Melissa Rogers

Monday Campaign Round-up (Updated)

1. Huckabee on Meet The Press

Russert engages Mike Huckabee on questions about religion and governance.  That part of the transcript appears below the fold.

2.  Video Interviews with Some Members of Cornerstone Family Church in Des Moines, Iowa

The Washington Post posts clips from interviews with some members of Cornerstone Family Church in Des Moines, Iowa, before and after services there yesterday.  (Mike Huckabee attended services at the church yesterday.)  An accompanying piece notes that "many of the voters interviewed Sunday said they were not influenced heavily by the views of national religious leaders or their local pastors."   The piece also notes that "[a]mong 10 members interviewed, there were many undecided voters; some of the Republicans said they are considering Romney, Huckabee or even Democratic Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.)."

3.  Attacks on Romney's Faith

The St. Pete Times is reporting that "[t]he Mitt Romney presidential campaign is decrying an anti-Mormon mailer that has popped up in Hillsborough County[, Florida]" and other attacks on Romney's faith.  Here's more from the story:

"Help me sound the alarm that one day the Mormon Church plans to replace the Constitution with a Mormon theocracy. Mitt Romney's political success indicates this may be sooner than most have thought," reads part of the 11-page letter that reached a Plant City Romney supporter Saturday.

"Do you really want a president who believes he will someday become a god? Is that who you want occupying the most powerful position in the world . . . the United States presidency?"

The letter, also inviting people to buy anti-Mormon DVDs, was signed by John Boyd of Freedom Defense Advocates, which calls itself a Virginia-based political action committee. No record of such a group was found Sunday on the Federal Election Commission and Internal Revenue Service Web sites. . . .

"It is sad and unfortunate that this kind of deception and bigotry has been employed. There is absolutely no place for these types of attacks in American politics," Romney campaign spokeswoman Kristy Campbell said Sunday. "Gov. Romney will continue to substantively address the issues most important to voters as he continues to campaign across the country." . . .

In a separate incident this week, many South Carolina Republicans received a bogus Christmas card citing controversial passages from the Book of Mormon. The card was signed, "the Romney family" and said it was paid for by "The Boston Massachusetts Temple."

4.  Using  Scripture to Try to Attack . . . Huckabee's Candidacy

That's a new one, eh?  The Boston Herald reports:

Yesterday, anonymous, Bible-quoting fliers were left on dozens of cars in Des Moines targeting Romney’s chief Iowa rival, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

[The Romney campaign] said the campaign had nothing to do with the anonymous leafleting attack on Huckabee in Iowa. The fliers, left on cars near the Cornerstone Family Church in Des Moines, which was packed with hundreds of the faithful, including evangelicals, yesterday - quote the Bible’s Book of John and challenge Huckabee’s conservative credentials.

“Stop judging by mere appearances and make a right judgment,” the flier says, citing John 7:24 in apparent mockery of the religious overtones of Huckabee’s campaigning. Quoting Arkansas newspapers, the flier listed a series of allegedly liberal actions Huckabee took as governor - a common theme among his critics.

5.  WSJ on Guru Behind Huckabee Ads

The Wall Street Journal reports on Bob Wickers, a Californian who is making those much-noticed ads for Huckabee.

One of the keys to the Huckabee campaign, [Wickers] says, is the small inner circle. Decisions about TV ads are made by a tiny group: Mr. Wickers, Mr. Huckabee and Chip Saltsman, the campaign manager who had planned to sit this race out after his longtime boss, former Sen. Bill Frist, decided against a presidential run. (He changed his mind after Mr. Huckabee persuaded him to come to Arkansas for a day of duck hunting. By day's end, he says, he was sold.) Mr. Dresner, Mr. Wickers's partner, and Ed Rollins, the newly installed national campaign chairman, also have input.

"When things are done by committee, you tend to compromise," said Mr. Wickers. He suggested that a big committee would never have agreed to put "Christian leader" across the screen.

"Most candidates are risk-averse and are comforted by more formulaic advertising," Mr. Wickers said. "Mike lets you go to the edge and pull back if need be. Others don't allow you to get anywhere near it." . . .

Mr. Wickers denies that [the appearance of the cross in Huckabee's Christmas ad] was intentional. Either way, the cross controversy was debated and digested on TV news shows repeatedly, assuring that the Huckabee ad was seen many more times than the campaign could ever have afforded if it were paying for the exposure.

6.  "No Time for Preacher"

The Associated Press reports that "Hillary Rodham Clinton delivered a campaign sermon Sunday [in Iowa], but didn't stick around to hear the pastor do his preaching."

The Rev. James Green took a poke at the just-departed Clinton as he began his sermon.

"When I first got here I was a little overwhelmed. All the dignitaries came in," he said. "I thought they were going to stay for service, but they're still campaigning."

7.  Huckabee on "Acts of God"

From the LA Times:

For those who believe Huckabee's religiosity was high-handed, there was no clearer example than the disaster relief legislation that came before him less than a week after the March 1997 tornado.

Senate Bill 491 was so straightforward it ran to only two pages. It sought to protect tornado victims from insurance companies that might cancel policies after they filed claims. "No insurance policy or contract covering damages to property shall be canceled nor the renewal thereof denied solely as a result of claims arising from acts of God," it read.

"Acts of God" had a long history in English maritime law and was standard language in many insurance policies.

The bill had been introduced a few days before the March 1 tornado wrecked more than 250 miles of Arkansas and caused the death of 25 people in all. It was touted by both parties as part of the relief response after the storm, and lawmakers and the governor said the protection was urgently needed. . . .

According to state legislative records, Huckabee first registered his objection to the Senate bill five days after the tornado. But his staff did not relay his concerns, he later wrote.

"While I realize that to some this is a minor issue, it is a matter of deep conscience with me to attribute in law a destructive and deadly force as being an 'act of God,' " he eventually wrote to the bill's sponsors, Young and Sen. Wayne Dowd. While acknowledging that "acts of God" was the "appropriate" legal term, he suggested the legislature substitute "natural disaster."

He said he would not sign the bill, drawing attack from both sides of the aisle. Democrats argued that the governor was imposing his religious vision on badly needed legislation. Some legislators felt that their own faith was being questioned by the governor. "I'm just as much a Baptist as he is," one lawmaker said in a legislative session.

Others suggested that Huckabee's conception of the Almighty was off. One Republican suggested he reread the Book of Job, with its parade of personal calamities. But Huckabee held firm. So did the legislators. The House, which had pulled the bill back, refused to amend it and passed it again, 93-0.

On the floor of the legislature, Huckabee was compared to the legalistic Pharisees in the Bible. Some lawmakers had substantive objections, saying that by not conforming to established language, the legislature could open up a loophole for insurance companies to exploit in court.

Commentators across the state denounced Huckabee. "We would suggest the governor sacrifice a bit of his personal theology for the greater public good. That would be an act of God," said a newspaper in Texarkana, where Huckabee had been a pastor for six years.

Still, Huckabee would not budge. Five alternative phrases for "acts of God" were proposed and rejected by one side or the other. Finally, the governor and legislature agreed to use the phrase "natural causes." The bill became law on April 4.

Public records in Little Rock and Arkadelphia show hundreds of disputes between insurers and tornado victims, though there is no indication that the four-week legislative delay harmed victims. Huckabee, who became governor when his predecessor, Bill Clinton, stepped down, won a full term the following year and reelection in 2002.

Longtime Huckabee friend Jonathan Barnett, who was made available by the Huckabee campaign to answer questions on the candidate's record, said he did not think the governor had any regrets about the matter. He also said Arkansas media and some legislators made more of the incident than it merited. . . .

Huckabee had won the "acts of God" dispute, but the incident established a pattern for bitter fights over details. "Instead of getting focused on getting aid to the areas, he's in an uproar over words," said Sen. Percy Malone. "It was kind of silly."

8.  Bipartisan op-ed on religion and politics in Des Moines Register

Sally Pederson, a Democrat, and Joy Corning, a Republican, both of Des Moines, are former lieutenant governors of Iowa.  According to the Chicago Tribune, Corning backs Rudy Giuliani and Sally Pederson serves as a co-chairwoman for Iowans for Hillary.  Pederson and Corning recently jointly wrote an op-ed for the Des Moines Register on behalf of the Interfaith Alliance of Iowa to address, among other topics, the following question: "How do people like us - people who are both political and religious - express our faith through government service?"  Here's an excerpt from their piece:

[W]e strongly object to candidates of either party who try to make religion, or the form of it, or the lack of it, a qualification or disqualification for public office. . . .

The president-elect will take an oath to uphold the Constitution of this nation, not a religious doctrine or faith tradition. The president must serve all Americans without prejudice toward any religious or nonreligious beliefs.

UPDATE: 9.   Mark DeMoss on Faith and Presidential Politics

As with all the other items, I don't have time to comment on this one right now.  But I do want to flag this essay from Mark DeMoss, a Romney supporter, on faith and politics.  Here's how the essay concludes:

Personally, I would like a president to be a man or woman of faith, whether or not it mirrors my own. But I also want them to have relevant executive experience, proven management experience, intellectual capital, crisis-tested decision-making skills, enough government experience to understand how government works—but not so much that they only know how to work for the government. In other words, as with every other personnel choice in life, I want competence.

I believe faith plus character plus experience plus competence is a recipe for the ideal presidential candidate. But faith alone should neither disqualify one from getting my vote, nor guarantee that they will. A candidate’s character cannot be overstated; his or her faith can be, and in this election probably has been. Specifically, Mitt Romney’s faith should not cost him votes, and Mike Huckabee’s faith should not assure him votes.

A few days ago, Mike Huckabee weighed in on this very issue, telling a television journalist, “I don’t think a person’s faith ought to be a plus or a minus. It ought to be their character.” Amen!

Among other things, this essay tries to make some interesting comparisons of the candidacies of Huckabee and Jimmy Carter.  I would bet that we will be hearing more from Romney supporters about that particular theme (among others) in coming days.

"God Loves You and He Approves This Message"

A church marquee in Iowa.

PA Supreme Court Upholds Taking of Private Property and Conveyance to Religious Entity

"A city agency acted legally when it seized a woman's home to help a religious group build a private school in a blighted Philadelphia neighborhood, the state Supreme Court ruled this week."  Here's more from the story:

The decision pitting eminent domain against the separation of church and state reverses a ruling by the lower Commonwealth Court, which had sided with homeowner Mary Smith.

"The principal or primary effect of the redevelopment plan ... is to eliminate blight in this particular neighborhood," Supreme Court Justice Cynthia Baldwin wrote for the majority.

A secondary effect could be the advancement of religion, but there is no evidence that is the primary goal, she wrote.

The city Redevelopment Authority condemned Smith's property in North Philadelphia in 2003 and transferred it to the Hope Partnership for Education, a Catholic organization that proposed a nondenominational middle school for the site, among other projects.

Smith appealed the condemnation, arguing that it benefited a private religious entity and was not for a public purpose as the law requires.

Common Pleas Court found the condemnation lawful, Commonwealth Court ruled that it wasn't, and now the Supreme Court has ruled that it is , provided the primary purpose is to remove blight.

The decision was not unanimous:

Supreme Court Justice Max Baer disagreed, calling the majority decision unfortunate.

"I believe this is a case of direct government aid, in the form of a land transfer below market value, to a religious organization for the development of a religious school," Baer wrote in his dissent.

The result, he wrote, is the "direct financing of religious education with the primary effect of advancing religion."

The majority opinion is here (pdf), and the dissenting opinion is here (pdf).

Campaign Trail Round-up

Here's a  list of some notable stories about the presidential campaign with an excerpt from each story:

* Iowa Pastors Urged to Caucus by Scarborough, Farris, and LaHaye (Marc Ambinder)

Pastor Rick Scarborough is hosting a conference call with Iowa pastors to discuss the caucus... joining him are Dr. Tim "Left Behind" LaHaye and Dr. Michael "Home School" Farris.

All three are committed supporters of Mike Huckabee. An e-mail sent to Iowa pastors advertising the call doesn't mention Huckabee -- that wouldn't be legal -- but does say that pastors "have a duty" to keep their congregants "informed" and to lead them to "participate" in the caucuses.

*  Catholics for McCain (Dan Gilgoff)

John McCain today announced a new coalition of Catholic supporters headed by some big names, including Kansas Senator/former presidential candidate Sam Brownback and former Kansas Governor Frank Keating.

*  Two stories about Mike Huckabee's speaking fees (The Politico, December 26 and December 28)

Interlude from Benjamin Britten's "A Ceremony of Carols"

This is one of my favorite Christmas carols.  There are no words, just beautiful music.  Best wishes to you for a joyous holiday season.

NYT on Grassley Investigation

The New York Times provides an update on the Grassley investigation.  Here's how the piece concludes:

Mr. Grassley may send letters to other ministries in the future, aides said. Because of news media coverage of the letters to the six ministries, his office has been flooded with calls about them and other church organizations, too, the aides said.

Green Texas Methodists Change the Game

"In an apparently unprecedented move for a large religious group, United Methodist churches of North Texas have joined forces to buy 'green' electricity generated by windmills in the western part of the state."  Here's more from the Dallas Morning News:

The contract negotiated by the North Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church takes effect on New Year's Day and covers 180 churches.

Environmentalists say they're unaware of another conference, diocese, synod or any other body of churches that has used its economic clout to spur nonpolluting electricity production.

"We've got to give credit to the [North Texas] Methodists. They go to the head of the class," said the Rev. Sally Bingham, founder and president of The Regeneration Project in San Francisco, which works to engage religious people and groups in ecology.

There's more below the fold on how Texas Methodists are serving as game-changers in this area.

Tony Blair Joins Catholic Church

The BBC reports: "[Tony] Blair was received into full communion with the Catholic Church during Mass at Archbishop's House, Westminster, on Friday."  Meanwhile, the Guardian provides some context for this decision with an article that begins in the following way: Blair's "spiritual awakening goes back at least 30 years, to his time as an undergraduate at Oxford, but due to political considerations Tony Blair's conversion to Catholicism has been a long time coming."  (Thanks to Mirror of Justice.)

Why Bill Clinton is Unlikely to Become Justice Clinton

Doug Kmiec, a co-chair of Mitt Romney's Advisory Committee on the Constitution and the Courts, argues that a President Hillary Clinton might be likely to appoint her husband to the U.S. Supreme Court.  Tom Goldstein explains why that does not make much sense. 

I cannot access the full Kmiec piece (it is part of the Wall Street Journal's restricted offerings), but I'm very much inclined to agree with Goldstein on this point.  Among other things, Goldstein says:  "It is . . .  hard to imagine a job for which [Clinton] could be less well-suited - cloistered away in a marble palace, when his strengths lie in personal human contact."  My sense is that Clinton would not at all be keen on shutting down most of his other activities in order to serve as a justice.  Now, if he could serve as a Supreme Court justice and play other quasi-governmental and private sector roles, that might fly.  But be confined to this one job and the relatively tight-lipped and re-active posture that it requires?  I don't think so.

In his post, Goldstein also lays out his thinking on "what the next president - Democrat or Republican - is actually overwhelmingly likely to do" in terms of Supreme Court appointments.

First, appoint a woman. The gender imbalance on the Supreme Court is ridiculous. How can it be that in the 21st century, we regressed from two women on the court to only one?

Second, appoint a Hispanic. As with gender, symbolism matters greatly in racial politics. Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas were both appointed in part because of their race, as signals to African-Americans of their full participation and equal standing in the nation and its law. The next president will almost certainly seize the opportunity to name a Hispanic justice in order to enhance the party’s standing with that community.

Third, name someone who is relatively young. Recent Republican appointments have put justices on the bench who are likely to serve for decades: Chief Justice John G. Roberts is still only 52, and Justice Samuel Alito is 57.

Sounds on target to me.  By the way, Goldstein adds that "[a]t age 61, Bill Clinton is many things, but he is not a young Hispanic woman."  (Thanks to Howard Bashman for the link.)

Huckabee Scheduled to Preach at Hagee's Church (Updated)

Via the Bible Belt Blogger, I see that the Catholic News Agency is reporting that Mike Huckabee will preach at John Hagee's church this Sunday and that some Catholics are none too happy about it.

According to Mike Huckabee’s campaign website, the controversial stop at Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas will take place this Sunday, December 23. He will speak at the church's two Sunday services at 8:30 and 11:00 a.m. . . .

As the senior pastor of Cornerstone, Rev. Hagee is best known for his “End-Time” writing but also focuses on bringing evangelical Protestants and Jews together. . . .

It’s not hard to find evidence that Rev. Hagee does not think highly of Catholics or the Catholic Church. In a video discussing the biblical book of Revelation, John Hagee suggests the Pope is the anti-Christ, and that the Catholic Church is "The Beast" (17:30 and following) mentioned in the book.

As they are reported here, Hagee's remarks sound a familiar theme, I'm sorry to say.  But I have not had the chance yet to review Hagee's actual remarks on this subject, so I won't comment on them right now.  Instead, I'll simply make two quick observations.  First, as we've noted before, Huckabee seems to have a distinct ability to awaken lots of dogs that had been sleeping (or at least dozing) next to one another in the conservative movement and to get them to bark loudly at one another.  Second, quite apart from the questions this visit may raise for Catholics, this visit will raise legitimate questions about Huckabee's views on the policy of the United States toward the Middle East. 

UPDATE (12/23):  The Iowa Independent reports: "During an interview at his last campaign stop in Iowa before Christmas, Republican front-runner Mike Huckabee disavowed anti-Catholic comments and teachings made by the senior pastor of a Texas church where he will be speaking on Sunday."  Here's more from the story:

Cornerstone is one of the nation's largest churches, with nearly 17,000 members. John C. Hagee, senior pastor at the church, has told his congregation in the past that the Beast referred to in the Bible is actually the Catholic Church and the so-called Anti-Christ is the Pope.

"I have to say that I don't agree with those teachings," Huckabee told the Iowa Independent following a speech in Sheldon. "Several members of my staff are Catholic and  have marched shoulder to shoulder many times in pro-life marches with people of the Catholic faith."

When he was asked if he was aware of Hagee's teachings about the Catholic Church, Huckabee said he wasn't. "There are things that he believes that I wouldn't agree with and I am sure there are things that I believe that he wouldn't agree with."

"A 'god of the gaps' is weaker and less compelling than the God of all creation."

That's Michael Gerson on theology and evolution.  As usual, I find myself in serious disagreement with parts of Gerson's argument.  But there are other parts of his argument that I find to be mostly wise and eloquently expressed, including these parts:

There are unsolved mysteries in Darwinian evolution. There is also no credible scientific alternative.

But whatever the scientific objections, it is the theological objections to evolution that are weakest. Critics seem to argue that the laws of nature are somehow less miraculous than their divine suspension. But the elegant formulas of physics, and the complex mechanisms of evolution, strike me as an equal tribute to the Creator.

Critics also assume that humble evolutionary origins undermine human dignity. But the Bible's description -- creation from the "dust of the earth" -- is no less humiliating than descent from primates. Men and women have an elevated value because they are known and loved by God, not because of their genetic pedigree.

Historically, it is usually an error for religious people to fill scientific holes with supernatural explanations, because those holes often are filled eventually by the progress of knowledge. A "god of the gaps" is weaker and less compelling than the God of all creation.

And there is little need for such explanations, even for those who take the Bible seriously. Leon Kass, in his masterful work "The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis," observes, "The biblical account is perfectly compatible with the fact of a slowly evolving cosmos, with life arriving late, beginning in the sea and only later emerging on earth, progressively distinguished into a variety of separated kinds."

But this overly hyped debate on biology hides a deeper conflict that could not be more important.

Some scientists claim that a belief in evolution and orderly material laws somehow disproves the existence of immaterial things such as God and the soul -- as if biology or physics could refute concepts they don't even examine. There is no telescope that reveals the absence of the divine; no MRI that yields a negative test for the soul.

Are you sick of year-end top-ten lists yet?

If not, here are a few more.

*  Associated Baptist Press' top-ten list of the biggest stories in Baptist life in 2007.

*  Christianity Today's list of the top ten stories of 2007 in terms of "the events, people, and debates of the past year that its editors believe have shaped, or will significantly shape, evangelical life, thought, or mission."

*  Time magazine's list of what it considers to be the top-ten religion stories of 2007. 

*  And Time magazine's list of the top-ten reasons we are obsessed with top-ten lists.

If you have other links to year-end lists touching on religon and public affairs, let me know.  And if you have thoughts on the content of these lists or others, I welcome them.

Evangelicals in New Hampshire

Yes, Virginia, it's true.  There are evangelicals in New Hampshire.  Here are some of the details from The Boston Globe:

Fifty years ago, there were almost no evangelical churches in New Hampshire, [Andrew Walsh, associate director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford, CT] said.

That changed as Southern evangelicals moved north - the first evangelical churches in modern New England, Walsh said, sprang up outside military bases. In the 1970s, evangelical churches began appearing in suburbs, part of a national reemergence of interest in evangelical Christianity.

The flexibility of Pentecostal and independent evangelical churches - pastors don't always have to be ordained, and can hold other jobs - has helped new congregations flourish in down-on-their-luck small towns and among communities of new immigrants.

Many of the new churches are seeing "exponential growth," said the Rev. Paul Berube, pastor of Grace Fellowship. Berube, 55, grew up Catholic in Nashua and can recall a time when "you'd have a real hard time having a group of 50, and now there is an incredible evangelical presence all over the state." His church now has more than 1,000 members and is host to Chinese, Brazilian, Indian, and Brazilian congregations.

"It's almost like the South or the Bible Belt is in its third or fourth generation, where we're the first," he said. "So there's more enthusiasm and excitement and first-generation commitment."

There are other ways in which many New Hampshire evangelicals tend to differ from the majority of their Bible-Belt counterparts.  "Combined postelection survey data from 1992 to 2000 by National Surveys of Religion and Politics indicate that 45 percent of New England evangelical Protestants who attended church more than once a week considered themselves 'pro-gay rights,' compared with 29 percent in the South."  Here's some commentary on that finding:

John Green, a senior fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life who conducted the research, sees two possible reasons: First, many more Northeastern evangelicals are affiliated with denominations that are more politically moderate than Southern Baptists and Pentecostals, the groups that dominate the Southern evangelical landscape. Second, he said, evangelicals in New England live in a more culturally liberal climate.

"They're not from an evangelical Protestant culture, they're from a New England culture," added Andrew Walsh, associate director of the Leonard E. Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College in Hartford. "They haven't been marinated for generations in the religious and political culture of the South, or even Iowa."

Of course, the article ties all of this back to the election.  It notes that there is "a growing movement of evangelical Christians in New Hampshire, a group that includes nearly 1 in 5 Republican primary voters and that could play an important role in the state's Jan. 8 election."  But the story also notes that some New Hampshire evangelicals have opened their homes to Barack Obama.

In terms of these evangelicals' attitude toward mixing partisan politics with church activities, the story features different views.  At least one evangelical pastor in New Hampshire has invited Mike Huckabee to preach at his church, while other pastors have drawn the line at any hint of electioneering in the church. " 'Political buttons, they stay outside the door,'  said Chris Tidwell, the pastor of Deerfield Bible Church, a rural congregation of about 50 people."  The whole piece is worth reading.

Council of Religious Institutions in the Holy Land

The Christian Science Monitor reports:

In a landmark event just before last month's summit in Annapolis, Md., the highest-ranking Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders in the Holy Land took a joint public stand in favor of constructive engagement.

After a meeting with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Jerusalem, Israel's chief rabbis; the Muslim sheikhs in charge of the sharia courts and Jerusalem's holy sites; and local Roman Catholic, Orthodox, and Anglican leaders traveled to Washington.

As delegates of the Council of Religious Institutions in the Holy Land, they announced a six-point plan to use their positions of leadership "to prevent religion being used as a source of conflict, and to serve the goals of a just and comprehensive peace and reconciliation."

There's more about this effort here.

CSM on Hillary Clinton's Faith and Politics

The Christian Science Monitor (CSM) reports on Hillary Clinton's religious background, affiliation, and beliefs, and how she is discussing these things on the campaign trail.  (This is part of a series (see the bottom of the page) that the CSM is doing entitled The Candidates: Faith and Values.)  The lengthy piece on Clinton includes mentions of two speeches she gave years ago on faith and politics:

Skepticism over the sincerity of Hillary Clinton's faith began long before she stepped onto the national stage. As first lady of Arkansas, she sought to put the questions to rest by touring the state with a speech called "Why I Am a Methodist." . . .

In an address to the United Methodist General Conference in 1996, Clinton laid out how her faith informs her politics.

"For me, the Social Principles of the Methodist Church have been as much a description of our history as a prod to my future actions," she said. "We can find direction, if we look to the church's call to strengthen families and renew our schools and encourage policies that enable each child to have a chance to fulfill his or her God-given potential."

I have not been able to find the full texts of these speeches online.  If you have seen them on the web, please let me know.   Here's some print coverage of the 1996 speech, and some video of it is here.

Novak on Baptists

Robert Novak's latest:

When Mike Huckabee went to Houston on Tuesday to raise funds for his fast-rising, money-starved presidential 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 nonpaying guest who supports Fred Thompson for president.

Huckabee greeted Pressler warmly. That contrasted with Huckabee's anger two months ago, when they encountered each other in California. Huckabee took issue with comments by Pressler, a former Texas appeals court judge, that the ex-governor had been a slacker in the war against secularists within the Baptist church.

Let me just say that I know many of the Baptists who were driven out of the Southern Baptist Convention during these years.   They are hardly "secularists."   Novak owes them an apology.

A Mormon's Lament

Ken Jennings is a member of the Church of Latter-day Saints who won a record $2.52 million on "Jeopardy!" and authored the book "Brainiac."  He also is none too pleased with the coverage of his faith in this year's presidential race:

This is a strange season to be a Mormon. During my lifetime, I thought the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had effectively mainstreamed itself. Being a Mormon was like being Canadian, or a vegetarian, or a unicyclist - it made you a bit of a conversation piece at dinner, but you didn't come in for any lip-curling scorn.

Now, thanks to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign, I can read anti-Mormon screeds almost every day, both from the secular left and the evangelical right. Latter-day Saints are either a gullible joke or a satanic menace (or, if one can handle the cognitive dissonance, both).

Jennings' concluding thoughts on this subject include the following ones:

It troubles me that attacks like these will probably just get worse as the campaign heats up. It's not that I think our religion can't handle the scrutiny. I just don't think the slings and arrows of a bloodthirsty 21st century political campaign are the best way to tease out spiritual truth.

He's certainly right about that last point.  (Thanks to Washington Wire for the link.)

MRFF Charges Widespread Religious Freedom Violations by Military

"A foundation that has sued the military alleging widespread violations of religious freedom said Tuesday that it has evidence showing that soldiers are pressured to adopt fundamentalist Christian beliefs."  The foundation is the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).  Here's more from the Associated Press:

The photos and videos of religious materials and activities are part of a lawsuit filed by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation and Army Spc. Jeremy Hall, an atheist, against Maj. Freddy J. Welborn and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The material was gathered from Fort Riley in Kansas, the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., and Fort Jackson, S.C.

Examples at Fort Riley, where Hall is stationed, included a display outside his military police battalion's office with a quote from conservative writer Ann Coulter saying, "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity."

Another photo from Fort Riley shows the book "A Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam" for sale at the post exchange.

"These astonishing and saddening evidence which our foundation is making public today only further buttress our lawsuit," said Mike Weinstein, an attorney in Albuquerque, N.M., and president of the foundation, who graduated from the Air Force Academy in 1977.

Fort Riley spokesman Maj. Nathan Bond said the matter was being referred to post commanders for investigation. He said it is the Army's policy to accommodate all religious beliefs to the extent that they don't conflict with military missions.

"We do take this seriously," he said. If they are true, he added, they "do not seem in line with the Army values of respect."

There's more on this lawsuit from Military.com:

Some Evangelicals Provide Testimonial Ads for Romney

Via Faith in Public Life, Dan Gilgoff reports:

Locked in a potentially fateful battle for evangelical Iowa caucus goers with Mike Huckabee, God-o-Meter has learned that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has enlisted prominent evangelical publicist Mark DeMoss to tape ads on his behalf for broadcast on Iowa Christian radio. DeMoss tells God-o-Meter that he taped roughly a half-dozen such spots after landing in Iowa on Monday evening and that well-know evangelical legal advocate Jay Sekulow and pro-life activist James Bopp. Jr. have been tapped to record similar spots.

As previously reported, DeMoss, Bopp, and Sekulow (among others) serve as chairs of Romney's "Faith and Values Steering Committee."  Here's a bit more from Gilgoff on what these ads will sound like:

Ruling on Request for White House Logs Regarding Visits by Certain Religious Leaders

"A federal judge ruled Monday that White House visitor logs were public records and ordered the Bush administration to stop withholding them from scrutiny by outside groups."  As it turns out, the records sought included references to certain religious leaders' visits to the White House.  Here's more from the NYT story:

The ruling, by Judge Royce C. Lamberth of Federal District Court here, was a blow to the administration, which had tried to shield the logs under a claim of executive privilege. The blow could, however, be largely symbolic; the White House seemed likely to appeal the decision, which could hold up the release of any documents until after President Bush leaves office in 13 months.

Judge Lamberth was ruling in a case brought by a left-leaning advocacy group in Washington that had sought to determine how often several conservative religious leaders entered the White House for meetings during the Bush administration. The order could have an impact on other lawsuits seeking visitor logs from the White House, including a suit that seeks a tally of visits by Jack Abramoff, the corrupt Republican lobbyist.

Judge Lamberth held that because the logs were maintained by the Secret Service and not directly by the White House, they could not be shielded from release under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The judge's ruling is here (pdf).   According to the ruling, the advocacy group that brought the lawsuit, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), "sought all records in the Secret Service's possession showing that any of . . . nine individuals, described as prominent 'Christian leaders,' has recently visited the White House or the Vice President's Residence."   The nine leaders are James Dobson, Gary L. Bauer, Wendy Wright, Lou Sheldon, Andrea Lafferty, Paul Weyrich, Tony Perkins, Donald Wildmon, and Jerry Falwell.  CREW says it sought the records because they were "likely to contribute to the public's understanding of the influence that conservative Christians have, or attempt to have, on the President." 

The Secret Service resisted giving these records to CREW for a variety of reasons.  Here's an excerpt from the court's ruling addressing some of the Secret Service's arguments.

Reports on Mormon Support for Romney in Key States

From The Wall Street Journal:

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints says it has more than 22,500 members in Iowa in 68 congregations. Joseph Cheney, the president of one of seven "stakes," or geographical groups within the church, estimates that as many as 7,000 Mormons are likely to show up on caucus night, and that nearly three-quarters of the Mormons in the state support Mr. Romney.

That isn't enough to compete with the 500,000 Iowa evangelicals, or about a quarter of the voting-adult population, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. But in a tight race, the Iowa Mormon vote could give Mr. Romney an edge.

The Mormon vote has a small but strong presence in other early-voting states as well. The LDS church, which has about 8,000 members in New Hampshire and 34,300 in South Carolina, doesn't endorse a candidate or allow politics to be discussed at church activities.

Their leaders emphasize the need to be active, voting members of a community. "The church does encourage the members to go and exercise their right to vote," said Mr. Cheney.

Meanwhile, the LA Times reports on some of the ways in which "California's tight-knit Mormon community is quietly raising money and rallying support for the Romney campaign."  According to the piece, "California is home to more Mormons than any state other than Utah -- more than 750,000 -- and the Golden State has been Romney's richest source of campaign contributions -- more than $6.5 million."

Prison Fellowship and Iowa Seek En Banc Review of Portions of 8th Circuit Ruling

The following message is in my in-box from Prison Fellowship (apologies for the font irregularities):

[On Monday, December 17,] the InnerChange Freedom Initiative (IFI), Prison Fellowship and the State of Iowa filed an en banc petition asking all 11 active judges in the Eighth Circuit to review a Dec. 3 ruling by former United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and two appellate judges. Although the three-judge panel reversed major parts of a federal district court judge's decision against the voluntary faith-based pre-release program for prisoners, IFI, Prison Fellowship and the State of Iowa are concerned that two technical legal principles that were part of the Eighth Circuit's ruling could have adverse implications in the future for IFI and other faith-based organizations if left unchallenged.

The en banc petition filed [on December 17] argues that the Dec. 3 ruling did not appropriately apply two legal doctrines. It contends that:

• The court incorrectly applied the Zelman indirect aid test in its ruling. The appellate court found that there was no secular program offered to inmates as an alternative to IFI from 2004-2006, a period in which Iowa provided partial funding for the IFI program. IFI, Prison Fellowship and the State of Iowa contend that the state did offer secular rehabilitation programs to inmates that were alternatives to IFI.
• The court misapplied the Hein case in finding that Americans United and the individual taxpayers satisfied the narrow legal exception for taxpayer standing.

"While the technical legal aspects we disagree with in the Dec. 3 ruling don't currently impact the nine IFI programs operating across the nation, we feel these are important legal issues for all faith-based organizations going forward," said Prison Fellowship President Mark Earley. "We think the appellate court didn't get the law right on these two points and that it's important, on principle, to ask the entire court to review them."

I'll wait to see the petition before commenting.   My posts on the Eighth Circuit's decision in this case are here and here.

Union for Reform Judaism and Islamic Society of North America Release Curriculum

"Two major Jewish and Muslim organizations unveiled an interfaith dialogue curriculum yesterday and are urging their hundreds of thousands of members to use it. Both sides say it is the broadest Jewish-Muslim interfaith effort in the continent's history."  Here's more from the story:

Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, North America's largest Jewish movement, announced the partnership with the Islamic Society of North America at his group's biennial convention in San Diego.

"As a once-persecuted minority in countries where anti-Semitism is still a force, we understand the plight of Muslims in North America today," Yoffie said yesterday. "We live in a world in which religion is manipulated to justify the most horrific acts, a world in which -- make no mistake -- Islamic extremists constitute a profound threat. For some, this is a reason to flee from dialogue, but in fact the opposite is true. When we are killing each other in the name of God, sensible religious people have an obligation to do something about it."

This summer Yoffie became the first major Jewish leader to address ISNA, the continent's largest Muslim organization with 30,000 attendants coming to its annual convention. ISNA President Ingrid Mattson will address the 980-congregation Jewish group today, the first leader of a major Muslim group to do so.

There are excerpts from the curriculum here.  The text of Mattson's remarks is here (audio of the address apparently will be available at the link tomorrow).  My earlier post on the recent meeting of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is here.   That post includes a link to Yoffie's remarks at the ISNA meeting.

Russert Questions Romney About "Faith in America" Speech

Mitt Romney on Meet the Press yesterday:

MR. RUSSERT:  So if you determined that the most qualified person for the Supreme Court or for attorney general or secretary of education happened to be an atheist or an agnostic, that wouldn't prevent you from appointing them?

GOV. ROMNEY:  Of course not.  You, you, you look at individuals based upon their skills and their ability, their values, their intelligence.  And there are many who are agnostic or atheist or who have very different beliefs about the nature of the divine than I do, and, and you evaluate them based on their skills.  But I, I can tell you that I, I myself am a person of faith and, and respect the, the sense of the common bond of humanity that comes from that, that fundamental belief.

MR. RUSSERT:  But there'd be no litmus test?

GOV. ROMNEY:  No, no.  There's no litmus test of, of that nature.

The full exchange between Russert and Romney on this subject is below the fold.  My earlier posts on Romney's speech are here, here, and here.  (Thanks to Don Byrd for flagging Romney's comments on MTP.)

"GOP Fractured By Religion"

That's the title of an interesting column by Doug Wead, a former aide to George H.W. Bush who has had a rather strained relationship with the Bush family as of  late.  The following part of the column describes some undercurrents associated with the Grassley investigation:

[T]here are growing signs of a major split between Baptists and charismatics, the remaining hard core supporters of George W. Bush, the last of the Republican base. Baptists have long had doctrinal issues with charismatic-Pentecostals but had for years subordinated those fears to the higher good of electing Republican conservatives.

Now, Baptist Sen. Grassley has targeted six televangelists, all Charismatic-Pentecostals, a coincidence he says, but no ordained Baptists, such as Pat Roberson and James Robison have been called, even though they share many of the same doctrines. . . .

Conservative Baptists, dominated by the Southern Baptist convention number 25 million. Most estimates put the Charismatic-Pentecostal numbers at 20 million. It is almost an even split of the last remaining core of the GOP. . . .

While the non evangelical world is clueless, many Pentecostals now see themselves as victims of elitist evangelical leaders in their own party and they are not happy.

Wead also describes some resentments that linger in the politically conservative religious community in the wake of the withdrawal of Harriet Miers' nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court.

RNA Picks 10 Top Religion Stories of 2007

Drum roll, please.  The Religion Newswriters Association (RNA) has issued its list of the top ten religion-related stories of 2007.  The list is here.  (Thanks to the DMN Religion Blog for the link.) The top story, according to RNA, is "[e]vangelical voters ponder whether they will be able to support the eventual Republican candidate . . . because of questions about the leaders’ faith and/or platform. Many say they would be reluctant to vote for Mormon Mitt Romney."  Number two is: "Leading Democratic presidential candidates make conscious efforts to woo faith-based voters after admitting failure to do so in 2004." 

What do you think of RNA's picks?  What do you believe are the top religion-related stories of 2007?

America Forward and Social Entrepreneurship

"Social entrepreneurs think they have new and innovative solutions to many of the social problems facing the next president — and now they have started a new coalition, America Forward, to persuade the presidential candidates to consider their ideas."  Here's more from The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

More than 60 organizations involved in health, education, and other causes have come together to form America Forward. The coalition seeks to introduce the presidential campaigns to the work of social entrepreneurs and encourage them to adopt new approaches developed by social entrepreneurs and to support policies that encourage new approaches to difficult social problems. Social entrepreneurship usually involves efforts to blend business practices with charity. . . .

The coalition says it has begun talking with many of the presidential campaigns and that the response has been positive.

Last week, Democratic candidate Senator Barack Obama gave a speech in which he adopted a number of the coalition’s policy ideas, including a significant increase in the number of AmeriCorps members and setting up a Social Investment Fund Network and an Office of Social Entrepreneurship in the executive branch to stimulate greater in innovation in the nonprofit world.

Obama's speech is here.  This is what he said about a Social Investment Fund Network and a "new Social Entrepreneur Agency" in the speech:

2008 Election and the IRS "Political Activity Compliance Initiative"

Let me flag an item noted in a Reuters story on the release yesterday of the IRS FY 2008 [Exempt Organizations] Implementing Guidelines.  The Reuters story notes that, "[w]ith presidential elections looming, the [IRS] plans to step up audits of tax-exempt organizations' donations to candidates and political action committees (PACs) . . . ."  Here's the relevant excerpt from the IRS report regarding one of its ongoing compliance projects, the Political Activity Compliance Initiative (PACI):

As in 2004 and 2006, during the 2008 election season, our Political Activity Compliance Initiative (PACI) will continue to investigate allegations of political campaign intervention by section 501(c)(3) organizations, including direct contributions to candidates through our PACI-PC project.

Oral Argument Before En Banc Ninth Circuit in Navajo Nation v. United States

Howard Bashman reports:

[The Ninth Circuit] heard en banc oral argument [this week] in Navajo Nation v. United States Forest Service, an action brought by Indian tribes and environmental groups under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the National Environmental Protection Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act, challenging the Forest Service's approval of a proposed expansion of the Arizona Snowbowl ski area on Humphrey's Peak. In particular, the case involves an objection to using reclaimed water produced from sewage for snowmaking. You can access that audio file via this link (9.96MB audio file). My earlier coverage of the Ninth Circuit's actions in this case can be accessed here and here.

Don Byrd also has been closely tracking this case.

Biennial of Union for Reform Judaism

The biennial meeting of the Union for Reform Judaism is taking place this week.   A post from the blog for the conference contains this note:

Reverend Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, in Lake Forest, California took part in a dialogue [Thursday] evening with Rabbi Laura Geller of Temple Emanuel of Beverly Hills and Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple, Los Angeles moderator by Ron Wolfson, co-founder of Synagogue 3000. This discussion is a must hear for anyone looking to learn how to create and sustain a meaningful community of faith in today’s world. Click on the play button to listen to the entire conversation.

You can listen to the discussion here.  My earlier post on Synagogue 3000 is here.  The biennial also has included a "Run for the RAC" (the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism), among many other interesting events.

More on Congregations and Security

Ben Witherington and Pastordan lead thoughtful (and challenging) discussions about congregations and security.  Be sure to read the comments as well as the posts.  As I noted earlier, these are obviously discussions we need to have right now.   Let me know if you've had thoughts on these issues you'd like to share or if you have seen other notable commentaries or discussions online.

"Called to be a Public Church"

That's the title of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's new guide on voting and civic participation.  The document has two major parts: the first provides detailed guidance on the IRS rules on electioneering as they apply to organizations that are tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.  The second part of the document is a compilation of the ELCA's issue briefs on domestic hunger, housing, and healthcare as well as its statements on global poverty and hunger, global warming, immigration, and peace and conflict.

Meacham on Liberty of Conscience

"Religious adherents, in my view, should be the most ferocious defenders of liberty of conscience, including the rights of those not to believe, for if God himself, in theological terms, does not compel obedience, then no man should try."  John Meacham in next week's Newsweek.

Huckabee's Question: The NYT's Verson of the Events

I said I was going to leave this story alone, but I now see that the New York Times has provided a few comments on its side of these events. (My earlier post includes Huckabee's version of these events and all of the background on this controversy.)   In the interests of providing a full account from all sides, here are the NYT's comments (without any comment from me):

Huckabee should not have been too shocked [that his question ("Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?") appeared in the NYT story,] according to Megan Lieberman, the Times Magazine editor who handled the piece.

Lieberman told Politico that the article was thoroughly fact-checked, and that Alice Stewart, the Huckabee campaign’s press secretary, raised no concerns when briefed on that specific quote prior to publication.

Stewart did not return a call seeking comment. . . .

Prior to the candidate asking the Mormon question, Chafets wrote in his article:

“I asked Huckabee, who describes himself as the only Republican candidate with a degree in theology, if he considered Mormonism a cult or a religion. 'I think it’s a religion,' he said. 'I really don’t know much about it.'

Chafets wrote next: “I was about to jot down this piece of boilerplate when Huckabee surprised me with a question of his own….”

Reached Wednesday in Cooperstown, N.Y., where he’s writing a book on the National Baseball Hall of Fame, Chafets told Politico: “I asked him the question about Mormonism and whether he thought it was a religion or a cult.

“He said it was a religion, and didn’t know much about it. There was a pause. Then he asked his question,” Chafets continued.

“He can spin it any way he wants. It was on the wires and picked up by candidates, and I can’t be accountable for that,” Chafets said, adding, “I hope that the article, as I wrote it, was entirely in context.”

Lieberman said she also understood that Huckabee’s question “was an unbidden response.”

(Thanks to Dan Gilgoff for the link.)

Continuing Debate Over Student Distribution of Religious Literature in Texas Public Schools

Liberty Legal Institute is claiming "that school district officials [in Plano, Texas] have thumbed their noses at a judge's ruling on when elementary school children can hand out church pamphlets and other religious materials to other students," while "Plano school officials say they're following the law."  Here's more from the story:

A judge ruled in February that the school district can't stop elementary children from handing out materials during lunch. The order was part of a broader, long-standing First Amendment lawsuit against the district.

District officials say they appealed the latest ruling because they don't want to disrupt elementary cafeterias.

"We thought we were doing the right thing," Superintendent Doug Otto said. "You get a lot of kids in there, and they get distracted easily and pretty soon lunchtime is over."

Dr. Otto said that in the meantime, principals have followed the judge's order. School officials also alerted parents of the court order in a policy handbook this fall.

But they did not change a district policy to reflect the ruling. [A lawyer for Liberty Legal] complained about the discrepancy to school officials.

The court's ruling is here.  The Plano school's policy on student expression and their distribution of nonschool literature on campus is here.

Church & State: Separation Anxieties

That's the title of Dan Rather's recent program on church-state issues.  You can watch it here.  Rather put together a terrific panel.  The panelists are Holly Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty;  Rick Garnett of Notre Dame Law School;  Michael McConnell, a federal appellate judge; and Christopher Eisgruber, provost of Princeton University.   (Thanks to Don Byrd for the heads-up.)

More on the Controversy Over Teaching Evolution in Texas Public Schools

Two new items on this matter.  First, the Dallas Morning News takes a long look at the controversy and posts a link to the e-mail sent by the former science director of the Texas Education Agency (TEA), Chris Comer.  Comer "says she resigned from the Texas Education Agency to avoid being fired after officials told her she had improperly endorsed evolution."   

Second, the letter from over 100 scientists to the TEA is here (pdf).  (Thanks to Ed Darrell.)  If you need background on this letter, click here.

Wisconsin Public Radio on Religion and Politics

I'll be one of the guests on Kathleen Dunn's program on Wisconsin Public Radio this morning at around 10:20am (ET).  We'll be discussing religion and politics.  If you want to listen online, you may do so here.

Huckabee's Question (Updated)

AP reports that "Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, asks in an upcoming article, 'Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?' " Here's more from the story:

The article, to be published in Sunday's New York Times Magazine, says Huckabee asked the question after saying he believes Mormonism is a religion but doesn't know much about it. His rival Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, is a member of the Mormon church, which is known officially as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Meanwhile, the Huckabee campaign has issued a press release saying that "the full context of the exchange makes it clear that Governor Huckabee was illustrating his unwillingness to answer questions about Mormonism and to avoid addressing theological questions during this campaign."  Here's a statement from Huckabee's spokeperson:

“Governor Huckabee has said consistently that he believes this campaign should center on a discussion of the important issues confronting our nation,” said Senior Advisor, Dr. Charmaine Yoest, “and not focus on questions of religious belief.  He wants to assure persons of all faith traditions of his firm commitment to religious tolerance and freedom of worship.  Governor Huckabee believes that one of the great strengths of our nation lies in its diversity of thought, opinion and faith.”

I find it exceedingly difficult to imagine a political context that would justify raising the question Huckabee apparently asked -- the question appears to be calculated to attempt to turn evangelical Christians against Romney's candidacy for purely theological reasons.  Romney may have unwisely opened the door on his purely theological beliefs in his recent speech, but I don't believe that that excuses other candidates for raising questions like this one.   

It is not good for any of us, evangelical Christians included, to feature this kind of discussion as part of our process of electing a president.  Let's debate purely theological questions in our churches, not on the campaign trail.  (And when we do debate those questions in our churches, let's debate them with intellectual honesty and speak the truth in love.)  I will wait to see this in context, but I am deeply troubled by this report. 

By the way, here's Romney's response to this news.

Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said Romney will not debate candidates on their faith or question their faith.

"For those who want to know how Governor Romney's faith informs his values, they can look at how he lives his life and how he has raised his family," Madden said.

I think Romney is handling this kind of thing just right at this point by refusing to answer purely theological questions himself and instead referring them to his church.  The response of the LDS church to Huckabee's question is below the fold.  It was included in the AP story. 

UPDATE:  Marc Ambinder says he has the context for this question from Huckabee.  Ambinder offers what appear to be some notes from a conversation he had with Huckabee.  (See next update for an explanation of the strikethroughs in this update.)  There's more to Ambinder's notes it than this (go read the post to get the full flavor), but this is the key passage:   

Huckabee is, indeed, a discreet fellow, but he has no trouble making his feelings known. He mentioned how much he respected his fellow candidates John McCain and Rudolph W. Giuliani. The name of his principal rival in Iowa, Mitt Romney, went unmentioned. Romney, a Mormon, had promised that he would be addressing the subject of his religion a few days later. I asked Huckabee, who describes himself as the only Republican candidate with a degree in theology, if he considered Mormonism a cult or a religion. ‘‘I think it’s a religion,’’ he said. ‘‘I really don’t know much about it.’’

I was about to jot down this piece of boilerplate when Huckabee surprised me with a question of his own: ‘‘Don’t Mormons,’’ he asked in an innocent voice, ‘‘believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?’’

So I suppose what Ambinder is saying here is that Huckabee said the same thing to him in this context.  (Another reporter wrote the NYT cover story that is referenced in the AP report.)  I will wait to see the context of the NYT story to comment on that account.  But, Based on this Ambinder's account, my sense continues to be that Huckabee's question appears to be a calculated attempt to turn evangelical Christians against Romney's candidacy for purely theological reasons, something I believe to be improper and wrong for a person who aspires to be president of the United States.  Huckabee is a Baptist pastor, and he knows very well that this kind of suggestion about Mormonism would greatly upset evangelicals.  Yet the issue has no bearing on how Romney would govern.  And therein lies the problem. 

ANOTHER UPDATE:   Here is the full NYT piece on Huckabee.  As it turns out, Marc Ambinder was quoting from the NYT piece, not from his own notes -- I misunderstood that point.  (I suppose Ambinder got the relevant excerpt from the NYT piece before that piece was posted online -- there was no link in Ambinder's post.)  So the block quote in the update above is the one from the NYT piece.  That will explain the strikethroughs in that update.  I have yet to read the full NYT piece.  I'll comment on it if it happens to change my reaction to this issue.  (I highly doubt that it will, but one always wants to read the full piece.)  Of course, my reaction to the excerpt remains the same. 

AND ONE MORE:  Jim Geraghty of National Review is reporting that Huckabee apologized to Romney for this remark after the debate this morning.  Here's some of what Geraghty has to say:

Big news breaking on CNN, as Huckabee tells Wolf Blitzer: "After the debate today, I went to Mitt Romney and apologized to him."

Huckabee: "He was gracious, I hope he knows that it was sincere."

Huckabee: (paraphrased) If you’ll talk to the reporter, he was shocked, as I was, that that was highlighted out of an 8100 word article...[the reporter] was trying to press my thoughts, to get me to talk about Mitt Romney's religion, and I said I didn’t want to go there. He was telling me things because he’s comparably well-schooled on comparative religions.

I'm glad to hear that Huckabee apologized for his comment and did so directly to Romney.  It was the only decent thing to do.  The fact that Romney was gracious in this situation says something very good about him.  It would be better if Huckabee would leave it at that rather than talk about how strange it was that that particular comment caught people's attention, but I'll let that go for now.   I hope this is the last time a candidate has to be called on the carpet for this kind of thing.      

FINAL UPDATE:  From the CNN story:

Republican Mike Huckabee Wednesday personally apologized to rival Mitt Romney for comments he made in an upcoming New York Times Magazine article that appear to disparage the Mormon faith.

The former Arkansas governor said he apologized to Romney after the GOP debate in Johnston, Iowa.

"I said, I would never try, ever to try to somehow pick out some point of your faith and make it an issue, and I wouldn't," Huckabee said.

"I've stayed away from talking about Mitt Romney's faith," Huckabee said. "I told him face-to-face, I said I don't think your being a Mormon ought to make you more or less qualified for being a president."

In the article, a preview of which is posted on the New York Times Web site, the former Arkansas governor is quoted as asking, "Don't Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?"

The remark came after New York Times reporter Zev Chafets asked Huckabee whether he thought Mormonism was a religion or a cult. Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, said he thought it was the former but conceded he doesn't "know much about it." The article is to appear in Sunday's paper.

Asked how Romney responded to the apology, Huckabee said the Massachusetts Republican was "gracious."

"The governor accepted the apology," Romney spokesman Kevin Madden said. "He continues to believe that this campaign should not be about questioning a candidate's faith. While it is fair to criticize an opponent's record or policy positions, it is out of bounds for one candidate to question another's personal faith."

Speaking with CNN Wednesday, Huckabee expressed disbelief that the comment has caused an uproar.

"We were having a conversation over several hours, the conversation was about religion and he was trying to press me on my thoughts of Mitt Romney's religion, and I said 'I don't want to go there.'" Huckabee said.

"I really didn't know. Well, he was telling me things about the Mormon faith, because he frankly is well-schooled on comparative religions. As a part of that conversation, I asked the question, because I had heard that, and I asked it, not to create something -- I never thought it would make the story."

Huckabee, who has surged into first place in Iowa, also reiterated that he doesn't think a candidate's religion should be an issue in the campaign.

"I don't think his particular religion is a factor in whether or not people should vote him or against him," he said. "I'd like to think that my being a Baptist isn't a factor in people voting for or against me."

If you'd like to see the relevant excerpt from the transcript of Hu