Voice of a Vacationing Values Voter

I attended the Values Voters Briefing in Washington, D.C. held at the Omni Shoreham Hotel (pictured on the left) this past weekend as part of my vacation. I arrived Thursday evening and “battled” D.C. traffic and streets, which was a literal nightmare coming from mostly small town Ohio.

The Briefing was sponsored by the Focus on the Family, Family Research Council Action, the American Family Association and Americans United for Marriage. The briefing started early Friday morning and concluded with an inspiring church service on Sunday with Bishop Harry Jackson providing a great closing message.

The conference included speakers such as Dr. James Dobson (Focus on the Family), Don Wildmon (American Family Association) and Tony Perkins (Family Research Council), Senators Mitt Romney, George Allen, Sam Brownbeck, Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, panels on movies, church involvement in political arena, the media, woman’s issues. In addition pundit Ann Coulter spoke as did radio and TV personality Sean Hannity. However, the last two though very conservative did not have the spiritual fire and biblical basis that the majority of other speakers seemed to have.

What an uplifting and motivated time, I attended a breakout session on healthcare which dealt with alternative values-driven insurance programs. These programs, unlike many current insurance programs would exclude coverage for abortions so that as a policy holder I would not be supporting or subsidizing any abortions or orther morally unacceptable procedures.

Senators Sam Brownbeck and George Allen of all the potential presidential candidates seems to capture my imagination. Both gave excellent presentations.

There seemed to be a general consensus that the Republican Party has for the most part disappointed Christian Conservatives by their inconsistant support for conservative social and economic issues. Although it was agreed that the opposition party was much much worse an alternative.

Senator Rick Santorum was scheduled to speak, but was had a pressing personal/family issue that prohibited him from attending. He did have a video presentation. To me he looked like he was suffering from the incessant attacks from the left, which have been pulling out all stops to defeat him this fall in Pennsylvania. The same could be said about Congresswoman Marilyn Musgrave who sponsored the Marriage Protection Amendment and has also been targeted by the left as a must beat in the fall election.

Pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, morally based-education, pro legal immigration, curtailing the rampant sex and violence in the media, are all values that all addressed during the course of the conference. The need for churches to be uninhibited involved in declaring biblical positions on the issues is much needed.

There were many exhibitors, primarily Chirsitian-based including two organizations supporting and encouraging the study of the bible in terms of its importance historically and as literature in public schools as part of the curriculum.

Bishop Jackson capped the conference by challenging us to wake up and to strengthen the things that remain both personally and as a society. We need to turn from our wicked ways and to seek God to provide everything we need to serve society as living alarm clocks, alerting society of the dangers in the world, especially the spiritual dangers around us.