President-elect Donald Trump continues to assemble his cabinet, including those who will help shape

U.S. policy abroad. This past week, Trump nominated former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee

to serve as ambassador to Israel. Huckabee has, for years, had a strong pro-Israel stance,

one that is deeply rooted in his evangelical Christian faith.

Now, this former Baptist minister could be integral in shaping U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East.

So yesterday I spoke with Daniel Hummel. He studies religion in America and is an honorary

research fellow in the history department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

I began by asking him to explain the deep connection between evangelical Christians and their

support for Israel.

Mike Huckabee is an evangelical through and through.

He grew up a Southern Baptist.

He was a Southern Baptist pastor.

And in terms of his relationship to Israel,

since the 80s, he's led about a hundred tours of the Holy Land.

And so he has just a deep history of the land that anyone who's paying attention to his career would know.

And that means he has a lot of connections in Israel as well with the leadership there,

the political leadership, the religious leadership.

Huckabee has articulated a pretty consistent view of Israel from the 80s on that really is connected to his faith.

And so he will talk about how the land of Israel is deeded to the Jewish people based on his

reading of the Bible. Religious interest in Israel has to do with prophecy. This is often what is

most talked about when we talk about evangelicals in Israel. And in this view, Israel's founding in

1948 was prophetically significant and fulfilled biblical prophecy. So have

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