Evangelicals

Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich recently suggested that he would win the Florida primary against Mitt Romney if Rick Santorum dropped out of the race. A recent poll indicates this is not the case. The poll also shows that Romney gets strong support among conservatives, Tea Party supporters and evangelicals.

"The fact is, when you combine the Santorum vote and the Gingrich vote ... the conservative combined would clearly beat Romney," Gingrich said Sunday on ABC's "This Week."

A recent NBC/Marist poll shows that if Santorum dropped out of the Florida primary his supporters would not "combine" with Gingrich, who trails Romney by about 15 percentage points in Florida. Romney would get the same amount of support (35 percent) as Gingrich (36 percent) among those whose first choice is Santorum (margin of error is 4.4 percentage points). (Sixteen percent would support Ron Paul and 14 percent would be undecided.) more >>

Correction appended

International evangelist Luis Palau joined the Capital Christian Center in Sacramento, Calif., Sunday to announce the start of his "Season of Service" campaign that seeks to inspire the city's residents to log in three million community service hours this year.

The campaign was promoted ahead of the annual "March for The Dream" in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., which starts Monday morning in Sacramento, KCRA 3 reported. The event is described as the "largest multi-cultural march in the region," and reportedly drew 20,000 people during the 2011 event. more >>

For Ron Paul, it's not that he lacks conservative beliefs, but rather his personal brand of conservatism that turns some voters off. But should evangelicals take another look at the Texas congressman's bid for the White House?

Two pastors have recently made the case for why evangelicals should take another look at Paul, and in the process, addressed reasons that might be hindering Christians from backing the libertarian politician.

Dr. Jim Linzey, a retired Army National Guard chaplain and evangelical supporter of Paul, noted that Paul doesn't tend to talk much about his faith while campaigning. more >>

Bishop T.D. Jakes, pastor of The Potter's House megachurch in Dallas, Texas, was put on the spot during a theological roundtable Wednesday in regards to his beliefs about the Godhead and why, in some Christian circles, he is considered a "heretic."

Jakes and of a handful of other male Christian leaders were invited to participate in this year's "The Elephant Room" roundtable, hosted and moderated by Pastors James MacDonald and Mark Driscoll. The Dallas pastor was hit with several questions about how his theological beliefs have developed, specifically in regard to the Holy Trinity – a controversial issue which The Christian Post reported on in October.

The Potter's House senior pastor denied that he clings to a modalist position, although he confessed that he did at one time in his walk with God. more >>

A new Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday reveals that evangelicals and Tea Party supporters are breaking hard for Newt Gingrich in Florida, putting the former House Speaker within two points of front-runner and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

A press release describing the poll states Gingrich "leads among white evangelical Christians 43 - 30 percent and among those who consider themselves to be tea party supporters 43 - 28 percent." Each segment makes up roughly a third of primary voters, according to Quinnipiac pollsters, "although there is substantial overlap among those two groups."

Coming off the heels of his victory in the South Carolina GOP primary, rising evangelical and Tea Party support has allowed Gingrich to slash nearly 10 points off of Romney's lead with less than a week to go before Florida's GOP primary. more >>

Richard Roberts, former president of Oral Roberts University and son of televangelist Oral Roberts, was arrested in Oklahoma Tuesday for speeding and suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to a police report.

An Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper apprehended Roberts for driving his black Mercedes at 93 mph in a 65 mph speed zone, Tulsa World reported. According to Roberts' arrest report, the incident happened shortly after midnight on the Creek Turnpike west of U.S. 169.

Roberts, currently the chairman and CEO of Oral Roberts Evangelistic Association, had a blood-alcohol level that was .03 percent above the legal limit, measuring at .11 percent. more >>