Huckabee's Pulpit

A few months ago I commented to friends that if I was a religious evangelical and political conservative I'd be looking at Mike Huckabee as a presidential candidate. He is articulate and humorous. His conservative credentials are strong. He's a Baptist preacher, far more orthodox by Protestant Christian standards than Mitt Romney, a Mormon and the other claimant for the religious right vote.

Sure enough, his personal charm and down home style began to attract a following. Running in what many feel is a weak Republican field, he scored an unexpected victory in the Iowa caucuses. Now he has jumped to the top of many national polls.

We should be very afraid.

On January 14 in Warren, Michigan, Huckabee was speaking to a large crowd about proposals for a constitutional human life amendment and an amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman. I knew his position on those issues, but nothing had prepared me to hear him say this:

I have opponents in this race who do not want to change the Constitution. But 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 amend the Constitution so it’s in God’s standards rather than trying to change God’s standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family.

I have no idea what Huckabee truly meant by this ominous assault on the "wall of separation" between church and state. Even the evangelical magazine Christianity Today seemed troubled by his statement, noting that it may cost him more votes among evangelicals than help him. One can only hope.

The constitutional doctrine pertaining to the separation of church and state is certainly a complex topic and, like all constitutional issues, is part of a living document. We are fortunate that Americans have recognized that amending the constitution is a grave matter and should not be a way of resolving parochial differences on cultural or religious concerns.

I know that many so-called mainstream people of faith are appalled at this dangerous statement from a presidential candidate. We must now hope that evangelicals will see beyond the rhetoric and recognize that Huckabee's position puts their own freedom of religion at risk, and not just that of people whose theology differs from theirs.