Evangelical voters have ranked 'support for Israel' as a more important factor in judging candidates for office than have American Jews.
By GARY L. BAUERGary Bauer(photo credit: Courtesy)
If the only thing anyone knew about America's so called "values voters" - those tens of millions of socially-conservative Christians and Jews who regard the Bible as life's fundamental moral guidebook, was what America's big media said about us, one could easily picture millions of small-brained Neanderthals programmed to think only about abortion. Make no mistake: while few issues are as important to "values voters" as protecting the sanctity of innocent human life, we in fact do have the capacity to think, care and fight about other things as well and at the top of that list is Israel.
Poll after poll shows that in addition to "life" itself, "support for Israel" is a top concern for evangelical Christian voters. In fact, during each of the last three Presidential elections, evangelical voters have ranked "support for Israel" as a more important factor in judging candidates for office than have American Jews.
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We support Israel not just because the Bible commands us to. We support Israel because we recognize that Israel's fate is our own. When Israel is threatened, we are threatened. We know that those who seek to destroy Israel want to destroy us too. For this reason, it is critical that Iran's nuclear ambitions continue to be a central question in America's current election campaign. That so many on the Left either ignore or deny Iran's public goal of annihilating Israel does not lessen the likelihood of war. It increases the likelihood of war.
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Hopefully, President Bush's recent comments reminding Americans about the dangers of Iran's rapidly advancing nuclear program signal a recognition that the administration's long reliance upon the UN and Europe to solve the "Iran problem" hasn't worked. The hysterical reactions of many in the left-leaning media and Democrats in Congress to President Bush's comment that a nuclear Iran would obviously bring the world closer to World War III, remind me of Winston Churchill's quote, "An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last."
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Can you imagine anyone arguing that those preparing the 9/11 attacks could have been talked out of their plans by announcing another peace summit? How much more ludicrous is the belief that Iran, spending billions to build a nuclear weapon to destroy Israel, can be sweet talked out of its diabolical plans?Â
Why is the need to prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons so difficult for so many to understand? If an overwhelming majority of Americans believe a pre-emptive attack against al-Qaida would have been justified to prevent 3,000 civilian murders on 9/11, why would not an even higher percentage of Americans think a pre-emptive attack against Iran would be justified to prevent millions of civilian murders?
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The US and Israel must stand together against this "gathering storm." Value voters will insist on it because losing Western Civilization, built on the foundation of Judeo-Christian values, to the death-worshipping cult of Islamofascism would be immoral.
Gary L. Bauer works in Washington D.C. as president of American Values, a Christian organization dedicated to moral government and family values.
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