Mike Huckabee on Religion
I’ve previously made known my stance on how the religion of a major election candidate should be treated. My goal now is to document where each major candidate stands on religion in the upcoming presidential election. This is not an exercise in reading between the lines. I am not talking about stances on abortion or gay marriage, strictly about religion. Hopefully there will be an election in my lifetime where this isn’t required knowledge before voting, but in today’s political (and religious) climate, it is required knowledge.
The following is Part 9 of a multi-part series on each candidates religious views, and how they fit into politics.
Mike Huckabee – Southern Baptist
Quotes:
“At the heart of my governing is my faith.”
“I govern with two pillars: ‘do unto others as you would have them do unto you,’ and ‘as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”
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“The best way is to say that as a Christian for me the essence of Christian faith is that you treat others as if you wish to be treated. That was the ultimate commandment of Jesus — to love God with your whole heart, to love others as you would love yourself, and to treat others as you would wish to be treated. That’s really the heart of the Gospel. So if a person is in public office your ultimate question is not how should this affect me, but if I were that person how would I want someone to deal with this issue in such a way as to best benefit that person? I think it gets easier for me. Public policy is pretty easy when you ask, you know, what would I have them do unto me?”
“Why should religion be so difficult for me to talk about? It doesn’t bother me if the person says, ‘I just don’t find it important to me. I’m running for office, but I’m an atheist.’ You know what? I would rather a person be honest and be an atheist than claim to be a Christian but then act like they can’t talk about it ’cause they’re almost embarrassed to bring it up. That’s troubling. If a person says here’s a part of my life, it’s fundamental to every breath I take, that really defines my world view, and yet I’m uncomfortable discussing it with anybody, I’d worry about a person whose faith is so shallow or so insignificant that they can compartmentalize their entire faith as if it doesn’t matter to them.”
Source (Many more quotes from Huckabee on religion)
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“If you want to believe that you and your family came from apes, I’ll accept that….I believe there was a creative process.”
“I believe that there is a God and that he put the process in motion.”
“I’m not sure what in the world that has to do with being president of the United States.”
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“I believe that the creation has a creator. I believe there is a God. And I believe God put this whole creative process in motion. How he did it and the time frame in which he did it, I honestly don’t know. Nor do I think it’s relevant to being president of the United States.”
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“Government knows it does not have the answer, but it’s arrogant and acts as though it does. Church does have the answer but will cowardly deny that it does and wonder when the world will be changed.”
“I’m often asked why taxes are so high and government is so big. It’s because the faith we have in local churches has become so small. If we’d been doing what we should have — giving a dime from every dollar to help the widows, the orphans and the poor — we now wouldn’t be giving nearly 50 cents of every dollar to a government that’s doing … what we should have been doing all along.”
“I didn’t get into politics because I thought government had a better answer. I got into politics because I knew government didn’t have the real answers, that the real answers lie in accepting Jesus Christ into our lives.”
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“Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”
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“I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ.”
“The key issue of real faith is that it never can be forced on someone. And never would I want to use the government institutions to impose mine or anybody else’s faith or to restrict.”
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“When we become believers, it’s as if we have signed up to be part of God’s Army, to be soldiers for Christ.”
“When you give yourself to Christ, some relationships have to go. It’s no longer your life; you’ve signed it over.”
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“I believe it’s a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that’s what we need to do, is to amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards, rather than try to change God’s standards.”
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More on Huckabee and religion:
National Journal Interview on Religion & More
Christian Science Monitor: Mike Huckabee: A Conservative With a Social Gospel
Chuck Norris Endorses Huckabee — More
More on Teaching Creation and Evolution in Arkansas
Huckabee Angers Some Catholics
Huckabee’s Faith Cut Both Ways
Scientists: US Doomed if Creation President Elected
Videos
Huckabee on The O’Reilly Factor Discussing Evolution and Creation
Huckabee on Real Time with Bill Maher Denying Evolution
Huckabee Christmas Commercial – “What really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ”
Mike Huckabee/Chuck Norris Facts – Not religious, and a bit late as far as the Chuck Norris facts go, but nevertheless an entertaining and creative commericial. I only put this in here because the main reason Norris is endorsing Huckabee is his conservative, religious beliefs.
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Summary:
Being an ordained Baptist minister, Huckabee probably has the most religious “street cred.” He is a man who has stood by his faith for his whole life, and interprets the Bible literally. He does not believe in evolution, but is willing to accept it’s possibility. He believes in creation, but is willing to accept that it may not be the literal 6000 year old version.
While I agree with Huckabee that the question about evolution was asked at the wrong place and wrong time in the middle of a Republican debate, the answers that he Sam Brownback and Tom Tancredo gave cannot be ignored. Three of the ten candidates at that debate said that they do not believe in evolution. As much as I would like to believe that those beliefs will have no bearing on their ability to be President, I can’t ignore the fact that they don’t believe in evolution.
In theory, it should not matter when it comes to certain opinions on matters of faith. But not believing in evolution is simply grounds to be considered unqualified. If you “don’t believe” in an accepted scientific fact, how can you be expected to lead the nation in any other matter.
Moving on past evolution, if you take that out of the equation, I feel Huckabee is willing to accept church-state separation in a legal sense, but at the same time will use his faith to dictate his decisions.
I don’t feel Huckabee is a major threat to legislate morality at a dangerous level, but his overall views on religion make him an unacceptable candidate to me personally.
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This page will be continuously updated with new quotes, or news items to provide the most accurate portrait of Huckabee’s religious viewpoints.
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