Dan

Calabrese

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January 8, 2008

My Fellow Evangelicals Blow It By Supporting Mike Huckabee

Secular America looks at the rise of Mike Huckabee and fears the growing influence of evangelical Christians in the political process.

This evangelical Christian columnist fears it too, for exactly the opposite reason.

Huckabee’s win in the Iowa caucuses, and his sudden viability as a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, owes to one thing and one thing only. Large numbers of evangelical voters are looking for someone to represent their values, and Huckabee is the only candidate who seems to do so.

Even though he looks to finish no better than third in tonight’s New Hampshire primary, Huckabee has become a force to be reckoned with, and evangelical voters made it happen.

I fear that will have devastating long-term consequences for the cause of Christ in America.

For anyone who takes a serious look at his record, his policy positions and his handling of life in public office, it should be painfully obvious that Mike Huckabee is not qualified for the presidency. His populist economic rhetoric sounds like Ross Perot. His bemoaning of the Bush administration’s “arrogant bunker mentality” in foreign policy sounds like Dennis Kucinich. His lectures on health and exercise sound like Richard Simmons.

He displays no depth on questions of spending, taxation, national security and energy policy.

Worse, he seems to see his position of authority as a mechanism to impulsively apply his evangelical agenda. As governor, he pardoned or otherwise advocate the earlier release of more than 1,000 criminals, with beneficiaries including 13 murderers (one of whom went on to kill again), Huckabee acts as though his seat in the state house is license to bestow a Christ-like gift of grace to anyone he chooses.

Even Jesus didn’t cut the thieves down from their crosses. He just offered them a place in Heaven. And that place where the caucus-goers gave Huckabee a win isn’t Heaven. It’s Iowa.

I am disappointed in my fellow evangelicals because, while I can understand wanting a person of like mind serving in the Oval Office, that person of like mind should have minimal qualifications for the job. He should demonstrate a depth of knowledge of the issues. When a hugely important National Intelligence Estimate is released, he should at least be aware of it.

If Mike Huckabee wins the presidency, what do evangelicals think he will be able to do to advance the cause of Christ? He can’t sign any laws granting Christianity any special legal status. The federal government can do little to promote stronger families (although it can spend a lot of money to try, and probably fail, and surely bloat the federal budget in the process). The president can influence abortion law by appointing Supreme Court justices who will overturn Roe v. Wade, but do evangelicals understand that Supreme Court justices have other cases to consider? Do they care? And if they don’t, doesn’t the rest of the country have a right to question whether evangelicals appreciate the question of constitutional law in its full flavor?

Headlines after Huckabee’s win declared that evangelicals had demonstrated their “clout.” They quoted regrettably ubiquitous Christian attention-monger James Dobson as declaring that Christians could not be ignored in the political process.

Is this what Jesus commanded his followers to do? Amass political clout and refuse to be ignored by big secular media? Did Jesus tell his apostles to take control of nation-states and use the power to battle liberals?

Glorifying God and preaching Christ is the job of local preachers and their local congregations. It is not the job of the president of the United States. But the president does have a lot of other jobs, and Mike Huckabee displays no ability to do any of them.

If evangelical Christians somehow manage to put this man in the White House, the inevitable failed presidency – likely a disaster of Jimmy Carter proportions – will embarrass and marginalize the evangelical movement for at least a generation.

Evangelicals need to learn the difference between their job – preaching Christ and spreading his love to others – and the job of the federal government, which is to govern the secular affairs of the nation and provide for the common defense.

A Christian president who actually knows what he’s doing is a great idea. In fact, we have one right now. A Christian who hasn’t a clue – put in office anyway just because he is a Christian – would be a blow to the nation and a crisis of credibility for God’s people.

The only silver lining to such a disaster might be that Christians learn their lesson and re-focus on the true mission God gave us. Let’s just hope the nation could survive four years of inept leadership in the meantime.

This is Column # DC142.  Request permission to publish here.