If there’s one thing the fractious Republican field agrees on, it’s that personal religious devotion is central to their campaign message.

Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Mitt Romney and even Ron Paul stress their faith on the stump; Romney plays up his religion, though he downplays his Mormonism because of lingering evangelical suspicion toward his church.

But a new survey indicates that such a liberal use of “God talk” may actually be more likely to hurt rather than help a candidate’s chances with voters.

According to an online poll conducted last September by the research arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, only 1 in 6 Americans (16 percent) said they are more likely to vote for a candidate who regularly shares their religious beliefs.

The poll by LifeWay Research showed that 30 percent of respondents indicated they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who prominently touts their religious beliefs and practices; 28 percent said it would have no impact, and 21 percent said it would depend on the candidate’s religion.

“Different people get a different picture in their mind when a political candidate shares or shows their religious convictions,” said Scott McConnell, director of LifeWay Research. “While some Americans warm up to this, many don’t see it as a positive.”

The poll reinforces the conflicted feelings Americans have toward their politicians: A survey last year conducted by Public Religion Research Institute and Religion News Service found majorities of every religious group say it is important that a presidential candidate have strong religious beliefs.

At the same time, respondents — including evangelical Christians — had a hard time identifying the religious affiliation of either President Obama or Romney.

Taken together, the two polls seem to suggest Americans want their politicians to be pious but not preachy.

Not surprisingly, the LifeWay poll found that Americans who consider themselves to be “born-again, evangelical or fundamentalist” Christians are much more likely than nonreligious voters to support a candidate who deploys a very public piety on the stump, by a 28 percent to 11 percent margin.

Similarly, these conservative Christians are more likely to say their support also “depends on the religion” of the candidate.

That may matter more in the GOP primaries than the general election given evangelicals’ outsized role in determining the outcome of the primaries, as was shown in the results of Saturday’s (Jan. 21) South Carolina contest.

The fact that those same evangelicals also say the religion of the candidate matters may be further cause for concern for Romney, who not only lost the South Carolina primary to Gingrich, but also the evangelical vote.

In the survey, respondents were asked: “When a candidate running for office regularly expresses religious conviction or activity, how does that impact your vote?”

The online survey of 2,144 Americans was conducted in September 2011 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Inspired by the “Occupy Wall Street” movement in the United States, various groups trooped to the Philippine House of Representatives in late November to demand a vote on a population-control bill that is opposed by Roman Catholic Church leadership.

Holding signs reading “keep your theology out of my biology,” demonstrators from the “Occupy for RH” (Reproductive Health) movement urged legislators on 21 November to “listen to the people and not to the bishops.”

“At Wall Street, they expressed economic dissatisfaction. Here, we’re expressing our dissatisfaction over our reproductive health policy. The lawmakers can’t keep interpolating till kingdom come. They shouldn’t kill the Reproductive Health bill through delays,” Dr. Junice Melgar, the movement’s chief coordinator, told national television on 21 November.

The proposed law promotes both natural and artificial methods of contraception. But the Catholic Church accepts only natural family planning methods and has been opposing the bill.

Supporters such as Representative Walden Bello urged President Benigno Aquino to take a firm stand on the bill and urged legislators of both houses to vote on the bill before this year ends.

Catholic leaders remain undaunted. “Managing population is not as simple as stopping babies from being conceived,” Bishop Carlito Cenzon of the Baguio diocese told ENInews on 22 November.

He warned against the adverse effects of a “contraceptive mentality.” He cited countries with aging populations such as Japan, Singapore and some parts of Europe, where married couples no longer have interest in raising bigger families even if offered economic incentives.

Monsignor Andres Cosalan, vicar-general of the Baguio diocese, also recalled that Singapore had an aggressive birth control program in the 1960s and 1970s.

“The slogan then was ‘Stop at Two!’ There were harsh measures involving the availability of housing and educational services. Singaporeans did stop at two,” Cosalan wrote in 20 November in the Baguio Midland Courier weekly newspaper. The irony, he noted, is that for the survival of Singapore, the government is now asking its people: “Please have four, if not more!” But there have been hardly any takers, he said.

Cosalan told ENInews that as more Filipinos are educated and prefer to marry later because of career pursuits, they also prefer fewer children than many couples did ten years ago. “It won’t be long before we’ll be confronted by the consequences of an aging population … With increased retirement benefits and fewer wage earners, this would be a strain on the national budget,” he said.

Not all Christians are opposed to the bill, which seeks to manage the growth of a population now at more than 94 million.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines, which groups ten mainline Protestant churches, has supported the bill since 2009 because it promises education and reproductive health benefits to mothers.

Bishop Efraim Tendero, national director of the Philippine Council of Evangelical Churches, the largest network of evangelical Christians in the Philippines, has said the bill “protects the life of both mother and the baby in her womb” and thus described the bill as “pro-quality of life.”

A widening rift is forming in the Presbyterian Church of the USA, and threatens to render it apart, as conservative elements continue to slam its decision to ordain openly gay clergy.

The most recent indication of the split came with the National Mexican Presbyterian Church of Mexico, which determined on a 116 to 22 vote to part ways with the PCUSA.

The NMPC parted ways due to the PCUSA decision last May to allow gay clergy who are involved in same-sex relationships to be ordained. The Mexican church is traditionally more theologically conservative than the PCUSA.

The PCUSA expressed sadness at the decision of the NMPC. On its website, it said it is likely the split will affect the work of U.S. missionaries in Mexico and along the U.S. — Mexican border.

The split will further affect some 24 partnerships that have been forged between PCUSA and NMPC, as well as short-term mission trips to Mexico that were slated in the near future.

The NMPC voted that the relationship with the PCUSA could only be re-established if the decision to ordain homosexual clergy with committed relationships is revoked.

Earlier, the NMPC also voted overwhelmingly against ordaining women by a vote of 158 to 14; and decided on a 103 to 55 vote against granting a grace period to presbyteries that already ordained women priests on their own.

“We have had initial conversations with Mexican church leaders since the decision, and together we shared a hope for healing and a renewed ability to engage God’s mission together,” Hunter Farrell, U.S. head of World Mission said in the PCUSA website. “But at this moment, this is not possible and it brings me great sadness.”

“Presbyterians do mission in partnership here and around the world, so we take the voice of the Mexican church very seriously,” Farrell said on the website.

The PCUSA, whose mission work included building clinics, hospitals and academic institutions in the U.S. and overseas, has a number of missionaries in Mexico and South America.

Conservative Presbyterians

The PCUSA is also hounded by a 2,000-member group of conservatives within the church who met last Aug. 24-25 in Minneapolis to discuss how they would respond to the decision to allow ordination of openly gay clergy.

The conference was organized by the umbrella group, Presbyterians for Renewal, and convened by the newly-formed group, Fellowship of Presbyterians.

The conference became a venue to examine ways that churches who oppose the new ruling can respond. Options include the possibility of forming a conservative group within the PCUSA, or to completely break ties and form a separate denomination.

The PCUSA has been facing a decline in membership for decades. At its peak in the 1960s, it had four million members. Today, its membership has fallen to almost half, at two million.

During the convention in Minneapolis Dr. Richard Mouw, president of Fuller Theological Seminary, suggested the formation of a subset within the denomination, with the aim of returning the PCUSA to its original theological roots.

Mouw cited the example of the Catholic Church, saying, “[When] Catholics felt the church had gone astray, they didn’t leave. They formed special orders who took special vows according to their commitments. The commitment to theological orthodoxy for many of us should take the form of a special vow, to witness to the essential tenets and the power of the Reformed faith,” The New American reported.

Others, however, feel there is no longer any hope for the PCUSA. Rev. John Crosby of Christ Presbyterian Church in Edina, Minnesota, told the Huffington Post, “We have tried to create such a big tent trying to make everybody happy theologically. I fear the tent has collapsed without a center.”

With the announcement of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s decision not to run for the presidency, who stands to gain the evangelical votes that would otherwise have gone to him?

Evangelicals comprise one of the largest voting communities in the Republican Party, and landed Huckabee, a Baptist minister, eight states (including Iowa), although he didn’t get the GOP nomination in 2008.

Now that Huckabee isn’t running, speculation is rife as to who will benefit most. Ralph Reed, who heads the Faith and Freedom Coalition, told CNN, “Whoever does the best job of securing a plurality of Huckabee and social conservative voters in Iowa, South Carolina, Florida and other early primary states will likely emerge as the Republican standard-bearer.”

Christian activist Michael Farris told CNN that if Christians revolve around one candidate again, as they did in 2008, it could be former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty, who is also an evangelical Christian.

Pawlenty has a track record in Minnesota, where he supervised his own government shutdown, increased cigarette taxes, supported re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada, and balanced the budget, The Washington Post said.

Pawlenty also raised Minnesota’s standard of education, lobbied for market-based health reforms, and proposed funding for alternative energy. He governed as a conservative, at the same time was a change agent, according to The Washington Post.

Pawlenty’s conservatism gives him the chance of getting support from Tea Party voters. His fiscal performance may win the vote of mainstream Republicans. In due time, independents may go his way. The Washington Post said his candidacy has “great potential breadth,” but right now, he is not widely known and his work is cut out for him.

If Pawlenty lands the GOP and makes it to a general election, he could refer to his performance as Minnesota governor to show that while conservative, he has free-market ideas and a creative economic approach that can lead the country to economic mobility, The Washington Post said.

Pawlenty’s biggest competition in Iowa is Newt Gingrich. However, both Gingrich and Mitt Romney got the ire of conservatives recently , The New York Times said, when they endorsed the concept of an individual mandate regarding health care.

Other possibilities

Rick Tyler, spokesman for Gingrich, told CNN the candidate has met with a lot of Iowa pastors in the last four years, which should reap hefty evangelical support. But Gingrich’s personal life, having married three times and admitting to an affair with his current wife, Callista, while still married to his second wife, does not shine well with evangelicals.

Romney may be conservative enough for evangelicals, but his Mormon faith may be an obstacle. Other possible, though long-shot beneficiaries are Michelle Bachmann, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum, and Herman Cain, former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza, all of whom are social conservatives, msnbc said.

There is also the possibility that the evangelical votes may be split among two or more candidates. Mark DeMoss, an adviser to Romney, told CNN, “I don’t think anybody lays claim to the so-called evangelical vote. It’s much less monolithic than it may have been in previous elections.”

The Presbyterian Church voted recently to permit openly gay men and women to be ordained as members of the clergy, making it the fourth U.S. Protestant denomination to do so.

The deciding vote was cast by the Twin Cities Presbyterian church at a vote of 205 to 56 (with three abstentions). This made
Twin Cities the 87^th presbytery to support the new policy on openly gay clergy, that was introduced last summer by the national assembly, Star Tribune said.

Under the rules of the church, a majority of the total of 173 presbyteries in the U.S. must vote to support new policies by the national assembly prior to its final approval. While 87 presbyteries agreed with the new policy, which takes effect on July 10, some 62 other presbyteries disapproved of it.

With the new rules, the Presbyterian Church (USA) which has up to three million members, will allow the ordination of openly gay members to serve as elders and deacons as well, Reuters said.

Near tears

Rev. Timothy Hart-Anderson, founder of Covenant Network of Presbyterians and pastor of downtown Minneapolis’ Westminster Presbyterian told Star Tribune, “It’s very exciting. I found myself welling up with tears.”

Hart-Anderson told Star Tribune, “Up until now they’ve had to be closeted. Now they’ll be able to come out. It will honor them as individuals and as full human beings like anyone else serving the church.”

Not everybody is happy with the new policy. Peter Hwang of Korean Presbyterian Church told Star Tribune, “It’s very unfortunate we have to have this discussion today. I think we should be ashamed of ourselves. This homosexual issue is breaking our church. We need to abide by Scripture.”

The issue of the ordination of openly gay clergy had rendered sharp divisions in the Presbyterian Church in the last five years, with some 100 congregations leaving the denomination out of a total of 11,000 congregations, according to Reuters.

One issue cited by critics is the Presbyterian Church USA’s constitution, which stated that its clergy are required to live “in fidelity within the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman, or chastity in singleness,” Reuters said.

However, the new policy overrides this and re-casted the former language to simply saying that clergy are required to live “joyfully submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ,” Star Tribune said.

Other denominations that accept ordination of people in same-gender relationships are The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (the largest Lutheran group in the U.S.), The United Church of Christ (which also allows same-sex marriage), and the
Episcopal Church.

On the other hand, the country’s biggest mainline Protestant denomination, The United Methodist Church (with eight million members), continues to disallow ordination of openly gay clergy and is likely to continue to require celibacy for unmarried ministers, Star Tribune said.

With the present vote it is expected that a 2008 controversy over Rev. Erwin Barron, former associate pastor of Westminster Presbyterian church, should be resolved, according to Star Tribune.

Barron, who is now a professor at a college in San Francisco, caused a furor when in 2008 he married his gay partner. Critics said the act violated the church constitution.

Barron was acquitted by a panel with a 3-3 vote and retains his church credentials with the Twin Cities Area presbytery. It was largely thought that the ruling would be appealed, but with the adoption of the new policy, the issue is expected to become moot, Star Tribune said.

Three more conservative churches split recently from the largest Lutheran denomination in the country and formed their own church, amid the more accepting position that has been taken by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America toward gay clergy, and their recent ordination of gay bishops who are involved in committed relationships.

The First Lutheran Church in Philip, Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Long Valley, and Trinity Lutheran in Midland, who form part of the Lutheran Coalition of Renewal voted by an overwhelming margin of 98 percent to 100 percent to leave the 4.5-million strong ELCA and create the North American Lutheran Church, the Rapid City Journal said.

Meanwhile a fourth church, Deep Creek Lutheran Church of Midland/Hayes has already voted 12-0 to part ways with ELCA, and has its second vote scheduled for Sept. 5, the Rapid City Journal said.

Other churches that are set to break ties with ELCA are the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran church in Lead, and Immanuel Lutheran Church in Whitewood, whose first votes also showed vast margins, the Rapid City Journal said.

Lead’s second vote is scheduled on Sept. 26, while Whitewood will have its second vote on Oct. 10. Rev. Frezil Westerlund, pastor of the four churches said, “We are not divided on this at all. We just feel renewed, like the Holy Spirit is moving among us,” the Rapid City Journal said.

While NALC opposes the gay clergy directive that ELCA passed in its convention last year, they say their focus is less on sexuality and more on returning to Lutheran traditions while the gay issue was simply the last straw, the Rapid City Journal said.

Bishop Paull Spring, who will head NALC, cited for example ELCA’s incorporation of language that eliminated male references to God such as “Father” and “Son,” and instead using gender-free words like “Creator” and “Savior,” the AP said.

Spring said, “The broader issue [was]: Which is the authoritative voice of the church today? Is it holy scripture, which Lutherans have always confessed, scripture alone, or is supposed to be some combination, that as well as some mood of the times?” AP said.

In general, churches leaving ELCA perceive a gap with local congregations, and many departing churches would have left even without the 2009 gay clergy policy, the Rapid City Journal said.

So far 199 churches have left ELCA after two congregational votes, with another 136 who only need a second vote before it becomes official. There are 10,239 ELCA churches totaling 4.5 million members. Over the last 20 years some 500,000 church members have left ELCA but many individual congregations also prospered proportionately, that share the sentiments of NALC, the AP said.

Mark Chavez, director of Lutheran CORE said, “The average person out there who’s interested in a Christian church wants the real thing. They want Jesus. They want the gospel. They don’t want something else,” the AP said.

Same sex couples may have to wait longer, possibly until next year, if they want to get married in California despite a Judge’s ruling to overturn Proposition 8.

The 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, through a three-judge panel, issued an emergency stay on the ruling of Chief U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, who had overturned Proposition 8, which would have otherwise cleared the way for same-sex marriage, the Associated Press said.

Attorneys for those who support Proposition 8 argued that by sanctioning same-sex unions while the case is still on appeal could result in legal bedlam, more so if Proposition 8 is in the end upheld, the AP said.

They noted that Proposition 8 was passed through the people’s vote, and that one judge’s opinion could shake public confidence in elections and in voters’ rights. For more background on Proposition 8 go to http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/08/poll-says-majority-of-californians-support-judges-decision-to-overturn-prop-8-13273 and http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2010/06/closing-arguments-on-legality-of-californias-same-sex-marriage-proposition-8-heard-decision-pending-12595.

The three-judge panel that will determine the constitutionality of Proposition 8 will be different from the one that issued the stay order on same-sex marriage in California. It is largely believed that a decision will be reached by next year, the AP said.

Any decision made by the appeals court will likely be brought to the Supreme Court. California Attorney General Jerry Brown, who supports same-sex marriage said, “This is a big decision. I don’t think there’s anything like it anywhere in the country. So when you break new ground, plaintiffs and parties have to expect that the higher court will keep things status quo until they’ve had a chance to hear the arguments and render their own opinion,” ABC 7 said.

Lawyers for those who would like Proposition 8 to be overturned expressed satisfaction with some elements of the 9^th Circuit decision. They expressed appreciation that the appeals court will fast-track its proceedings will oral arguments slated for Dec. 6, the AP said.

Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights said that even while the ruling is “heartbreaking” for many couples, “…the ruling did include a significant victory by highlighting that the proponents have a heavy lift to show they even have the right to bring an appeal,” the AP said.

She refers here to a portion of the two-page order that requires Proposition 8 sponsors to submit their opening brief on Sept. 17 where they must state why they have the legal right to seek the overturning of the trial judge’s ruling, the AP said.

Sponsors of Proposition 8 say that gay marriages will be a deterrence to the promotion of responsible procreation through heterosexual marriage. Those against Proposition 8 say that the ban is an infringement on the civil rights of lesbians and gays, the AP said.

As of now, same-sex marriages are legal in Iowa, Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, Washington D.C. and New Hampshire. However, Dr. Laverne Tolbert of ProtectMarriage.com pointed out that since Proposition 8 was endorsed by California’s public vote, the 9^th Circuit’s decision was in keeping with that, ABC 7 said.

The recent enactment in Argentina of a gay marriage law is being largely viewed to indicate the waning influence of the Catholic church in Argentina–and generally, Latin America.

The law, which allows gay couples to marry and adopt children, is perceived to indicate that there is a greater desire for more liberal social legislation in what had long been viewed as a Catholic stronghold, Reuters said.

The law was signed by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on July 21 after bitter legislative debate and strong lobbying from the Catholic church, with a 33-27 vote. Some aver that this also paves a way for the president’s husband, Nestor Kirchner, to be reelected president in 2011, RD Magazine says.

Mr. Kircher was formerly Argentina’s president and there is speculation that he may run again. The passage of the gay marriage law may give him a more widely acceptable liberal image that could garner the votes, RD Magazine says.

The Catholic church’s failure to derail the law is also indicative of a new cultural direction in Latin America, which is comparable to the experience of Portugal and Spain, both of which have legalized gay marriage despite a strong history of Catholicism and a near-past history of Catholic dictatorships, Time Magazine says.

Among Argentina’s gay community, it is believed that the vote reflects loathing towards the Catholic hierarchy, Marcelo Ernesto Ferreyra of the International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission said. Time Magazine noted that Ferreyra cited the loss of prestige of the Catholic church in Argentina.

The church has said that homosexuality is perverse, and Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio who heads Argentina’s church has argued that more than a political struggle, the legal sanction of gay marriage goes against God’s plan, Reuters said.

Gay marriage is also legal in Mexico City and Uruguay; while Chile’s president Sebastian Pinera also has expressed plans to enhance the rights of same-sex couples, Reuters said. With the new law, RD Magazine said there may be new changes in the future, for example abortion may soon be legalized in Latin America.

Already, a leading candidate for president in Brazil, Dilma Rousseff, has expressed favor for legalized abortion. Of note, Brazil has the highest Catholic population in the world, Reuters said.

Professor Ana Maria Bidegain, who teaches religious studies at Florida International University said, “Evidently the Church has been losing presence and influence regarding political decisions, which is part of a secularization process. People are still Catholic and they still believe in the fundamentals … but they no longer agree with what (the Church) says regarding morality,” Reuters reported.

Bidegain cited a number of reasons for the change, including urbanization in Latin America and the worldwide incidence of sexual abuse scandals among priests, Reuters said.

The U.S. House of Representatives approved recently a proposal to repeal a law that will allow gays to serve in the military so long as they don’t disclose their sexual orientation.

In a vote of 234-194, the House approved a repeal under which military leaders will not investigate a service member’s orientation, as long as the person does not say that he or she is gay or is in a same-sex relationship, which are grounds for dismissal.

The repeal had been opposed by chaplaincy organizations, many of which supply men for the chaplaincy corps and give official endorsement so they can serve as military chaplains, according to Advancing Religious Liberty (ARL).

The chaplaincy organizations that oppose the repeal include the North American Mission Board (which is the endorsing organization for the Southern Baptist Convention), the Evangelical Free Church of America, Grace Church International, and the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference, the ARL said.

A statement from the Alliance Defense Fund said, “If chaplains with beliefs that contradict the proposed policy are removed from roles that generate conflict, then they, the faith groups they represent, and the service members whose religious beliefs they serve will all be marginalized. The armed forces would effectively establish preferred religions or religious beliefs.”

Republicans voted overwhelmingly against the repeal, citing statements by some military service chiefs that Congress should not act before the Pentagon completes a study on the impact of the repeal, the Huffington Post said.

However, Democratic supporters said the amendment would only go into effect after the Pentagon publishes in December the results of a survey on how service members and their families view the change, and after the president, the defense secretary and the Joint Chiefs of Staff certify that the repeal will not affect the military’s ability to fight, according to the Huffington Post.

“This is the beginning of the end of a shameful ban on open service by lesbian and gay troops that has weakened our national security,” Joe Solmonese, president of Human Rights Campaign, a leading gay rights organization, said after the Senate panel’s vote.

The drive to repeal the ban still faces a tough road ahead in the full Senate, where Republicans are likely to filibuster it.  “I think it’s really going to be very harmful to the morale and effectiveness of our military,” said Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee and a leading opponent of the repeal, according to the Huffington Post.

The Senate probably will take up the bill next month.