I’ve been listening to presidential hopefuls declare their intentions to run for President in 2008. I have a question—how will each candidate incorporate his personal beliefs into his decision-making? Inevitably, our worldviews will show and our deepest beliefs will become evident. Specifically, how will their personal religious convictions affect their leadership style?

As human beings, we cannot easily compartmentalize ourselves, placing our most fundamental beliefs about God, morality, and truth in one compartment and our political and public beliefs in another. We are not made that way.

The U.S. Constitution demands that there be no religious test for public office. That means that the government cannot prohibit anyone's candidacy on that basis.

It makes sense to me that candidates should be as forthright and direct about their personal religious views as about any other question. Those who make too much of their beliefs risk appearing as a candidate for national preacher. Those who make too little of their beliefs risk appearing insincere and evasive. Those who seek to exploit their beliefs will do themselves political harm.

Unfortunately, I think John F. Kennedy set an poor example when he told a group of Baptist preachers in Houston in 1960 that his Catholicism would have virtually nothing to do with his presidential decision-making. How could that be? I want to know how a political candidate makes decisions, weighs priorities, and gains strength in crisis.

We are not electing a national preacher, rabbi, imam, or priest, but we are electing a human being. As much as possible, I want to know what that human being believes at the deepest levels and how those beliefs form character, perspective, and political decisions.

Of course, for that to happen we would have to move beyond sound bites and flashy TV commercials.

There's a lot recently being said regarding Intelligent Design (ID) versus evolution. I read today that Great Britain is beginning to include the teaching of ID into their public school curriculum. Good for them!

We recently completed a study entitled, "Unlocking the Mystery of Life" by Illustrated Media (I recommend it.) It is a purely secular presentation FOR the case of ID. The strongest proponents for ID in the United States are found in the scientific community. The study provides more than enough scientific evidence to support the case for ID. Too long, Christians have allowed themselves to be intimidated by the pseudo-scientific community. It doesn't have to be that way--good science supports the case for ID.

I recently received a question (via our church webpage) that I think is appropriate for this post.

Riley of Baltimore, MD. writes, “In light of scientific discoveries in recent years, is it time for us as Christians to abandon the literal view of a six-day creation found in the book of Genesis?

Absolutely not. A biblical understanding of the creation and fall of humanity establishes the necessary foundation for the Christian world-view. Everything Scripture teaches about sin and redemption assumes the literal truth of the first three chapters of Genesis. After all, if God is not the Creator, then maybe He’s not the Redeemer either. If we cannot believe the opening chapters of Genesis, how can we be certain of anything the Bible says?

I am convinced the correct interpretation of Genesis 1-3 is the one that comes naturally from a straightforward reading of the text. It teaches us that the universe is relatively young, albeit with an appearance of age and maturity, and that all of creation was accomplished in the span of six literal days.
To those who will inevitably complain that such a view is unsophisticated and unscientific, my reply is that it is certainly superior to the irrational notion that an ordered and incomprehensibly complex universe sprung by accident from nothingness or by accident.

Scripture offers the only accurate explanations that can be found anywhere about how our race began, where our moral sense originated, why we cannot seem to do what our own consciences tell us is right, and how we can be redeemed from this hopeless situation.

Scripture is not merely the best of several possible explanations. It is the Word of God.