GOP lawmaker says lack of Christian registered voters a 'disgrace'

Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.) has produced a video in which he asks Christian pastors around the country to push churchgoers to vote for GOP candidate Mitt Romney in order to better protect Israel, and says it is a "disgrace" that so many Christians are not registered to vote.

"I believe, as I know nearly all Christians in America do, that God has a sacred covenant with Israel, and that the fate of America and human freedom in the world is inextricably linked to the peace and security of the state of Israel," Franks says in the video, in which he overlooks Jerusalem.

"However, only about half of Christians in America are even registered to vote, and only about half of those exercise their God-given responsibility to actually vote," he adds. "It is a disgrace beyond my ability to articulate."

Franks argues in the three-minute video that Iran is now very close to building nuclear weapons, and says once Iran gets there, it will give these weapons to "terrorists the world over." He says this would pose an immediate threat to Israel, which would represent a failure on the order to the massacre of Jews during World War II.

"It happened once, it must never happen again," he says in the video, first reported by One News Now on Tuesday.

Franks also says Obama has expressed more outrage at Israel for the building of new settlements than he has at Iran. He never mentions Romney by name, but makes it clear that he opposes Obama, and says America "must choose a president who will stand with Israel."

Franks closes the video by asking pastors across the country to forward his message along to other pastors, and to encourage churchgoers to register and vote.

"Please implore every single person in your churches or your communities to vote, and take one person with them to the polls in November," Franks says. "Can America's Christian leaders not do that much for the sake of our children and future generations?"

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