Religion counts, isn't everything in politics

I am an evangelical Christian, but had I participated in an Iowa presidential election caucus I doubt that I would have supported Republican candidate Mike Huckabee, who also is an evangelical Christian. My problem? He seems too willing to trade his religious identification to garner votes.

The former governor of Arkansas isn't blatant about it, but hints abound that evangelical Christians should support him because he's "one of us." That was a major factor in his Iowa victory; evangelical Christians fully expect that if elected he will support those causes evangelical Christians supposedly support.

The fact is evangelical Christians aren't nearly as united a group as many people think. Mike Huckabee in office might not be the lock-step evangelical many of his supporters would like to see.

I have seen no evidence that Huckabee is turning his religion into a political agenda. Should he be elected, his evangelical followers will probably become just as disillusioned with him as they have been with every predecessor who has gone to the White House with their support and their high expectations.

But using a particular brand of religious faith as a campaign carrot on a stick bothers me. If Mitt Romney did that with his Mormon faith, Huckabee's evangelical supporters would be outraged.

It's not OK for evangelicals to openly campaign for "one of their own" while rising up in protest at any hint of religion in the campaign of someone from a different background.

I've written before about the equally insidious idea that one's religious faith should have absolutely no bearing on one's policy decisions. Most of us don't want government leaders who are amoral, with no values except those that will get them elected. We are looking for leaders with standards, people who will rise above their own self-interest and seek the common good.

I want to know something about the values of my government leaders. I won't support narrow, sectarian values. However, I do look for principled people.

I want my next president to be a person of compassion, with a strong desire for peace, a recognition that "all (human beings) are created equal" and should be treated accordingly, and a belief that the making and accumulation of money isn't the end all and be all of life.

I want a president with guts enough to stand up for what he or she believes is right, even when that belief is in the minority. I want that person to believe that there is a final accounting at the end of life and that we all will give an account of ourselves before the great judge of the universe. I want my president to live accordingly.

A lot of evangelical Christians hold these convictions. So do a lot of other religious people.

The biblical prophet Micah wrote, "And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

A candidate for whom that is the values base is the kind of candidate I could support.