Free Republic

It's an American pastime to speculate about the future around the New Year. And it's an evangelical pastime to take stabs at defining the movement. A recent Touchstone magazine symposium of evangelical leaders offers a little of both. Touchstone pulled together an eclectic group of contributors: Russell Moore, Denny Burk, John Franke, D. G. Hart, Michael Horton, and David Lyle Jeffrey. Horton offers the most provocative observation about the movement's theological character. "Ironically, [evangelicalism] is a largely anti-creedal, anti-theological movement that has nevertheless defended the Fundamentals enshrined in historic Christianity more faithfully than many creedal and confessional denominations." It's hardly...

"My question for you evangelicals is this. If you’re looking for a real conservative, why are you supporting Huckabee? He’s completely discredited himself. What about Fred Thompson? If you’re looking for a real conservative. Huckabee is constantly engaging in class warfare against the producers. This laid-off line, it’s an attack on Romney, but it’s an attack on producers. It’s an attack on employers. It’s pure populism. He does oppose school choice! You don’t get the NEA endorsement in New Hampshire by supporting school choice."

RUSH: "All right, ladies and gentlemen, I'm going to take the gloves off here for just a second. Welcome back, by the way, to the Rush Limbaugh program and the EIB Network. We're getting a lot of people calling here, claiming to speak for all evangelicals. Even Huckabee himself said on Fox yesterday that he did not get all of the evangelical vote in Iowa. It is not true to say that the evangelical vote in this country is monolithic and in total support of Mike Huckabee. If you want to call and speak for yourself, feel free to do...

In the aftermath of the Iowa Republican Presidential Caucus, there are some important lessons to be learned by the Republican establishment and conservative voters. First, it must be recognized that among the three blocks of Republican voters, specifically, fiscal conservatives; national security conservatives; and religious/social conservatives, no dimension of the conservative constituency can be taken for granted. Religious conservatives affirmed by their high voter turnout, and overwhelming support of Governor Huckabee, that their support for any Republican candidate in a general election is paramount. The nation is divided along party lines, and any Republican Presidential nominee cannot win a general...

Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister-turned-politician who was almost unknown outside his home state of Arkansas as recently as last summer, drew the votes of thousands of self-described evangelical Christians to win the Iowa Republican caucuses. Sure. Sixty percent of those who participated in the Iowa Republican caucuses identified themselves as Evangelical Christians. Mr. Huckabee billed himself as a "Christian Leader" and is one of them. In addition, he can be amusing, entertaining and glib and he had made himself look presentable and self-controlled by losing more than 100 pounds. But Mr. Huckabee's political record is not generally known and as...

WIMAUMA - Father Demetrio Lorden walks into the garage of a concrete block house, slips on his robe and vestments, and unpacks a gold chalice. He tests a microphone, and as dogs howl nearby, a small group of Hispanic workers and their families launches into a discordant song of praise. Lorden calls this his "evangelism Mass," the one he has every Monday night in houses and mobile home camps of the Wimauma immigrant community. Like other Catholic priests with Hispanic members, Lorden is trying to fend off competitors for the parishioners in his pews. Protestant evangelists - people just as...

Some prominent evangelical leaders are criticizing the heads of the National Association of Evangelicals for signing a letter to Muslim leaders containing controversial language. The critical leaders include Dr. Albert Mohler, Gary Bauer, and Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo who voiced opposition to the apology in the letter for the sins of Christians during the Crusades and for “excesses” of the global war on terror, without mentioning Muslim acts of violence. Moreover, the leaders contend the letter compromises the importance of Jesus in Christianity in order to appease Muslims. Mohler noted that the letter “sends the wrong signal” and contains basic theological...

[A reply to Michael Medved's "Stop Lying About Huckabee and Evangelicals!" article posted in Townhall] Evangelicals were 3.24 times more likely to vote for Huckabee than non-Evangelicals. Let me repeat, Evangelicals were 3.24 times MORE likely to vote for Huckabee than non-Evangelicals. Spin it however you like but that's an incredible difference when they comprised 60% of the Republican caucus. Here's a breakdown from the Iowa Republican vote: According to news reports, 60% of Republican voters in the Iowa Caucus were Evangelicals. Of these, 47% of them voted for Huckabee. X = 60% x 47% X = 28.2% So, Evangelicals...

Please allow me to slip on my political commentator hat for a few minutes if you will. At one point in my life, I was content to be known as somewhat of a political "activist" from the religious right point of view. A couple of years ago, I "retired" from that hobby believing that my time would be better spent on ministry than politics. However, my withdrawal from the activism does not mean that I am disinterested in the process whereby we select our leadership. So, it was with attentiveness I observed the results from the Iowa caucuses last night...

So much for the idea that evangelical Christians are a dispirited and declining force in the Republican party. Last night they showed up in force -- in stunning force, actually -- in Iowa's caucuses. They were the power that made a winner of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee. And they now pose a challenge for Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani and John McCain -- for every other serious contender, in other words. Some six in 10 Republican caucus-goers described themselves as born-again or evangelical Christians, entrance polls showed. Almost half of them voted for Mr. Huckabee. Just two in 10 voted...

WASHINGTON - Evangelical Republicans in Iowa chose one of their own in Mike Huckabee. "Wherever it ends — and we know where that's going to be — it started here in Iowa," the emboldened candidate proclaimed as he promised more victories in states to come. But the looming question is whether the Southern Baptist minister turned decade-long Arkansas governor is strong enough to triumph outside friendly Iowa territory, and go the distance to the nomination. That test begins immediately as Huckabee turns to New Hampshire, where he will run head-on into town meetings full of secular voters, and John McCain,...

Ed Rollins is a nasty, nasty piece of work. Here he was tonight on Fox News: Rollins: The wise men like you who say Huckabee doesn’t have a snowball’s chance in heck - well, he can still go out and take his message to the people. And we’ve seen all the wisdom doesn’t live in Washington, and all the wisdom doesn’t live in the press corps.” Wallace: You can accuse me of a lot of things, but I would note we’ve had Mike Huckabee on Fox News Sunday several times— Rollins: —and we’re very grateful for the opportunity to take...

Mitt Romney said last year that it would be “akin to a nightmare” to have to fund his presidential campaign out of his personal fortune. But I can think of worse things. One would be spending $20 million of your money . . . and then losing. Forget “akin to” - that would be the politician’s ultimate nightmare. So now Mitt Romney is about to find out how much it costs to buy - or fail to buy - an election in 2008. A lot more than the $6 million it cost him to buy the Massachusetts governorship in 2002,...

DES MOINES, Dec. 30 -- Republican rivals Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney took their battle over Christian voters to the pews as both attended services while their campaigns spanned Iowa in a final Sunday pitch to evangelicals. With Christian conservatives expected to make up as much as 40 percent of Republican caucusgoers, Romney dispatched surrogates to meet with pastors in the far corners of Iowa, hoping to blunt Huckabee's momentum among evangelicals. On Friday, three national religious leaders backing Huckabee -- Tim LaHaye, Michael Farris and Rick Scarborough -- convened a conference call with Iowa pastors to urge them to...

David Yepsen has a horrifically bad column in the Sunday Des Moines Register. In it, he distills each candidate down to the usual cliches of the leftist/"centrist" newspaper agenda: Mike Huckabee The former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister has soared in the GOP race following his second-place finish in the Iowa Republican straw poll in August. He has rallied party social and religious conservatives as well as supporters of a big national sales tax to replace the income tax. He's a witty speaker and an affable politician whose criticisms of the nation's economic policies sound a lot like the populist...

Almost as I'd thought. The endorsement of Rep. King has begun having an impact in the Iowa poll numbers and the Thompson campaign is on the move according to this latest Strategic Vision poll. - Huckabee -31% - Romney - 25% - Thompson - 16% The anomaly in this poll right now is Huckabee (another post on that later) who when this poll was taken was at 31%. I have not heard the entire show, however the internet is abuzz with Rush's cremation of Huckabee (and for good reason...again more on that later). Huckabee's numbers are going to plummet down...

Yesterday the news was full of a new poll showing Mitt Romney coming from nowhere to tie Rudy Giuliani for first place among Republicans nationally. The surprising NBC/Wall Street Journal poll,conducted between Dec. 14 and Dec. 16, showed Romney and Giuliani with 20% each, Huckabee with 17%, and the resurgent John McCain with 14%. Combine that with an Insider Advantage poll taken on Dec. 16 and Dec 17 showing Romney recapturing the lead in Iowa,with 28% to Huckabee's 25, and a Rasmussen Poll taken on Dec. 17, showing Huckabee's Iowa lead over Romney cut to only one per cent, and...

Why does the GOP Establishment fear Huck? Juan Cole's got a bad case of left-wing Huckenfreude: I simply can not tell you how much I am enjoying this. The GOP has been pandering to these stupid bastards for years, and every time I pointed it out I was called “anti-Christian” or something or other. Those of us who saw what the party was becoming were told to shut up, that it was good politics. Enjoy your new GOP, folks. And here is something else to think about- are the evangelicals going to support Romney or Giuliani if you do manage...

WHEN Mike Huckabee went to Houston Tuesday to raise funds for his fast-rising, money-starved candidacy, a luncheon for the ordained Baptist minister was arranged by evangelical Christians. On hand was Judge Paul Pressler, a hero to Southern Baptist Convention reformers. But he was a non-paying guest who supports Fred Thompson for president. Huckabee greeted Pressler warmly. That contrasted with Huckabee's anger two months ago when they saw each other in California. The Arkansas ex-governor took issue then with comments by Pressler that Huckabee had been a slacker in the war against secularists in the Baptist church. Warmth in Texas and...

Conservative pundit Ann Coulter says GOP presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is the “Republican Jimmy Carter” and nominating him would be a big mistake for the party. Appearing with John Gibson and Heather Nauert on Fox News’ “The Big Story,” Coulter was asked about Huckabee’s recent surge in the polls. “I’m getting tired of this being blamed on the evangelicals,” said Coulter. Huckabee’s rise is actually “bad for the evangelicals,” she asserted. “Mike Huckabee is the Republican Jimmy Carter.” Nominating the ordained Baptist minister “would be a big mistake,” Coulter opined. “He has many good qualities. Unfortunately, the things that are...