More so than any other presidential candidate in either party, Mike Huckabee is using his Christianity as a campaign tool. In his first TV ad, the viewer is told that the former Arkansas governor is a “CHRISTIAN LEADER” (all-caps in the original). In his first debate, Huckabee rejected modern biology, preferring creationism. In his first appearance at TV preacher Pat Robertson’s college, Huckabee suggested the success of his campaign is based on divine intervention.
Given that Governor Huckabee is running a fairly explicit faith-based run for the presidency, it might be helpful to know a bit about what Pastor Huckabee told parishioners during his tenure behind a pulpit. As David Corn and Jonathan Stein explained, that apparently isn’t going to happen.
Before beginning his political career, Huckabee was a Southern Baptist minister for 12 years in his home state of Arkansas. He assumed the pastorate at Immanuel Baptist Church in the town of Pine Bluff in 1980, at the age of 25. Six years later, he moved to Beech Street First Baptist Church in Texarkana. In both locations, Huckabee’s energy, ambition, and skills as a communicator energized his congregation. Under his leadership, each church grew.
When asked for copies of the sermons Huckabee delivered at Immanuel Church, an employee there claimed none could be found. A Beech Street Church pastor’s assistant maintained that much of the archival material from Huckabee’s tenure as pastor had been destroyed during a remodeling. The rest, she said, was not available to the press.
When Mother Jones contacted the Huckabee campaign and asked if it would help make his previous sermons available, the campaign replied in a one-sentence email that it had received multiple requests for such material and was “not able to accommodate” them.
Now, it’s possible that the records just don’t exist, and Huckabee’s campaign couldn’t provide the materials even if it wanted to. But a terse, one-sentence email noting an inability to “accommodate” requests suggests Huckabee and/or his aides have the sermons, but would prefer to keep them under wraps.
Given what we know of Huckabee’s history of odd statements and beliefs, that’s probably a wise strategy.
What have we learned about Huckabee’s perspective in the early 1990s?
* He wanted to quarantine AIDS patients.
* He believed homosexuality could “pose a dangerous public health risk.”
* He said that if a man and a woman live together outside of marriage, they’re engaging in a “demeaning … alternate lifestyle.”
* He claimed intervention from God in his successful 1993 special election in Arkansas’ race for lieutenant governor.
* In 1990 speech to the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, Huckabee said, “It doesn’t embarrass me one bit to let you know that I believe Adam and Eve were real people.”
* In 1997, “Huckabee refused to sign legislation to assist storm victims because the measure referred to tornadoes and floods as ‘acts of God.’ Putting his name on such legislation, Huckabee explained, ‘would be violating my own conscience’ due to the bill equating ‘a destructive and deadly force’ to ‘an act of God.'”
* In 1998, Huckabee spoke at the National Pastors’ Conference and implored the group to “take this nation back for Christ.”
Given all of this, perhaps voters might want to know a little more about Pastor Huckabee before they decide whether to make him President Huckabee. If reporters are smart, they’ll keep pushing for the sermons Huckabee doesn’t want to release.