Rep. Michele Bachmann told Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network Friday that she will “look to the Lord” for guidance on whether she’ll run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012. Bachmann, whose activism in the tea party movement and among conservative evangelical Christians has her visiting most parts of the country, has repeatedly said that her faith would guide her decision to seek higher office.

“I think it will be an inner assurance more than anything of what I am supposed to do,” she said of contemplating a run for president. She said she and her husband “look to the Lord for guidance, and I can’t say enough how important that’s been to us to give us that rock of assurance on which path we should go.”

“We’re strong people of faith,” she said. “My husband and I gave our lives to the Lord when we were 16 years of age, and so that’s been a long time now. … And I can’t say enough how important that’s been to us to give us that rock of assurance on which path we should go.”

In 2009, Bachmann made a similar statement to World Net Daily.

“When I have sensed that the Lord is calling me to do something, I’ve said yes to it. But I will not seek a higher office if God is not calling me to do it. That’s really my standard… If I am called to serve in that realm I would serve… But if I am not called, I wouldn’t do it.”

And in 2006, just before her first successful run for Congress, she said:

God then called me to run for the United States Congress, and I thought ‘What in the world will that be for?’ and my husband said ‘You need to do this,’ and I wasn’t so sure, and we took 3 days and we fasted and we prayed and we said, ‘Lord. Is this what you want? Is this your will?’ and after long about the afternoon of day two, he made that calling sure. And its been now 22 months that I’ve been running for United States Congress. Who in their right mind would spend 2 years to run for a job that lasts 2 years? You’d have to be absolutely a fool to do that. You are now looking at a fool for Christ. This is a fool for Christ.

Rep. Michele Bachmann earned her law degree from televangelist Pat Robertson’s Regent University, but that doesn’t necessarily mean her alma mater backs her possible presidential bid. The dean of the university’s Pat Robertson School of Government thinks her response to President Obama’s State of the Union address was unwise and stated that she’s too inexperienced to make it to the Oval Office just yet.

Dr. Charles W. Dunn, dean of Regent University’s Robertson School of Government, spoke with the American Family Association’s OneNewsNow, and said he thinks that Bachmann is “articulate, attractive, and bright” but her tea party response to Obama was “unwise.”

“As I look at Congresswoman Bachmann in this light: those members who are outsiders often become flamethrowers, and they lose their ability to influence much of what happens in the Congress,” Dunn said.

“The tea party and the Republican Party, if they divide, they will harm one another,” said Dunn, who has served as staffer for Republican members of Congress. “The Republican Party needs the tea party in order to mount a serious campaign against President Obama. The tea party needs the Republican Party in order to achieve its goals.”

Bachmann has hinted at a possible run for the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

OneNewsNow notes that Dunn thinks Bachmann “is too inexperienced to be seriously considered for the Oval Office that soon.”

Rep. Michele Bachmann has added religious right attorney Jay Sekulow to her list of instructors at her Tea Party Caucus constitutional classes. Sekulow is the head of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a conservative religious law group televangelist Pat Robertson founded because he thought the American Civil Liberties Union was “hostile to traditional American values.” Sekulow joins Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and controversial history revisionist David Barton as an invitee of Bachmann to teach the courses.

Sekulow got his start by founding Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism (CASE) in 1990 to ensure the religious right has a voice in court cases involving the separation of church and state and abortion cases.

“I look for every opportunity God gives me in the courtroom to share the gospel,” he once said, adding that the religious right has a “cultural mandate” to change society in God’s image. “By whatever ethical means necessary, we need to engage in this struggle,” he said.

Sekulow’s work has come under some criticism from the legal community who see his legal empire as a way to support his “high-flying lifestyle.”

According to a 2005 profile in Legal Times, “Sekulow, through the ACLJ and a string of interconnected nonprofit and for-profit entities, has built a financial empire that generates millions of dollars a year and supports a lavish lifestyle — complete with multiple homes, chauffeur-driven cars, and a private jet that he once used to ferry Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia.”

Bachmann was on Sekulow’s radio show on Thursday and invited him to teach her courses, according to People for the American Way’s Right Wing Watch:

Bachmann: Our opening speaker was Justice Antonin Scalia. We had both Democrats and Republicans – we had four Democrat members of Congress. It was very civil, it was very open and we hope to invite all of the Supreme Court Justices to come and speak to us. But we also hope to have people like yourself, Jay – we’ve invited you to come and speak to members of Congress, to speak about the Constitution. The topic will be up to the speakers choice but the whole purpose and intent is to have members thinking about the Constitution and our limitations under the Constitution. That has not been a focus here in Congress in recent years. We intend to change that and this was a very good first meeting this week.

Sekulow: I look forward to participating [and] we appreciate you’re not only representing the people of your district, you’re representing all of use that share the concerns and the desire to see Constitutional Conservatism placed forward and Congresswoman, thanks for being with us and thanks for the bold stand you are taking in Washington.

Bachmann: Thank you. You’re wonderful and thank you for your ministry.

As part of it’s “Elephant in the Room” series, Pat Robertson’s Christian Broadcasting Network did a half-hour long segment on Gov. Tim Pawlenty and his presidential aspirations. CBN’s David Brody sat down with Pawlenty and wife Mary as well the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza and Politico’s Jonathan Martin. Among the topics were Pawlenty’s connection to the evangelical community and his lack of name recognition.

Pawlenty said he’s running on a platform of repealing health care reform: “I think it’s one of the worst piece of legislation in the history of the country.”

He also talked about his faith. “If the nation turns its back on God or tries to push him out of the equation, we are going be a much poorer nation for it,” he said. “We believe in Jesus Christ. We believe what Jesus taught — not only believe in but try our very best to follow. Jesus is who he says he is, and it’s both simple but also profound.”

The Pawlentys were asked about their church whose pastor is also the president of the National Association of Evangelicals and whether that connection could help with his presidential bid.

“I can’t imagine that Leith Anderson or I would think that that’s an issue,” Mary Pawlenty said. “Our faith obviously is a part of who we are, and to the extent individuals as they hear that find they are interested learning more about who my husband is. The notion that there’s somehow access, that doesn’t even compute in my brain that way.”

Gov. Pawlenty responded, “Pastor Anderson is not someone who would or should use that for political purposes, and he’s a wonderful person and a dear leader and minster. Neither he nor that group is some sort of plug-and-play political operation. He’s in the business of saving souls. He’s not in the business of political campaigns.

CBN also polled people on the streets of Washington, D.C., to see if they recognized Pawlenty. None of the ten people on the street easily recognized Pawlenty — only one did after incorrectly guessing that he was Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

Minnesota Republican strategist Vin Weber made the case for Pawlenty as well saying he’s the only conservative governor in Minnesota for the last 50 years.

The full half-hour interview can be viewed below:

The American Center for Law and Justice, an evangelical Christian legal group founded by televangelist Pat Robertson, has filed an Amicus brief on behalf of 63 members of Congress –  including Minnesota Reps. Michele Bachmann and John Kline — challenging the constitutionality of a provision health care reform legislation that will require all Americans to have health insurance by 2014.

“Put simply, Congress cannot pass any law that seems to most efficiently address a national problem. Every federal law must derive from one of the grants of authority found in the Constitution,” the brief said. “This unprecedented expansion of federal power reflected in the government’s understanding of the commerce power is wrong, and that expansion of power threatens individual liberty.”

It continues: “Interpreting the commerce power to enable Congress to force American citizens to purchase health insurance would place Americans’ economic liberty in serious jeopardy. There is no principled basis for limiting such power to health insurance purchases because every purchasing decision may have a rippling effect on interstate commerce.”

Founded in 1990 by Pat Robertson, the ACLJ is Robertson’s answer to the American Civil Liberties Union. “Someone has got to stop the ACLU in court,” Robertson said in 1995. “And that’s exactly what we are going to do at the American Center for Law and Justice. Our attorneys are defending Christians in courtrooms all across America.”

Here’s a full list of signatories:

Paul Broun, Robert Aderholt, Todd Akin, Rodney Alexander, Michele Bachmann, Spencer Bachus, Rob Bishop, Marsha Blackburn, Michael Burgess, Dan Burton, Eric Cantor, Jason Chaffetz, Mike Coffman, Tom Cole, Mike Conaway, Geoff Davis, Jeff Flake, John Fleming, Virginia Foxx, Trent Franks, Scott Garrett, Louie Gohmert, Tom Graves, Ralph Hall, Greg Harper, Jeb Hensarling, Wally Herger, Lynn Jenkins, Walter Jones, Jim Jordan, Steve King, John Kline, Doug Lamborn, Robert Latta, Cynthia Lummis, Dan Lungren, Connie Mack, Donald Manzullo, Kenny Marchant, Kevin McCarthy, Tom McClintock, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Garry Miller, Jeff Miller, Jerry Moran, Randy Neugebauer, Pete Olson, Ron Paul, Mike Pence, Joe Pitts, Bill Posey, Tom Price, George Radonovich, Mike Rogers (AL), Steve Scalise, Pete Sessions, John Shadegg, Adrian Smith, Lamar Smith, Todd Tiahrt, Zach Wamp, Lynn Westmoreland, and Joe Wilson.

acljbrief

Gov. Tim Pawlenty and First Lady Mary sat down with Pat Robertson’s 700 Club last week to discuss presidential ambitions and the family’s faith. In the interview, Pawlenty says his family is ready to take on a presidential campaign even if Pawlenty himself is still coy about his ambitions for higher office. He also talked at length about his blue-collar credentials and how he’s been successful in “perhaps the most liberal state in the country.” Asked who he would sit down to dinner with living or dead, Pawlenty picked Jesus Christ.

“We need to understand that our relationship with God is extremely important and how we order ourselves in a moral society is extremely important,” Mary Pawlenty told David Brody of the 700 Club. “It is no small matter to suggest that traditional marriage ought to be redefined. Traditional marriage is incredibly important to who we are as a society, to the family, to how we raise our children so while Tim has correctly indicated that the most important issues right now are jobs and the economy, as importantly is the focus on our families.”

On his success in Minnesota, Gov. Pawlenty said, “I’m a conservative, both fiscally conservative and socially conservative, but I’ve been successful in perhaps the most liberal state in the country.” (It’s a common talking point when Pawlenty speaks with conservatives; he used the “most liberal” designation at CPAC in February, for instance.)

Wife Mary added, “One of the things that I think Tim does particularly well is that he connects with people who are at least considering whether perhaps a more conservative candidate might be one for them, so he’s someone who connect with people who are blue collar, people who are really looking for someone whose life experience connects a bit more with theirs. And I think it’s a significant part of who he is and his upbringing and so I think he reaches a cross section of people that perhaps sometimes other candidates may not.”

“Whatever he chooses to do, however you choose to live the next years of your life, I’m with ya!” said Mary Pawlenty. Gov. Pawlenty added, It’s a whole other level if you run for national office; but, I was walking the dog with my younger daughter, I don’t know a few months ago, and she says, ‘Dad are you gonna run for president?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, honey, I’m not sure.’ And she paused for a second and then said, ‘Well ,just don’t embarrass the family.’ OK. Well, at least we got that standard set.”

Pawlenty became an evangelical Christian in the 1980s and attends Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie whose pastor is also the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, a group that boasts a membership of 30 million.

More clips of Pawlenty’s interview can be viewed on Brody’s blog.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty is bolstering his religious right credentials in advance of his presumed run for president in 2012. On Friday night, Pawlenty headlined a fundraiser for the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, an offshoot of the Christian Coalition. On Tuesday, Pawlenty will be interviewed by David Brody, a correspondent of Pat Robertson’s 700 Club.

Pawlenty told the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition (IFFC) about his plans for faith in government, according to Iowa Politics. Of the Declaration of Independence, he said, “It doesn’t say we’re endowed by our state legislator, it doesn’t say we’re endowed by our member of Congress, it says we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights … and so we know that these are blessings, these are grants from not Congress or from the government, but from our creator.”

He also said that candidates who have “their moral compass set correctly” should be the ones in elected office.

The IFFC was formerly known as the Iowa Christian Alliance, a state chapter in the Christian Coalition under Ralph Reed. The Christian Coalition was founded by Pat Robertson, a leading religious right figure and best known for his religious news show, The 700 Club.

Pawlenty and his wife Mary will get the 700 Club treatment this fall. David Brody, a correspondent for the show will be in Minneapolis on Tuesday to film an interview with the Pawlentys that will air “sometime after the midterm elections.” Brody says that while some clips will appear on his blog on Wednesday.

Two Haitians try to reach survivors in a toppled hotel. Photo: UN Development Program, Flickr

Pat Robertson generated outrage last week when he said he believes Haiti’s problems stem from a pact the nation made with the devil in 1804, but his remarks aren’t unique among evangelical Christians, even in Minnesota. While not all subscribe to the view that Satan is to blame for last week’s devastating earthquake, some say Haiti’s salvation will only come about if its inhabitants abandon their Vodou religious practices and turn to Jesus Christ.

Adoration Church in Savage, Minn., has close ties to Haiti. Over the last few years, the church has partnered with Minnesota Teen Challenge to create Haiti Teen Challenge. The arrangement is facilitated by Craig Sulentic, who is on the Adoration Church Leadership Team and the MNTC board of directors, and is now the president of the Haiti Teen Challenge Board.

“Craig connected the dots and asked Pastor Dan [Schmitt] and Adoration to consider joining forces to help MN Teen Challenge with their leadership training center,” Adoration’s Web site says. The site, which praises the partnership with MNTC, attempts to get to the root of Haiti’s problems:

This former French colony overthrew their French slave owners through the only successful slave uprising in modern history and the nation of Haiti was born. While the revolution against slavery was commendable, the manner in which it was achieved was deplorable. On August 14, 1791, a group of houngans (voodoo priests), led by a former slave houngan named Boukman, made a pact with the Devil at a place called Bois-Caiman. The founding fathers and others present vowed to exterminate all of the white Frenchmen on the island. They sacrificed a black pig in a voodoo ritual with hundreds of slaves drinking the sacrificial pig’s blood. In this ritual, Boukman asked Satan for his help in liberating Haiti from the French. In exchange, the voodoo priests offered to give the country to Satan for 200 years and swore to serve him. On January 1, 1804, the nation of Haiti was born and thus began a new demonic tyranny.

MNTC has distanced itself from Adoration’s claims.

Spokesperson Eric Vagle told the Minnesota Independent, “We absolutely do not hold to those views on Haiti.”

Another example of an evangelical view of Haiti’s problems comes from the Minnesota Family Council. John Helmberger, the chief executive officer of MFC, wrote on the organization’s blog that Haiti must become a Christian nation in order to thrive. Helmberger notes a column by New York Times columnist David Brooks, where Brooks asserts that a culture change is needed to tackle pverty in Haiti. While Brooks doesn’t insinuate that evangelical Christianity is the answer, Helmberger responds that it is:

One is that there is probably no more stark illustration of the profound impact a people’s worldview can have on them economically, socially, culturally, and spiritually than the contrast between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, with which it shares the island of Hispaniola. Haiti has been chronically impoverished and resistant to improvement since long before last week’s earthquake, and New York Times columnist David Brooks correctly points to the dominant voodoo religion as a cause. Why make plans or try to improve yourself or your community if your life and your society are at the mercy of capricious spirits that may negate your efforts on a whim? But the truth is that Haiti needs more than relief. It needs redemption and transformation. Haitians need to be delivered from the false and destructive spirituality that has held them and their nation in bondage for two centuries and made them impervious to change or improvement. They need to be “delivered… from the domain of darkness and transferred… to the kingdom of [God's] beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). They need to be “transformed by the renewing of [their] minds” with the truth of the gospel, through faith in Jesus Christ (Romans 12:2).

Within a day of its first appearance that blog post was deleted.

(Click on the image to see larger version)

Tom Prichard, president of MFC, explains its removal:

The post … was a response to an op/ed piece by David Brooks in NY Times. Brooks piece was viewed as insensitive to the Haitian people as they struggle with this incredible tragedy. We felt our commenting on the same topic at this time might come across as insensitive as well. Now is a time for compassion. This is a time to reach out and help the Haitian people rather than try to address the historical, social conditions of the country.

MFC also removed two other posts that seemed to defend Robertson’s comments — or at least criticized his critics: “Pat Robertson, Haitian earthquake, “A Curse”, and media bias” and “Haiti disastrous earthquake. What did Pat Robertson, Danny Glover, and the White House say about it? What would Jesus say?” are still on Google’s cache.

Robertson, too, has found it necessary to revisit, if not recant, his initial statements about Haitians. Robertson, via his Christian Broadcasting Network company, released this statement late last week:

On today’s The 700 Club, during a segment about the devastation, suffering and humanitarian effort that is needed in Haiti, Dr. Robertson also spoke about Haiti’s history. His comments were based on the widely-discussed 1791 slave rebellion led by Boukman Dutty at Bois Caiman, where the slaves allegedly made a famous pact with the devil in exchange for victory over the French. This history, combined with the horrible state of the country, has led countless scholars and religious figures over the centuries to believe the country is cursed. Dr. Robertson never stated that the earthquake was God’s wrath. If you watch the entire video segment, Dr. Robertson’s compassion for the people of Haiti is clear. He called for prayer for them. His humanitarian arm has been working to help thousands of people in Haiti over the last year, and they are currently launching a major relief and recovery effort to help the victims of this disaster. They have sent a shipment of millions of dollars worth of medications that is now in Haiti, and their disaster team leaders are expected to arrive tomorrow and begin operations to ease the suffering.

The insinuation that some Haitian religious practices are to blame for Haiti’s problems are not new. In fact, many religious writers have used Haitian poverty and corruption as evidence that Vodou is “demonic” and that the nation has made a pact with Satan, often minimizing the impact of colonialism and the tendency for other nations to meddle in Haiti’s affairs.

Today, 96 percent of Haitians are Christian (80 percent Catholic, 16 percent Protestant), according to the CIA Word Factbook, which also notes that “roughly half” of the population practices Vodou.

“She does not share Mr. Robertson’s views on Haiti,” Dziok said, “And it’s absolutely pathetic and despicable for the Democrats to politicize this awful tragedy.”

The DFL released a statement late last week questioning Bachmann’s recent associations with Robertson.

“Pat Robertson’s comments are inappropriate and embarrassing, especially when so many Americans are uniting in spirit and service to help the people of Haiti,” said DFL chair Brian Melendez. “Minnesotans deserve to know whether Michele Bachman agrees with Mr. Robertson’s hurtful statements, given that she is such a frequent guest on his show. I call on Representative Bachmann to denounce Robertson’s divisive comments at the earliest opportunity.”

“We have the most left-leaning, radical president we’ve ever had in the history of the United States. The most radical, left-leaning speaker of the House than we’ve ever had in the history of the United States and one of the most radical, left-leaning majority leaders in the Senate,” Bachmann said. “We have never had this type of radical view of government.”

Bachmann also railed against the recently passed hate crimes law, and spoke tearfully about her faith.