Any one who wanted to know just how far America has deviated from the principles upon which she was founded should look no farther than the New Hampshire primary.  The current field of GOP Republican contenders has been courting the vote on the upcoming eve of Tuesday's primary, and has just finished a debate in which religion failed to come to the forefront with the acceptance it did in Iowa.  The candidates have been conspicuously avoiding the religious issue altogether.  That is, until tonight, when former Governor Mike Huckabee made mention of his faith on several occasions.  I thought they were innocuous comments and did not give them a second thought.  However, after the debate, a group of self-proclaimed conservatives were asked to critique the performance of each candidate.  When asked about the presentation of Huckabee in particular, one potential voter responded that Huckabee's answers were too muddled with religion.  The moderator stopped and asked the audience if they concurred with that assessment.  Almost unanimously, the entire room of viewers agreed that Huckabee spoke too frequently of his religion and that it was playing too big a role in his decision making process. 

Surprised?

I was, and for good reason.  The irony of the situation is that the disdain towards Huckabee came not from radical liberal opponents but from a group of voters who lauded themselves on being "conservative".  Now, if the complete separation of Christian thought and political ideology is the new conservative movement, then this country is in more trouble than I originally thought. 

Just how does one come to a conclusion on homosexuality, abortion, stewardship, evolution or any other number of issues, if he is to divorce himself from his system of beliefs?  How can one stand for anything, if there is nothing compelling him to take that stand?  On what basis should Mike Huckabee take a stand against homosexuality and the systematic killing of the unborn, if not for his belief in the God of Christianity?  Should he tell the American people that he is against these issues, but refuse to say why?  Is it better to say something is wrong, but then neglect to say why it is wrong?  Should we pretend that people are not influenced by what they believe?  For me, I would want to know if someone is influenced by the thoughts of Karl Marx or Adolf Hitler.  That would help me garner a better understanding of who that person was and what to expect.  As absurd as that assessment was, it was not the most shocking.  That came later. 

The most alarming bit of news that came from this incident was the fact that it comports with a recent news article which reported that only 3 percent of New Hampshire residents are self-described evangelicals.  That is correct—3 percent.  Gone are the days when men like Williams, Edwards, and Whitefield preached to the spiritually hungry masses and institutions such as Harvard, Princeton, Brown and Cornell served primarily as theological training grounds.  Instead, we now live in a society that make atheists best selling authors when they write diatribes against religion, watch shows apathetically that promote everything that is against Christianity, and send our children to schools to learn about sexual deviancy. 

Slowly, we are seeing God removed from all walks of life, and now, even in the Presidential race, and we do little about it.  Instead of protesting the very idea of removing God from government, we acquiesce and fail to mention God when it is not politically expedient to make mention of His name.  If we continue slouching towards Gomorrah, there will be a day when God has been so far removed from our society that the mere mention of a Christian will be enough to ruin a candidates chances for the White House, just as Huckabee's chances of winning the primary in New Hampshire has been lessened with his frequent invoking of God. 

The apathy we are currently seeing in New Hampshire may soon spread to the rest of the nation if we are not careful, and continue to allow the eradication of God from our lives.  It is our duty to take action and to prevent the illicit removal by those who have an agenda.  By doing nothing, it is a betrayal to our founding fathers, and more importantly, it is a betrayal to our heavenly Father.