Obama, Huckabee and Evangelicals, oh my!

If the faith and politics stew was simmering before, it has come to a full boil with Mike Huckabee's triumph in the Iowa caucuses last night.

Evangelical Christmas apparently made up 60 percent of Republican caucus goers, and nearly 80 percent of Huckabee's supporters. It makes sense - he's a former Baptist minister.

On the other side, Obama is a Christian with a more liberal theology. Faith came up some, but seemed to play no real role in his victory in Iowa.

So what do you see for the future? In 2004, pundits (particularly those in the Northeast major media markets) were blown away by the "values voters." Will faith continue to play a large role in the mind of voters? Or are we in the media making more out of this than is really there?

Teaching vs. brainwashing

I finally had a chance to see "Jesus Camp" this week. The documentary appeared in theaters last year and tells the story of three Evangelical Christian children who go to a summer camp in Devils Lake, N.D.

What is shown is pretty disturbing - even to most believers I think. Kids should be taught about living their faith and avoiding sin, but the services depicted appear to manipulate kids' emotions to the point that some of them are just hysterical. I'm really not sure what 8 and 9 year old kids from middle America have to be so guilty and upset over.

The filmmakers obviously have their own bias. In what I saw of the director's commentary (I love DVDs), they seem to be almost afraid of people committed to their faith. So I had to wonder if the film just showed the extremes.

Regardless, it raises the question, what's the best way to teach children about faith? A fine line seems to separate brainwashing and teaching them so they take ownership of their faith. How do you walk that line?

Denominational bloggers

Just as in secular politics, bloggers are making a dent in conversations about religious politics -- particularly the politics of American Christian denominations. USA Today's Cathy Grossman explores the topic pretty well in a story in today's paper.

I realized how few of these I read -- partly because of time and partly because of lack of knowledge/interest in the minutiae of various denominations (yes, I'm admitting my bias - the politics of churches outside my own is not that exciting to me. I'd rather write about what you're doing with your faith for the greater good). Here's a few I do check:

Catholic: Whispers in the Loggia
Episcopal Church: Drell's Descants (written by a guy in Alexandria)
Evangelical: Evangelical Outpost (not as much a specific denomination as a movement, and theology rooted in that movement)

I apparently need to find a Southern Baptist blogger... Most of the rest that I check are on more general religion topics. So what about you? Any suggestions on good religion blogs?

Honoring Israel

Christians will sing Hebrew melodies. Jews will pray in a church while charismatic Christians raise their arms in worship. A representative of the Israeli consulate and an internationally known Evangelical pastor will speak.

Tonight's A Night to Honor Israel event promises to be a fascinating blend of cultures as Evangelical Christians and Jews come together to pray for the preservation of the state of Israel. The movement started with the Rev. John Hagee, pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio and the keynote speaker for today's event. He takes the idea to show support for Israel from several Scripture verses, particularly Genesis 12:3: "And I will bless them that bless thee and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all nations of the earth be blessed." The "thee" refers to Abraham and his descendants (which I might mention also includes Muslims).

Last years event was fascinating on a cultural level and was a pretty exciting worship service. If you're interested in attending, here are the details:

A Night to Honor Israel
7 p.m. Oct. 9
Shreveport Community Church, 5720 Buncombe Road, Shreveport

I'll have a full report in tomorrow's paper Times and probably some more details here on the blog.