BachmannIn a profile in its December issue, the Christian Examiner credits religious right leader Beverly LaHaye, the founder of Concerned Women for America, for Rep. Michele Bachmann’s rise in the conservative movement.

LaHaye’s organization fights against civil rights for gays and lesbians, supports a ban on all abortions, and says politicians who don’t use the Christian Bible in policy-making shouldn’t be elected.

“Yes, religion and politics do mix,” LaHaye once said. “America is a nation based on biblical principles. Christian values dominate our government. The test of those values is the Bible. Politicians who do not use the Bible to guide their public and private lives do not belong in office.”

LaHaye says she sees Bachmann as the embodiment of her movement’s principals, and Bachmann in turn told the Examiner that she comes to LaHaye for skills-building and guidance:

In 2000 she was elected to the Minnesota state senate until six years later when voters sent her on to Washington as a U.S. Congresswoman. Bachmann said she found LaHaye to be an authoritative and credible voice to listen to, primarily because of LaHaye’s commitment to research, skills she is finding useful as she now represents her own constituents.

“She (LaHaye) doesn’t see herself as extraordinary, but we see her as an extraordinary woman of God who has completely abandoned herself to the will of God,” the congresswoman said. “I consider myself extremely fortunate to be her friend and to have benefited from the sacrifices she made early on in this effort. And she did sacrifice by holding on to what works, what matters and what’s right for our society.”

Bachmann has echoed LaHaye’s beliefs that there is no such thing as a separation of church and state, most recently at a fundraising dinner for controversial ministry You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International.

The Examiner also posted a full interview with Bachmann on her faith and the controversy that often surrounds her.