© Copyright 2005 by Dr. Tom Snyder. Dr. Snyder is editor of Movie Guide magazine, a Christian world view entertainment media review magazine. He is also a research associate for Answers In Action.

The thoughts expressed below are Dr. Snyder's & are not meant to represent the opinions of Answers In Action or Movie Guide.

You may agree or disagree with Dr. Snyder's views. You are invited to share your courteous, respectfull, cleain language responses via our comments section below.

1. A personal God exists. He has ordained a transcendent moral order, which all human beings everywhere must obey.

2. The ethical principles of right and wrong of that transcendent moral order are set forth primarily in the Hebrew-Christian Bible and in the traditions of the first 1,000 years of the Christian Church, composed of both Jews and Gentiles, but also in the basic moral and cultural traditions of Western Civilization, especially the conservative, Christian traditions of America, England, Scotland, Ireland, John Calvin’s Geneva, the original Lutheran authorities in Western Europe, and the original intent of the Magna Carta, the British Common Law, the Declaration of Independence, and the United States Constitution.

3. Truth and Morality transcend sex, race, ethnicity, and culture.

4. Political issues are, at bottom, philosophical, religious, and moral issues.

5. Prudent thought and action is a primary character trait of conservatism.

6. Because human beings are full of sin, violence, disobedience, and evil, God’s moral order limits the power of the State and the power of the Church. Therefore, governments should not own churches, and governments must be run according to the principles of representative democracy; separated, enumerated powers; and due process. Also, churches cannot execute people or put people into prison, but they do have the power to discipline their members, including excommunicating members who are unrepentant.

7. Because human beings are full of sin, violence, disobedience, and evil, conservatives believe that individuals, groups, institutions, and society should preserve the traditions of Western Civilization that reflect God's Transcendent Moral Order.

8. The right to own private property is the basis for all political freedom and should not be abridged. Thus, all people, including immoral people, criminals and unborn children, have the right to due process before their property, life, or liberty are taken away.

9. The first duty of civilian government should be to protect the human life and property of its citizens, and the sovereignty of its counties, states, nation, and borders.

10. Abortion is murder. Local governments should execute people who perform abortions or at least put them in jail for 25 years to life. Mothers who get an abortion should be fined a significant amount of money, or put in a work program for 5-10 years, with part of the proceeds going to crisis pregnancy clinics that help poor, unwed mothers.

11. A pluralistic society is one in which members of diverse groups maintain some of their traditional culture or special interest, but within the confines of a common civilization. In other words, all Americans must share in a common language, which is English!!!

12. Civilian governments can organize citizen militias, police departments, immigration agents, and military organizations, but these groups should not get involved in foreign military adventures that don’t affect the security, freedom, and sovereignty of the county, state, and national entities.

13. If they have no record of violent crime or mental incapacity, the right of all adults age 18 or older to bear firearms should be absolute. In fact, scientific studies prove that gun control on firearms increases violent crime but private ownership of firearms helps prevent crime.

14. High taxes and complicated laws are evil. Therefore, we must abolish all income and property taxes, reduce all other taxes (except perhaps tariffs) to less than 10 percent, and simplify or eliminate complicated laws.

15. Culture and Family are vitally important. Federal, state, and local governments should help protect married heterosexual families and their children from such things as violent crime and depictions of pornography, sexual nudity, media violence, and sexual perversion, including homosexuality. Victims of adultery deserve protection in family courts and divorce courts.

16. Governments should not run education systems. Such a policy is clearly unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and anti-American.

17. Local families, church leaders, businesspeople, and private charity groups should control their own education systems.

18. Governments should not give charitable gifts to the poor. Such a policy is clearly unconstitutional, anti-democratic, and anti-American.

19. Helping poor people is the moral and religious responsibility of families, churches, private charities, and individuals but not governments. Able-bodied poor people, however, bear the primary responsibility to take care of themselves and to take care of their own needy family members.

20. Instead of formal prisons for non-violent crimes, conservatives believe in the biblical concept of restitution whereby those convicted of a non-violent crime must be forced to pay back their victims and, instead of the State taking care of their every need in a prison building, the criminals should be required to take care of their own personal needs, such as shelter, food, clothing, and healthcare. Likewise, violent criminals who are incarcerated must work at a private job, or on the local/state infrastructure, to pay back their victims and provide for their personal needs.