This article, in a nutshell, exemplifies my problem with Mike Huckabee. He sees himself as a soldier of God. His rhetoric makes it seem like he's running for Pope as opposed to President. The problem isn't that he sees himself as religious and a politician it's that he sees his politics as a means to achieve his religious ends. As always, someone else has articulated my beliefs on Huckabee better than I have: The money section from the blog before I post the article: Now to the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/06/AR2008010602261_pf.html Huckabee Steps Back Into the Pulpit at Evangelical Church in N.H. By Perry Bacon Jr. Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, January 7, 2008; A07 WINDHAM, N.H., Jan. 6 -- A pastor from Texas was scheduled to deliver the sermon Sunday at a church here called the Crossing. But instead this small evangelical congregation heard from a different special guest: Baptist minister and 2008 presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, who delivered a sermon of more than 20 minutes on how to be part of "God's Army" in the middle school cafeteria where the congregation meets. "When we become believers, it's as if we have signed up to be part of God's Army, to be soldiers for Christ," Huckabee told the enthusiastic audience. Days after winning the Iowa Republican caucus, where Christian conservatives powered him to victory, Huckabee now finds himself in a state without an extensive religious base. While more than 60 percent of GOP voters were estimated to be evangelicals in the Iowa caucuses, they accounted for only about one in five New Hampshire Republican voters in 2000, the last time the state held a competitive GOP primary. Huckabee's campaign did not allow cameras into the church, and the candidate did not make an appeal for votes as part of his sermon. But a church official invited members to attend an event a mile away, where Huckabee held a rally with actor Chuck Norris and where free clam chowder was served. Huckabee mixed homespun jokes into his sermon and added a more religious tone than in his political speeches, not just quoting from the Bible but citing specific verses and talking about the serious side of faith. "When you give yourself to Christ, some relationships have to go," he said. "It's no longer your life; you've signed it over." Likening service to God to service in the military, Huckabee said "there is suffering in the conditioning for battle" and "you obey the orders." In his campaign stops in New Hampshire, Huckabee has generally focused on appealing to nonreligious voters, playing the bass guitar and emphasizing his support of small government, local control of schools and gun rights -- popular causes among Granite State Republicans. Norris, who has endorsed him, has been at his side at nearly every event. His campaign has not run an ad, popular in Iowa, that dubbed him a "Christian leader." The former Arkansas governor said he was comfortable at the Crossing because it is similar to the Church at Rock Creek in Little Rock, which he attends regularly. The former head of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention prefers "contemporary" services, an aide said, and often attends services that are not explicitly Baptist. At the Crossing, like at Huckabee's Arkansas church, a band with guitar players leads the singing, and the words of the songs appeared on a projector rather than in hymnals. In contrast, however, this relatively new congregation does not own a building -- there is a large sanctuary at his Arkansas church -- so more than 200 people sat in folding chairs in the large cafeteria, with the lunch tables used during the school week stacked against the wall. Huckabee, sitting in the front row beside his wife, Janet, seemed to know most of the songs without reading the words and praised the guitar player as being better than he is. And he said he enjoyed the upbeat service, which included tambourine and drums and children running under flags that were waved during the songs. "If we know the Lord, there ought to be joy," Huckabee said.
Agree with you halfbreed. The guy sounds like a jerry-falwell type. Disturbing to find that so many people like to hear this kind of arrogant stupidity.
He did for a while, remember? The triple-wide Arkansas governor's mansion. Even so, as I've said before, if he wins the nomination, I will vote for him as a single-issue voter. I would support him because he supports the Fair Tax. I do think he'll have a more humble foreign policy, and while he was a relatively big government guy in Arkansas, he is the only candidate other than Ron Paul who acknowleges the 10th Amendment, so he's not going to force-feed his big government ideals on the whole country.
I'm completely freaked out by Huckabee for this very reason. As an aside, I can't stand war metaphors for following Jesus. I'm not big on Onward, Christian Soldiers. And, yes, I realize Paul uses one too when he talks about putting on the armor of God. I'm not entirely comfortable with that.
I don't care if you are religious or whatever. But that should not be the basis of your vote. You vote for the man best suited to uphold american values, not [insert religion here]'s values. Good point though... I guess my objective in the preceeding post was that religion as a political tool should be minimized, not necessarily banned.
The current freedom to express your view on religion only works if you are a Christian (and only certain branches at that). If you are Muslim, eastern religions, etc and you try to express your view, good luck on getting elected ever.
someone needs to ask him if he belives the world is 6,000 years old? If he says yes nobody should vote for him because those people can't seperate church and state. I love the fair tax but not enough to have another religious whako running the show
Exactly. I got some negative reactions in a previous thread when I posted this, but I think Ted Rall points this out rather well in his cartoon on the subject. Link to the thread The cartoon:
It doesn't bother me. As an atheist, I can see how the quotes can sound ominous. But, being so familiar with evangelicals, I think I can also understand what he's saying in the Christian-speak and it isn't all that frightening. Talk about God's Army isn't uncommon, and the church I know means it in a very spiritual, apolitical way. That, by itself, doesn't bother me.
So as single issue voter, if a candidate favors your one single issue, but diverges on everything else, you would still vote for them?
I wouldn't be bothered either if they were mere spiritual talks. But what if his policies and executive decisions are heavily influenced by his religious belief? What if he limits important medical researches (e.g. stem cell) on grounds that they are in conflict with the religious principles of his likings? What if he advocates reckless war-mongering foreign policies that he believes are the works of God? You know it's much more difficult if not nearly impossible to change the mind of a fundamentalist ideologue than someone who is more realpolitik based.
This I have no problem with. There is no way to separate a man from his beliefs. If his filter is that God created human beings in His image and that each are unique and loved by God...well...that changes how you view other people and the world around you. I don't think there's a way to separate any man from his beliefs.
You can believe drink alcohol is wrong. It doesn't mean trying to force millions of people not to drink it right.
Wait a minute ... I never said anything about getting elected. I guarantee if he runs on a platform saying he is going to implement all of his moral and religious views into government, he is going to lose. And God forbid he talks about religion during his sermon to a church. What I said was that anyone should be able to say whatever they want when running for office. Its up to the public to elect them or not.
That sure is the way to go when conducting all affairs (mostly) limited to and affecting one's personal/private life, max. But I think it'll have a hard time to be embraced if it's extended to making decisions on public matters and nation's policies.
You can believe murder is wrong. It doesn't mean trying to force millions of people not to murder is right.
