As voters continue to watch presidential contenders and consider who they might vote for in the 2016 elections, those who are Christian are especially concerned about the future of religious freedoms in America. In fact, Barna.com noted that 41 percent of Americans feel that their religious freedoms are under a more significant threat today than those freedoms were just ten years ago. And that poll was done before the Kim Davis story broke. In addition, only 28 percent of American voters feel that the nation is headed in the right direction.
That being said, many American Christian voters are looking closely at whether or not candidates might uphold their faith-based values. Here is a brief summary of a few of the present contenders:
Donald Trump
He has professed to be a Christian. More specifically, he most recently claimed to be a protestant and said he attends First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica Queens, which is part of the Presbyterian U.S.A. denomination.
He flipped from being pro-abortion to pro-life, saying that the reason for this is how an abortion impacted a friend of his who had one. Before that, he had made many statements in support of abortion.
Trump also claims to support traditional marriage between one man and one woman and collects Bibles because many people have sent him one and he doesn't want to throw them away. He said that "There's no way I would do anything negative to a Bible."
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton is viewed as being politically liberal by 59 percent of all America voters. Among voters claiming affiliation with the Democratic party, only 36 percent think she is politically liberal while 50 percent believe she is a political moderate.
Clinton is a supporter of abortion and same-sex marriage. In fact, she has proudly defended the homosexual agenda from her worldwide platform of the Secretary of State. She claims to be a part of the Methodist denomination.
The three Democratic Candidates, to debate this Saturday.
Bernie Sanders
Though Bernie Sanders is running on a Democratic ticket, he has a socialist mindset. But where his faith is concerned, he apparently grew up in a liberal Jewish activist environment. However, he is doing his best to distance himself from any connection to religion at all where the election is concerned. He claims to be a supporter of Israel. He is solidly pro-abortion and an avid supporter of same-sex marriage.
John Kasich
John Kasich has an interesting view on Christianity that some might find alarming. As if the government isn't big enough and involved enough in national politics, Kasich has the notion that creating a government agency that would promote Judeo-Christian values worldwide would be an effective way to defeat ISIS. This ought to make voters seriously question his ability to effectively function in foreign affairs, especially in a presidential role.
The spread of Judeo-Christian values is a responsibility belongs to the Christian church, not the government. As soon as the government gets involved in the promotion of Judeo-Christian values, there are going to be aspects of the Word that pastors may not address from the pulpit, and that become even more politically incorrect. In fact, one of the vary places where Kasich wants this organization to be sent is China. The Chinese government will allow Christian churches to be planted as long as they are government approved and preach exactly what the government tells them to preach -- whatever supports communist propaganda. That's why there is still an underground Christian church in China. The American government needs to stay out of the Christian church.
As for Kasich's personal views, he has gone on record as opposing abortion and same-sex marriage. But only God knows who will be appointed to head up a government organization that would allegedly promote Judeo-Christian values. And who will decide what qualifies as Judeo-Christian within that government run agency? Also, will the deciding factors for the government version of Judeo-Christian values be exclusive to the Bible? It will very likely not be a situation whereby American voters get to choose who is in charge. Therefore, there is entirely too much room for a government run agency on Judeo-Christian values to become corrupt -- just like most American government run programs.
Mike Huckabee
Though Mike Huckabee is pretty far down the list regarding what the polls are saying about conservative presidential hopefuls; his views may be the most compatible with many professing Christians. Besides being staunchly pro-life and pro-traditional marriage between one man and one woman, he also professes to be a Christian. In fact, he used to pastor a Baptist church. Also, he has declared that he will "conquer Jihadism" and protect social security.
His present proposal for how to protect the country from ISIS includes a five-part plan:
- Ban all visas, travelers, and tourists from countries that have a significant ISIS presence.
- Reject all Syrian refugees because Muslim terrorists will say anything, including lying about being a Christian, to penetrate the country.
- Build a border fence.
- Republicans need to stand up to Obama's power-plays.
- Washington must face the reality that even if we don't want to be at war with Jihadists, they are still at war with the US.
