2008 California Election Forum

Over 80,000 people came to hear Oprah Winfrey endorse Barack Obama in Iowa last week.

It was like a religious revival at the Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire rallies. It was a sort of "Good Housekeeping" seal of approval.

My wife and I watched as Oprah sounded like a preacher during her first-ever presidential endorsement.

She made it clear that she strongly backs the Illinois Democrat, calling him a "politician who has an ear for eloquence and a tongue dipped in the unvarnished truth."

She also said, "There are those who say that Barack Obama should wait his turn. But none of us is God. We don't know what the future holds, so we must respond to the pressures and the fortunes of history when the moment strikes."

She also said that he is a man who loves mercy and would do justly. While her talk used Biblical references, remember, she is not a Christian.

For over 20 years, Barack Obama sat without protest under the teaching of his spiritual mentor, Dr. Jeremiah Wright.

Dr. Wright and his church, Trinity United Church of Christ, are advocates of Black Liberation Theology.

This is important, because in understanding this ideology, you can understand the vitriolic preaching, the anti-Semitism, the racism, the anti-Americanism, the odd beliefs such as blaming the U.S. for 9/11 and the propagation of the HIV virus.

Much of it mirrors Marxist doctrines of class struggle and economic determinism.

Black Liberation Theology was defined in 1969 by the National Committee of Black Church Men.

Before the ultraliberal United Church of Christ (UCC) national conference, Obama sought to reach out to Christians and blast conservative Evangelicals. The UCC, with 1.2 million members, is one of the nation's most liberal denominations.

The UCC was soft on communism in the 1960s, and even ordained openly gay pastors as early as 1972.

Obama had this comment to make:

“Somehow, somewhere along the way, faith stopped being used to bring us together and started being used to drive us apart. It got hijacked.

“Part of it is because of the so-called leaders of the Christian Right, who've been all too eager to exploit what divides us.

“At every opportunity, they've told evangelical Christians that Democrats disrespect their values and dislike their church, while suggesting to the rest of the country that religious Americans care only about issues like abortion and gay marriage, school prayer and intelligent design.”

Dr. Alveda King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, has asked why leading Democratic candidates for president haven't mentioned abortion. Here's a quote from her regarding the recent debate on African-American issues:

"John Edwards, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama talked about the disproportionate number of blacks who die from AIDS, yet no one said a word about another disproportionately high killer of African-Americans, abortion.

"Blacks comprise 12 percent of the population, yet at least one-third of the babies aborted in this country are African-American. Why?

"And more to the point, why are politicians afraid to talk about this? If they're really concerned about racism in America, the abortion industry is an obvious place to start looking."

Here's an eye-opening look at Giuliani and his views on abortion. Click here to see the video.

At a recent presidential debate with a focus on "faith" by Clinton, Obama and Edwards, a group of antiabortion advocates had some interesting things to say.

Click the play button below to see the video.

Letters from Our Readers—On Only Voting for "The Candidate Who Can Win"

"I voted for Arnold because I thought he could win (in our liberal state) even though I knew McClintock was the conservative.

"Similarly, I voted for Bush in 2004 even though I had to hold my nose over No Child Left Behind (a Kennedy-sponsored bill) and his support of McCain- Feingold.

"Like President Bush, Governor Schwarzenegger is interested in pleasing voting blocks rather than standing for principle.

"Bush gives conservatives gifts such as tax relief and steadfastness on the war effort...then he gives gifts to liberals: government meddling in education (no Child Left Behind), Medicare Expansion, McCain- Feingold.

"Bush gives up easily on important issues like Social Security Reform, but holds steadfast on NOT building a border fence (No Illegal Immigrant Left Behind).

"Arnold is the same way except he's even worse than President Bush. Arnold really hasn't bestowed any conservative 'gifts,' only window dressing for his failed, half-hearted reform attempts in 2005.

"Conversely, Governor Schwarzenegger has legions of liberal gifts... bond spending, universal health care, global warming, etc.

"They say the Republican party is a 'big tent' party. I'm still technically registered as a Republican, but no longer identify myself as such with President Bush and Governor Schwarzenegger, prominent Republicans.

"I think the tent has grown too large and the Republican party philosophies of limited government have become meaningless.

"From now on, I'm voting for the principled candidate no matter if the polls say they can't win. In retrospect, my votes cast for the candidate-who-can-win has made me the loser."

—Steve

One of the conflicts liberal Christians have is connecting their values and faith with politics and reality.

Instead of faith shaping their political beliefs and candidate choices, politics shaped their faith and religious choices.

When I was in Washington, D.C. earlier this month, liberal Jim Wallis put together a "faith forum" for Hillary Clinton, Obama and John Edwards (I'll discuss the forum in the next issue).

But Wallis' position is in conflict with a Christian worldview. He blindly supports liberal politicians who support abortion (even horrible partial birth abortion).

Tucker Carlson tried to pin Wallis down on this contradiction. You can view the video by clicking the play button below

Congresswoman Linda Chavez is one of the most antifamily, big government, high-taxing representatives in Washington.

Now, I can add, she is one of the most wrongfully slanderous House members as well.

As Chairperson of the House Judiciary Subcommittee, she slandered Paul McNulty, Deputy Attorney General and basically accused him of lying with no proof or evidence.

Mr. McNulty is a man of high integrity, ethics and honesty.

This shameful conduct is just another reason we should have a quality candidate run against her.

That's what happened as many Californians voted for Arnold Schwarzenegger over Tom McClintock in the Gubernatorial recall election.

Now look...except for a few issues, Schwarzenegger has pursued policies almost as bad as Gray Davis, such as growing the budget deficit, growing government bureaucracy and growing government control over our lives.

His social and economic policies have been like the liberal Democrats, even appointing judicial activists to the courts. And he wants to increase taxes (he calls them fees) and sign dangerous anti-family legislation.

Except for a few vetoes, he has been more harmful than good.

Now, I have seen Christians say they would vote for Rudy Giuliani, who is antigun, antimarriage and pro-abortion. As the 2008 Presidential election approaches, shouldn't we vote for someone who has been:

• Consistent
• Supporting family values
• Cutting the size of government and slashing taxes
• Encouraging economic growth with less regulation
• Protecting us against the #1 threat we have—Islamic terrorism

What do you think? Email me at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .