In a recently released “Declaration of American Values” purposefully designed to imitate the “Declaration of Independence” the Liberty Counsel outlined and pledged to support 10 central values and to back candidates who promise to do the same. Mat Staver of the Liberty Counsel suggested that the “Declaration” was an “obvious” endorsement of Sen. McCain’s presidential campaign and hopes that those interested in preserving family values will vote for McCain in November.
The Liberty Counsel describe themselves on their website as “a nonprofit litigation, education and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of human life and the traditional family.” Nevertheless, despite this relatively narrow identity, their “Declaration” begins “We the people of the United States of America” and goes on to declare allegiance to 10 key values including traditional marriage, a strong military, private property ownership, and fair taxation. Mat Staver comments inn article from the Baptist Press that appeared on Crosswalk.com. “I felt that it was absolutely critical in order to preserve our shared core Christian and moral values that we have unity among the leadership and that we look at the landscape and focus not on candidates, not on personalities and not on parties but on our values, and then assess who can best advance those values,” Staver told BP. “Once we did that, it was pretty obvious that that would be Sen. John McCain, because Sen. Barack Obama would decimate them. The impact of the “Declaration” on the upcoming elections is yet to be determined, but it is clear from statements issued by supporters of the declaration that one of their goals is to rally the religious right in support of Republican candidates. The “Declaration” is also intended as platform for healing rifts among conservatives that developed during the primary season and supporting the choice of a pro-life and pro-traditional marriage vice-presidential nominee. Visit The Liberty Counsel’s website to read their “Declaration.”
