The three men spoke Saturday evening at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s 11th annual fall banquet in Des Moines. About 1,000 people turned out for the event at a cost of $55 a plate, and all major Republican presidential candidates spoke except for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Steve Scheffler

Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, described the event as “the beginning of the end of the socialist agenda that permeates Washington, D.C.” He is also a Republican National Committeeman.

“We are going to be soldiers marching into battle, and the great crowd tonight is indicative that we are alive and well and on the march,” he said.

And Reince Priebus, chairman of the RNC, said this is a “fight between freedom and government’s insatiable appetite to grow.”

“I’m here because I’m concerned about the future of this country,” he said. “I believe that we’re in a battle for freedom.”

Ralph Reed (photo by Dave Davidson, TEApublican.com)

Ralph Reed, chairman of the national Faith and Freedom Coalition, said the group plans to distribute 40 million voting guides in evangelical and pro-family churches over the next year. There are also plans to compile a voter profile containing 27 million names, with each person being contacted seven to 12 times.

“Friends, we’re going to turn out the largest, most enthusiastic and the most dynamic pro-life, pro-family vote in the history of this country, and when we do America is going to be restored to greatness,” Reed said.

He said 55 to 60 percent of Republican caucusgoers in Iowa are evangelical Christians, and about 44 percent of all Republican primary voters identify as evangelical as well. The “pundits and pollsters continue to be confounded” by that, he said.

“We know sometimes we bring forward issues that others might prefer not to talk about, but we are compelled to do so,” Reed said. “Like the fact that every human being is made in the image of all-mighty God and that every life is sacred from conception to natural death and is worthy of our love and protection.”

Faith plays an important role in politics across the nation, but maybe more so in Iowa. A recent poll from NBC News/Marist shows 91 percent of potential Republican caucusgoers in the state identify as either protestant or Catholic. Of those, 40 percent consider themselves fundamentalist or evangelical Christians.

That same poll also shows potential Republican caucusgoers place more importance on whether a candidate shares their values than their stances on issues, experience or electability. Thirty-one percent identified shared values as the most important quality of a presidential candidate, compared to 29 percent for stances on issues, 19 percent for governing experience and 18 percent for ability to defeat President Obama in 2012.

Sen. Matt McCoy (D-Des Moines) said he’s been disappointed by not only politicians using religious institutions but also religious institutions that allow themselves to be used by politicians.

“I think when religious institutions – and I put the Catholic Church in this mix – when they allow themselves to be used by politicians, shame on them,” said McCoy, who is openly gay. “Because ultimately they’re only as good as their ability to be pure and free of being used. I think a lot of churches have gotten way too political and allowed politicians to use them in their platforms to launch these political careers.”

McCoy said both politicians and churches have become “equally offensive” in the way they’ve been acting lately, and he and many others see a “a great deal of hypocrisy in religion, period.”

“Then when politicians embrace it and people like Rick Perry do these Evangelical events all around politics and religion, I just think there’s a lot of distrust for organized religion,” he said. “I think organized religion in general has both a lot of good and bad attributes.”

Bob Vander Plaats, a three-time Republican gubernatorial candidate and head of the socially conservative advocacy group The Family Leader, said it all boils down to whether politicians that champion religion are truly authentic in their belief and actions.

“Do you live the lifestyle or do you just talk the lifestyle?” Vander Plaats said. “I think there’s a lot of ways where Christians have been a great model for the lord and savior that they serve and there’s others, probably myself included too many times, where we’re a deterrent to some of those things because of how we’re viewed or we’re not perfect.”

Connie Ryan Terrell, head of the Iowa Interfaith Alliance, said religion can get a bad name because of how politicians use it.  But she thinks most Americans are “relatively politically savvy” and can see past that.

“But I think when candidates misuse religion and insert their own religious beliefs of doctrine of politics, then I think it can give religion a bad name,” she said. “But really more importantly it gives politics a bad name because it’s been misused.”

Rep. Kim Pearson (R-Pleasant Hill) said it’s important to remember “Christians aren’t perfect” but are “fallen, redeemed people.”

“There are times when our own sinfulness will cause people to blasphemy God, and then you’ve also got people that don’t sincerely hold the belief and will say whatever they need to to get elected,” she said.

(Editor’s note: This is part three of the “Faith in Politics” series. In part one we examined how Iowans hold different views on the role of faith within politics. In part two Iowans discuss how religion is sometimes exploited by those in politics.)

Required qualifications include, among others, personal faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, agreement to and affirmation of the NAE Statement of Faith, and participation in an NAE affiliated congregation.

Lobbyists aren’t normally expected to believe in the causes they represent. In this industry, salvation comes by works alone.

Deep-seated moral beliefs can be a liability for a lobbyist, as the NAE found out last month. Former top NAE lobbyist Richard Cizik was forced to resign, after 28 years on the job, when his personal beliefs conflicted with NAE doctrine.

Cizik’s downfall was a Dec. 2 interview with National Public Radio’s Terry Gross. The lobbyist just couldn’t bring himself to repeat the party line on gay families:

In a short portion of the program, Gross asked him, “A couple of years ago when you were on our show, I asked you if you were changing your mind on that. And two years ago, you said you were still opposed to gay marriage. But now as you identify more with younger voters, would you say you have changed on gay marriage?”

Cizik responded, “I’m shifting, I have to admit. In other words, I would willingly say that I believe in civil unions. I don’t officially support redefining marriage from its traditional definition, I don’t think.”

James Dobson, the leader of Focus on the Family, also tried to get Cizik fired in 2006 for being an environmentalist.

Maybe the NAE should rethink that job description. When it comes to lobbying, true believers can be trouble.

It felt a bit like a high-school gym or auditorium, with wood floors and an unfinished ceiling. The church was founded in the 1970s, though this building was completed in 2006.

A nine-member acoustic band opened the service with 30 minutes of Christian-themed songs — think loving God, forgiveness, humility, etc. It was a sea of about 500 folding chairs — all filled. Lights were dimmed so that the lyrics of the songs were easy to follow along with on the two large projector screens suspended from the ceiling on either side of the stage. The room’s focal point was a large, back-lit wooden cross.

When the music ended, Pastor Larry Kroon, a middle-aged, bearded man, greeted new-comers and, to my surprise, “the press.” A greeter at the front door had actually already given me a “welcome” goody bag — complete with a religious-themed CD and a green water bottle with the church’s “core commitments” listed on the side.

Kroon then said members of the press shouldn’t speak with anyone attending the service, or take photos. At this point, because I’m about an ounce better than paparazzi, I started to think about what the entrance looked like and where I’d most effectively snag people slyly. Kroon added he would not speak to the press on Sunday — so I signed up to speak with him Monday.

“Please don’t use this as a fishing pond for interviews,” Kroon said. Meanwhile, in my head, I was figuring that there’s a side exit people might use that would serve my purposes.

On the plus side, Kroon did go on to say that the press is a “gift from God.” He brought up Alexis de Tocqueville’s trip through the United States in the early 19th century and how the Frenchman identified two great American virtues– a free press and a free pulpit. Kroon was playing well with those of us in the back row, scribbling notes. I actually only saw TV camera crews on my way into the parking lot; I didn’t see any other reporters at the service.

Kroon, who kept the congregation engaged for the full 30 minutes he spoke, then touched on the positive experiences he had with the national media last week. The New York Times, Kroon said, sent a religion expert, who understood churches like theirs. Another reporter, from World Magazine, recognized authors in Kroon’s library.

Hearing this made me shift in my seat. TWI did not select me for this reporting trip because of my deep understanding of Christianity in America. In fact, it didn’t come up. The relevant factors were that I used to cover Alaska politics and still follow what’s going on up here. Unfortunately, 13 years of Catholic school and CCD didn’t seem like they’d win me any points here.

Kroon also noted that he was not the person to consult on policy — foreign, domestic or local. Church members would have to make those decisions for themselves. His job is to guide them in finding the “wonder, glory and mystery of Jesus” in scripture.

The Bible study portion of the morning, the central element of the service, focused on the first chapter in the Acts of the Apostles, which tells the story of Jesus meeting with his apostles to prove that he is alive. Jesus calls on his followers to be his witness and share his message with the “outermost points of the world,” as Kroon explained. Kroon stressed the importance of this message. One of the Wasilla Bible Church’s core beliefs is ministering to non-believers.

In conversation with some church-goers after the service, I was asked, earnestly, if I’m a believer myself. When I explained my Catholic background I received supportive nods. (So supportive that one woman gave me the email and phone number of her son, who lives in Washington.)

I spoke with two different couples — two lawyers and two entrepreneurs — about the role of the church in their own lives. They all agreed it’s a real community here. When I asked for their names, though, they hesitated — saying their pastor had suggested they not speak with reporters. When I tried to get them to reconsider by bringing up the de Tocqueville individualism message, they laughed.

Unfortunately, just as one church member was writing down directions to a beautiful area just north of Wasilla that she thought I ought to visit, a member of the church approached and said I was not allowed to interview anyone “on the premises.” My small group scattered in response.

At least I still have the number of the Alaskan ex-pat in DC.