuteman Project calls attention to enforcement of state and federal laws relating to immigration.

Huckabee last week announced a get-tough immigration plan, proposing to construct a border fence with surveillance cameras by July 1, 2010, calling for an increase to the number of Border Patrol agents and imposing steep penalties on employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Huckabee's plan also calls for a zero-tolerance policy toward amnesty and states that all illegal immigrants would have a 120-day window to register and leave the country. Under the proposal, those who register and leave will face no penalty, while those who do not, if caught, will be barred from the United States for 10 years.

The approach is a seeming reversal for Huckabee, who has been criticized for actions he took as Arkansas governor, including his support for tuition breaks for children of undocumented immigrants and $1,000 in government assistance to children whose illegal parents were arrested, and his denunciation of a 2005 raid on illegal immigrants at a poultry plant.

HUCKABEE UNVEILS PLAN FOR IMMIGRATION CONTROL AND BORDER SECURITY

Mike Huckabee presented yesterday a tough, new plan to address America's long neglected border security and immigration crisis. The nine-part plan follows:

A 9-Point Strategy for Immigration Enforcement and Border Security

Overview: Implement a broad-based strategy that commits the resources of the federal government to the enforcement of our immigration laws and results in the attrition of the illegal immigrant population.

1. Build the Fence

• Ensure that an interlocking surveillance camera system is installed along the border by July 1, 2010.
• Ensure that the border fence construction is completed by July 1, 2010.

2. Increase Border Patrol

• Increase the number of border patrol agents.
• Fully support all law enforcement personnel tasked with enforcing immigration law.

3. Prevent Amnesty

• Policies that promote or tolerate amnesty will be rejected.
• Propose to provide all illegal immigrants a 120-day window to register with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services and leave the country. Those who register and return to their home country will face no penalty if they later apply to immigrate or visit; those who do not return home will be, when caught, barred from future reentry for a period of 10 years.

4. Enforce the Law on Employers

• Employment is the chief draw for most illegal immigrants and denying them jobs is the centerpiece of an attrition strategy.
• Impose steep fines and penalties on employers that violate the law.
• Institute a universal, mandatory citizenship verification system as part of the normal hiring process.
• Prevent the IRS and the Social Security Administration from accepting fraudulent Social Security numbers or numbers that don't match the employees' names.*

5. Establish an Economic Border

• Move toward passage of the FairTax.
• The FairTax provides an extra layer of security by creating an economic disincentive to immigrate to the U.S. illegally.

6. Empower Local Authorities

• Promote better cooperation on enforcement by supporting legislative measures such as the CLEAR Act, which aims to systematize the relationship between local law and federal immigration officials.
• Encourage immigration-law training for police. Local authorities must be provided the tools, training, and funding they need so local police can turn illegal immigrants over to the federal authorities.

7. Ensure Document Security

• End exemptions for Mexicans and Canadians to the US-VISIT program, which tracks the arrival and departure of foreign visitors. Since these countries account for the vast majority of foreigners coming here (85 percent), such a policy clearly violates Congress' intent in mandating this check-in/check-out system.
• Reject Mexico's "matricula consular" card, which functions as an illegal-immigrant identification card.

8. Discourage Dual Citizenship

• Inform foreign governments when their former citizens become naturalized U.S. citizens.
• Impose civil and/or criminal penalties on American citizens who illegitimately use their dual status (e.g., using a foreign passport, voting in elections in both a foreign country and the U.S.).

9. Modernize the Process of Legal Immigration

• Eliminate the visa lottery system and the admission category for adult brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens.
• Increase visas for highly-skilled and highly-educated applicants.
• Expedite processing for those who serve honorably in the U.S. Armed Forces.
• Improve our immigration process so that those patiently and responsibly seeking to come here legally will not have to wait decades to share in the American dream. Governor Huckabee has always been grateful to live in a country that people are trying to break into, rather than break out of.

*This policy will be drafted to comply with the final federal court decisions on this issue.

Note: This plan is partially modeled on a proposal by Mark Krikorian, Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies. ("Re: Immigration: Ten Points for a Successful Presidential Candidate," National Review, May 23, 2005.)

"HE HASN'T BEEN MORMON ENOUGH"

From The Guardian
London, England

By Daniel Nasaw in Washington

While Mitt Romney's speech on his Mormon faith this morning played to evangelicals by describing the role his religion should play in public policy, it was unlikely to sway social conservative voters uneasy with his socially liberal background.

The speech was meant to address fears that he would take policy cues from Mormon church leaders, and that his religion is a cult that is unacceptable to Christian conservative voters.

But many social conservative voters are less concerned with the specifics of the former Massachusetts governor's religious creed than his sympathetic record on abortion rights.

"I don't think Romney's problem has anything to do with Mormonism," said Jerry Zandstra, a Michigan anti-abortion activist and pastor who supports Arizona Senator John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. "I have no problem with him being a Mormon. It's his positions that are ever-shifting and problematic."

For instance, Romney now says he's firmly anti-abortion, but while running for office in Massachusetts, he said, "I believe women should have the right to make their own choice."

Another Michigan social-conservative activist said Romney's declaration that "Americans do not respect believers of convenience" was an "indictment" of his own political background.

"The risk he runs is being judged as a 'believer of convenience' in the public policy arena," said Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan.

"It's not that he's Mormon, it's that he hasn't been Mormon enough in the public policy arena."

Mormons are typically vehemently socially conservative and anti-abortion.

Massachusetts voters, who chose him 50%-45%, are far more liberal than the Republican Iowa caucus-goers he sought to woo today. In Iowa, evangelical Christians make up an estimated 35% to 50% of caucus-goers. The Iowa caucuses are January 3.

The speech was billed in the media as the 2007 Republican version of John F Kennedy's speech to a group of protestant ministers in Houston in 1960. In that address Kennedy declared that he was an American running for president who happens to be Catholic, not a Catholic running for president who would take orders from the Vatican.

Romney's speech stuck to a dramatically different theme, and included some key talking points of the Christian right.

"It was not JFK's ringing endorsement of church-state separation", said Peter Montgomery, a spokesman for People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group. "He's trying to assure [Christian conservatives] 'I'm one of you,' in order to get their vote."

Romney also referred directly to the cultural battles in which conservatives are perpetually engaged, saying God 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.

"Some of what he said was meant to play directly to some of the concerns in the culture wars," said Martin Medhurst, a professor of rhetoric at Baylor University in Waco, Texas . The message , Medhurst said: "I'm on your side."

Romney said he refused to offer doctrinal details of his Mormon religion.

"He's basically shut that off," said John Green, Senior Fellow at Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Green said by doing so, he avoids the risk doctrinal differences will put off Christian voters. "That's an argument he probably can't win."

Instead, Romney embraced what Green called "American civil religion, the idea that American politics and government are based on universal religious values." "He's trying to stake out a positive role in religion," Green said.

It's unlikely, however, that he convinced evangelicals they're cut from the same cloth.

"I don't think his Mormonism is a deal breaker for most Americans, but only Mitt Romney can close the deal," Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told ABC television's Good Morning America. Asked directly if he thought Mormons were Christians, Land said, "No, I do not."

Medhurst said the speech was a defensive play intended to staunch the flow of wavering Iowa evangelicals from his camp to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, has overtaken Romney in some Iowa polls and is gaining ground nationally.

Marvin Olasky, provost of The King's College, a Christian liberal arts school in New York City, said Romney will have a tough time persuading evangelical voters that Mormon church priorities will not help shape his public policy.

Romney's avowal of his belief in Jesus' divinity is "necessary, but not sufficient," Medhurst said. Romney will now have to meet with evangelical leaders and win their endorsement, he said.

Great Speech, Seriously Flawed Candidate

Governor Romney gave a great, Reaganesque speech today on faith in America. It was the sort of speech that will be heard in high school forensics competitions years from now. It will doubtless help his campaign.

Unfortunately, the concern many Americans have about Governor Romney is not so much about his faith as it is about his foibles -- his ability to change his beliefs to suit the day's politics and geography. He speaks just as passionately today about his pro-life views as he did just a few years ago in support of Roe v Wade and the abortion industry. A few years ago we heard heartfelt stories about the influence of his mother who was pro-abortion before Roe v. Wade, and now we are supposed to believe he has had a Road to Damascus conversion from studying the stem-cell issue.

Regardless of who may have written the speech, there were two lines that reflect both a bitter lesson he must surely be learning, and the real problem so many voters have with this candidacy:

Americans do not respect believers of convenience.

Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world.

Text of Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's speech Thursday on faith at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas.

ROMNEY: Thank you, Mr. President for your kind introduction.

It is an honor to be here today. This is an inspiring place because of you and the first lady and because of the film that's exhibited across the way in the presidential library. For those who have not seen it, it shows the president as a young pilot, shot down during the Second World War, being rescued from his life raft by the crew of an American submarine. It's a moving reminder that when America has faced challenge and peril, Americans rise to the occasion, willing to risk their very lives to defend freedom and preserve our nation. We're in your debt,

Mr. President. Thank you very, very much.

Mr. President, your generation rose to the occasion, first to defeat fascism and then to vanquish the Soviet Union. You left us, your children, a free and strong America. It is why we call yours the greatest generation. It's now my generation's turn. How we respond to today's challenges will define our generation. And it will determine what kind of America we will leave our children, and theirs.

America faces a new generation of challenges. Radical violent Islam seeks to destroy us. An emerging China endeavors to surpass our economic leadership. And we're troubled at home by government overspending, overuse of foreign oil, and the breakdown of the family.

Over the last year, we've embarked on a national debate on how best to preserve American leadership. Today, I wish to address a topic which I believe is fundamental to America's greatness: our religious liberty. I'll also offer perspectives on how my own faith would inform my presidency, if I were elected.

There are some who may feel that religion is not a matter to be seriously considered in the context of the weighty threats that face us. If so, they are at odds with the nation's founders, for they, when our nation faced its greatest peril, sought the blessings of the Creator. And further, they discovered the essential connection between the survival of a free land and the protection of religious freedom. In John Adams' words: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. ... Our Constitution," he said, "was made for a moral and religious people."

Freedom requires religion just as religion requires freedom. Freedom opens the windows of the soul so that man can discover his most profound beliefs and commune with God. Freedom and religion endure together, or perish alone.

Given our grand tradition of religious tolerance and liberty, some wonder whether there are any questions regarding an aspiring candidate's religion that are appropriate. I believe there are. And I'll answer them today.

Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running for president. Like him, I am an American running for president. I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith.

Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin.

As governor, I tried to do the right as best I knew it, serving the law and answering to the Constitution. I did not confuse the particular teachings of my church with the obligations of the office and of the Constitution - and of course, I would not do so as president. I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law.

As a young man, Lincoln described what he called America's "political religion" - the commitment to defend the rule of law and the Constitution. When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God. If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one interest. A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States.

There are some for whom these commitments are not enough. They would prefer it if I would simply distance myself from my religion, say that it's more a tradition than my personal conviction, or disavow one or another of its precepts. That I will not do. I believe in my Mormon faith and I endeavor to live by it. My faith is the faith of my fathers. I will be true to them and to my beliefs.

Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it. But I think they underestimate the American people. Americans do not respect respecters - excuse me - believers of convenience.

Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world. There is one fundamental question about which I often am asked. What do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind. My church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths. Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. These are not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance. Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree.

There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution. No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths.

I believe that every faith I have encountered draws its adherents closer to God. And in every faith I have come to know, there are features I wish were in my own: I love the profound ceremony of the Catholic Mass, the approachability of God in the prayers of the evangelicals, the tenderness of spirit among the Pentecostals, the confident independence of the Lutherans, the ancient traditions of the Jews, unchanged through the ages, and the commitment to frequent prayer of the Muslims. As I travel across the country and see our towns and cities, I am always moved by the many houses of worship with their steeples, all pointing to heaven, reminding us of the source of life's blessings.

It's important to recognize that while differences in theology exist between the churches in America, we share a common creed of moral convictions. And where the affairs of our nation are concerned, it's usually a sound rule to focus on the latter, on the great moral principles that urge us all on a common course. Whether it was the cause of abolition, or civil rights, or the right to life itself, no movement of conscience can succeed in America that cannot speak to the convictions of religious people.

We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It's as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America - the religion of secularism. They are wrong.

The founders proscribed the establishment of a state religion, but they did not countenance the elimination of religion from the public square. We are a nation "under God" and in God, we do indeed trust.

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.'

Nor would I separate us from our religious heritage. Perhaps the most important question to ask a person of faith who seeks a political office, is this: Does he share these American values - the equality of human kind, the obligation to serve one another and a steadfast commitment to liberty?

They are not unique to any one denomination. They belong to the great moral inheritance we hold in common. They're the firm ground on which Americans of different faiths meet and stand as a nation, united.

We believe that every single human being is a child of God - we're all part of the human family. The conviction of the inherent and inalienable worth of every life is still the most revolutionary political proposition ever advanced. John Adams put it that we are "thrown into the world all equal and alike."

The consequence of our common humanity is our responsibility to one another, to our fellow Americans foremost, but also to every child of God. It's an obligation which is fulfilled by Americans every day, here and across the globe, without regard to creed or race or nationality.

Americans acknowledge that liberty is a gift of God, not an indulgence of government. No people in the - No people in the history of the world have sacrificed as much for liberty. The lives of hundreds of thousands of America's sons and daughters were laid down during the last century to preserve freedom, for us and for freedom loving people throughout the world. America took nothing from that century's terrible wars - no land from Germany or Japan or Korea, no treasure, no oath of fealty. America's resolve in the defense of liberty has been tested time and again. It has not been found wanting, nor must it ever be. America must never falter in holding high the banner of freedom.

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're 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.

Today's generations of Americans have always known religious liberty. Perhaps we forget the long and arduous path our nation's forebears took to achieve it. They came here from England to seek freedom of religion. But upon finding it for themselves, they at first denied it to others. Because of their diverse beliefs, Ann Hutchinson was exiled from Massachusetts Bay, Roger Williams founded Rhode Island, and two centuries later, Brigham Young set out for the West. Americans were unable to accommodate their commitment to their own faith with an appreciation for the convictions of others to different faiths. In this, they were very much like those of the European nations they had left.

It was in Philadelphia that our founding fathers defined a revolutionary vision of liberty, grounded on self evident truths about the equality of all, and the inalienable rights with which each is endowed by his Creator.

We cherish these sacred rights, and secure them in our Constitutional order. Foremost do we protect religious liberty, not as a matter of policy but as a matter of right. There will be no established church, and we are guaranteed the free exercise of our religion.

I'm not sure that we fully appreciate the profound implications of our tradition of religious liberty. I've visited many of the magnificent cathedrals in Europe. They are so inspired, so grand and so empty. Raised up over generations, long ago, so many of the cathedrals now stand as the postcard backdrop to societies just too busy or too 'enlightened' to venture inside and kneel in prayer. The establishment of state religions in Europe did no favor to Europe's churches. And though you will find many people of strong faith there, the churches themselves seem to be withering away.

Infinitely worse is the other extreme, the creed of conversion by conquest: violent jihad, murder as martyrdom, killing Christians, Jews, and Muslims with equal indifference. These radical Islamists do their preaching not by reason or example, but in the coercion of minds and the shedding of blood. We face no greater danger today than theocratic tyranny, and the boundless suffering these states and groups could inflict if given the chance.

The diversity of our cultural expression, and the vibrancy of our religious dialogue, has kept America in the forefront of civilized nations even as others regard religious freedom as something to be destroyed.

In such a world, we can be deeply thankful that we live in a land where reason and religion are friends and allies in the cause of liberty, joined against the evils and dangers of the day. And you can be - You can be certain of this: Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me. And so it is for hundreds of millions of our countrymen: We do not insist on a single strain of religion - rather, we welcome our nation's symphony of faith.

Recall the early days of the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia, during the fall of 1774. With Boston occupied by British troops, there were rumors of imminent hostilities and fears of an impending war. In this time of peril, someone suggested that they pray. But there were objections. "They were too divided in religious sentiment," what with Episcopalians and Quakers, Anabaptists and Congregationalists, Presbyterians and Catholics.

Then Sam Adams rose, and said he would hear a prayer from anyone of piety and good character, as long as they were a patriot.

And so together they prayed, and together they fought, and together, by the grace of God, they founded this great nation.

And in that spirit, let us give thanks to the divine "author of liberty." And together, let us pray that this land may always be blessed, "with freedom's holy light."

God bless this great land, the United States of America.