Read an Aug. 18, 2011, article from USA Today about former GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry’s views on evolution. Perry has said he firmly believes in intelligent design, while evolution is merely a theory — and one with “some gaps in it.”

Read an Aug. 20, 2011, article from ABC News about former GOP candidate Jon Huntsman’s response to Gov. Rick Perry’s comments on evolution. Huntsman chastised Texas Gov. Rick Perry for his evolution comments, saying such a stance puts the Republican Party in danger of being “anti-science.”

Read an Aug. 18, 2011, article from The Washington Post about former GOP candidate Jon Huntsman’s views on evolution. Of the former GOP candidates, only Huntsman accepts evolution.

Read a Nov. 30, 2011, article from the Huffington Post about former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum’s views on evolution. Santorum argued for the teaching of creationism in public schools; instead, he says, “the left” and “the scientific community” aren’t allowing that because they don’t want classroom discussions about God.

Read about Mitt Romney’s stance on evolution in a May 11, 2007, article from The New York Times. Romney said that God likely used evolution as a tool when creating humanity. As for intelligent design, he said, “I’m not exactly sure what is meant” by it. Romney opposed the teaching of intelligent design in Massachusetts science classes […]

Read a 2006 interview in which former House speaker Newt Gingrich said that “evolution should be taught as science, and intelligent design should be taught as philosophy.”

Read a May 17, 2011, article published by CBS Minnesota about then-GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich’s views on evolution. Gingrich said in May 2011 that he sees no conflict between faith and science with regard to life’s origins.

Read a Nov. 8. 2012, article from Religion News Service, posted by the Huffington Post, about gay marriage in the 2012 elections. Voters in Maine, Maryland, and Washington state voted in favor of measures legalizing gay marriage. The 2012 election brought the total number of states what allow same-sex marriage to nine.

Cecil Bothwell is a City Council member in Asheville, N.C. Shortly after his election in 2009, some opponents sought to oust him from office because he does not believe in God. Bothwell, a journalist and author, blogs and speaks frequently about matters of faith. His books include The Prince of War: Billy Graham’s Crusade for a Wholly Christian Empire (2008) and Whale Falls: […]