Evangelical Christians may not have been natural supporters of John McCain, but the prospect of a Barack Obama presidency is much scarier.

To wit: Daniel Akin, president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, sent an e-mail to students titled “Why Faithful Evangelicals Cannot Vote for Barack Obama,” reports Yonat Shimron.

The answer, in a word, is abortion.

The e-mail includes an editorial by Princeton University professor Robert P. George which describes Obama as “the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States.”

Evangelicals aren’t the only ones concerned about abortion. North Carolina’s two Roman Catholic bishops sent out a joint e-mail saying much the same thing without citing any candidate by name.

In his preface to the editorial, Akin wrote, "It is incumbent upon every believer... to vote their conscience and to further let their conscience be guided by the Word of God. Nowhere is this more important than in the area of abortion, an issue on which God’s word is abundantly clear.”

Many evangelicals fear an Obama presidency will further forestall the overturning of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that made abortion legal.

Read more after the jump.

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It might seem obvious that the president of a Baptist seminary might endorse the only retired Baptist minister in the race for the presidency.

But that’s not why Daniel Akin, the president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, endorsed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee Monday, Yonat Shimron reports.

"I'm grateful Mike Huckabee is a born-again evangelical, but that’s not the criteria by which I would support him," Akin said referring to the Arkansas Republican. Instead, he pointed to Huckabee's stand against abortion, his convictions about upholding family life and his desire to keep the United States strong.

Akin acknowledged Huckabee's presidential bid is a long-shot, but he said he had friends in the former Arkansas governor’s presidential campaign who had asked him if he was ready to make an endorsement and he agreed to do so.

"At this time I'll put my support behind the person who would do the best job regardless of where they are in the polls," Akin said. The seminary president said that aside from Huckabee he didn't have "much enthusiasm for any candidate in any party."