'My Relationship With God Drives Every Major Decision in My Life' Says GOP Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker
He hasn't announced a bid to run for president in 2016 yet, but Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, a Christian and the son of a Baptist pastor said this weekend that his relationship with God "drives every major decision" in his life.
"My relationship with God drives every major decision in my life," the 47-year-old politician told The New York Times in an emailed statement. While that relationship does not direct his daily decisions, he explained, "our walk of faith helps us prepare for those decisions and provides us comfort as we seek to do God's will."
Walker who spoke at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition 2015 Kickoff event to hundreds of social conservatives in Iowa on Saturday also highlighted that if conservative principles can work in Wisconsin, they can work anywhere.
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"If it can happen in a blue state like Wisconsin, it can happen anywhere across America. And more importantly with the right leadership, it can happen in our nation's capital. If we send a conservative reform-minded Republican to the White House in 2016, there's no doubt we can make America great again," he said.
Scott's father is the Rev. Llewellyn S. Walker, who worked as a minister in the American Baptist Churches USA, one of the more liberal Baptist denominations.
Walker who once attended Underwood Memorial Baptist Church, left after 12 years in 2005 for a church that was more family friendly. Others say he and his wife, Tonnette, left because of the church's decision to start welcoming gays. But Walker and his wife say they were just looking for a more family-friendly church.
He currently worships at Meadowbrook Church, a congregation that is politically and theologically conservative. The church's clergy and congregation also hold that the Bible is the word of God, "without error," and that Christ's return is "imminent."
The Times noted that the Rev. Jamie Washam, pastor of Underwood, opposed a Wisconsin ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage in 2006 while Meadowbrook's pastor encouraged congregants to define marriage as between one man and one woman.
"The church cannot recognize any alternative arrangements as being God's will for any persons or society," Mackett wrote on a church blog.
Mackett stepped down from his position at Meadowbrook last year, but said Walker often communicated with him via text messages about his Sunday Sermons.
"It was never a trite remark," he said. "It came out of a thoughtful reflection on something that was said or happened in church."
Mackett said Walker is "a very disciplined man," who followed a morning routine that included exercise, prayer and Bible study. Walker and his wife used to reportedly hold Bible Studies in their homes with other couples.
"Scott's seeking God is a 24/7 thing," said Mackett's wife, Betsy. "It's not just checking a box on Sunday."
