While candidates hash it out for the executive and legislative branches every four years, little attention is paid to the election of judges in Minnesota. Dan Griffith is running for the Minnesota Court of Appeals seat currently held by Judge Terri J. Stoneburner, and because positions and party affiliations are not part of the campaign process for judicial candidates, most voters don’t know that Griffith is a right-wing evangelical Christian who would make rulings based on his faith.

Griffith attends Evangelical Covenant Church in International Falls, and his faith is part of his judgment. “I believe in God. I think every judge should,” he says on his campaign Web site. “Then they will not think they have become God once they get into office. I believe that God is real and that ultimately we will be accountable to Him when we die and that should affect how we treat others on earth. That may be why John Jay, our First Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court said, ‘We should elect of all people Christians.’”

Since Griffith has never been a judge, voters can’t look to case law to determine how he would make judgments. Fortunately, the Minnesota Family Council has provided voters with a judicial questionnaire. Two judicial candidates have answered the council’s questions. Griffith is one. Church and state separation for Tim Tingelstad is the other (Read more in the Minnesota Independent’s report on Tingelstad’s run for Supreme Court).

For cases that have been decided, a judicial candidate can indicate whether they agree or disagree with a court’s decision.

The council’s questionnaire (PDF) asked, “Do you agree with the result in the Doe v. Gomez decision in which the Minnesota Supreme Court said that the Minnesota State Constitution contains a constitutional right to abortion that requires taxpayer funding of abortion?”

Griffith said “No.” Griffith’s background provides more information about how he gets to that decision. He is a board member for the “Life Care Center” in International Falls. Life Care Centers are a network of abortion alternative clinics sponsored by anti-abortion and religious right groups. The Life Care Center in International Falls does not have a web presence, but the one in Woodbury does.

“Our caring community provides a God-centered vision of human sexuality, promotes the merits of abstinence until marriage and offers free services in support of this vision. through this local organization, teens, adults, parents and families have ready access to medical services education and resources promoting healthy, life affirming choices,” reads the mission statement of the center.

The Web site continues, “Abortion is often presented as an issue of ‘women’s rights.’. It is seen as something desirable for women, and as a benefit to which they should have as much access as possible. In fact, to be ‘pro-life’ is seen by some as being ‘against women’s rights,’” it says. “You will see that, in fact, abortion harms women, ignores their rights, and exploits and degrades them. Anyone concerned about women will do well to know these facts.”

Griffith also disagreed with court decisions that banned the Ten Commandments from public schools and disagreed with decisions that made oral sex between consenting adults legal in Minnesota. He agrees with court decisions that allow religious landlords to deny housing to unmarried couples and agrees with decisions that outlawed same-sex marriage in Minnesota.

Earlier: Minnesota’s judicial races: Tingelstad runs for Supreme Court on “mission from God”