Mike Huckabee, Christianity and Racial Harmony

~ fundyreformed

Everybody knows Mike Huckabee is a Christian. Most know he was a former pastor. And since he is a Southern Baptist and he is white, the assumption might be he doesn’t care about racial issues.

However, what most people don’t know, is that Mike Huckabee won 48% of the black vote in his bid for governor in Arkansas (a highly democratic state) in 1998. While some dispute that number, they agree that Huckabee still had at least 20% or more of the black vote in his state.

Mike Huckabee is actually one of the few Republican candidates for president who really is seeking the black vote. When Guliani, Romney, Thompson & McCain found excuses to miss a nationally televised Republican candidates forum on black issues this September, Huckabee shined. Many pundits legitimately questioned the Republican front-runners absence in the debate. Newt Gingrich said, “I think it is a terrible mistake….I did everything I could to convince them it was the right thing to do, [but] we are in this cycle where Republicans don’t talk to minority groups”. The Boston Globe article linked above went on to say “Gingrich added Republicans cannot afford to ignore black voters during the primaries because the GOP will need their support if they hope to win the general election.”

Now, Huckabee’s presence in the debate aimed at black voters certainly helped him politically. He was the only top-tier candidate in the debate. BlackRepublican at RedState even wonders if that debate was the next step (after his 2nd place finish in the Ames Straw Poll) up in his surge to the front of the polls.

So the charge could certainly be made that Huckabee is just playing politics in pandering to the black vote, and earning some union endorsements as he has done. But is it just politics? Or do Huckabee’s Christian values impact his view of racial issues?

The charge can legitimately be made, unfortunately, that conservative Christians were instrumental in hindering the civil rights movement. But don’t let our sad history influence your view of the Bible and this issue. In Christ, there is to be no class or racial distinctions. We are all one in Christ. And we are to love our neighbor as ourselves. These truths very practically intersect with the racial debate in this country. Indeed, these truths convinced William Wilberforce, a thoroughly evangelical Christian and member of England’s parliament, to dedicate his life to the abolition of the slave trade in England (see this post for more on this wonderful story). Today, more and more, conservative Christians are beginning to promote racial harmony in their churches and communities.

Huckabee reflects this evangelical movement. Listen to his words in the recent Hispanic presidential debate broadcast on Univision.

MODERATOR: Governor Huckabee, is there a risk standing up here (inaudible)?

HUCKABEE: Well, I think the great risk is not so much that we would come. The far greater risk is if we didn’t. And it’s not just that we would offend or perhaps insult the Hispanic audience of this country. I think it would insult our own party. It would insult every voter in this country.

To act like that somehow we’ve become so arrogant that there’s any segment of our population that we’re either afraid to speak to, hear their questions, or somehow that we don’t think that they’re as important as another group. And it’s why I think whether it’s an African American audience, a Hispanic audience, a union audience, as Republicans, we ought to be more than willing to sit down, even with people with whom we might know there are disagreements. And I think, frankly, it’s important for us to be here. It’s important that you gave us this opportunity. And I want to say thanks for letting us have this audience on Univision.

(APPLAUSE)

He basically is saying it would be wrong if Republicans didn’t interact with Hispanics and other minority groups.

Consider also the following quotes from “A Pastor’s True Calling“, one of the articles on Huckabee in this week’s Newsweek.

Alone among the GOP candidates, he speaks emotionally about the legacy of Jim Crow and the dangers of ignoring lingering racism. It is wrong, he says, that inner-city blacks routinely receive harsher sentences than affluent whites arrested for the same crime. [page 2, online]

The Immanuel Baptist Church was an all-white congregation when Huckabee took over the pulpit. One day he announced that a young black man, who heard his sermon on the radio, had asked to worship with them. Huckabee welcomed him to their pews. Some church elders were furious and refused to let the man sit with them. Huckabee threatened to quit unless his guest was greeted warmly. A few members quit in protest, but the rest of the congregation went along. (The church is now integrated.) [page 4, online]

As a boy in segregated Arkansas, Huckabee says he was deeply ashamed of Jim Crow laws. Caldwell, his friend from Boys State, recalls his friend “cringing” whenever someone told a racist joke. As a pastor, Huckabee sermonized about the failure of Christians to speak out forcefully against racism. In 1997, President Clinton and Governor Huckabee both gave emotional speeches in Little Rock at an event marking the 40th anniversary of Central High School’s desegregation. Clinton, slipping into a preacherly cadence, moved the audience. But Huckabee moved many to tears: “Today we come to renounce … the fact that in many parts of the South, it was the white churches that helped not only ignore the problem of racism, but in many cases actually fostered those feelings and sentiments.” He called on people of all faiths “to say never, never, never, never again will we be silent when people’s rights are at stake.” [page 5, online]

Democrats expected the worst of their new evangelical, Republican governor, who welcomed anti-abortion activists to the mansion and tried to pass a law outlawing gays and lesbians from adopting children. But they discovered that Huckabee’s “do unto others” world view also led him to push for more money for schools and a health-care program for poor children that became a model for other states. When he took office, he found that the state’s roadways were falling apart. Huckabee supported controversial legislation that would raise gas taxes to fix them. Some of his fellow Republicans were furious, but voters went along. Huckabee served out his first term and was re-elected twice by wide margins. Even as a Republican in fractious Democratic Arkansas, he maintained approval ratings in the high 50s. [page 5, online]

I found these quotes helpful and exciting. It is wonderful that Huckabee shares a Scriptural approach to racial issues. For those interested, my church promotes racial harmony, and here is a list of online sermons, articles and resources on that topic addressed from a Biblical perspective.

Oh, and click here for links to all the Huckabee articles in this week’s Newsweek, where he’s on the front cover.

Keep up on the latest Huckabee news by checking out my tumble blog: Go Huckabee!

16 thoughts on “Mike Huckabee, Christianity and Racial Harmony”

  1. ever since the matthew muray incident, i’ve lost all faith in the combination of faith/politics…. iwas raised baptist, and very conservative…. but my inner-spirituality is being whored off by these elitists…. i’m sorry, but i don’t have mike’s money, rudy’s money or mitt’s money…. i’m just a sweat-under-the-collar american… these guys have nothing for me. nothing in common with me…

    the only way these philistines could ever get someone like me to vote for them is to appeal to my faith…. we’re not fundamentalists–we’re christians… to imply our faith is the redline for credibility now, more than ever, seems bigotted…

    it’s a sad day for our country when the head of 300trillion dollar budget, 280million people, and tens of thousands of nuclear heads—is chosen by which brand of post-death theology they belief

    i was raised a strict baptist, and this sort of pandering to our most base emotions in a political race is nothing else but A MORTAL SIN

    i will pray, in tears, for the souls of almost our candidates on the right… i’m embarassed by their abuse of my faith…. i pity them for the wrath of god when on Judgment Day he will ask them why they had the audacity to take his almighty name in vain…

    Do not be coaxed into Caesar’s lair,
    –Reverend Manny J

    1. I apologize for interjecting so late into a three year discussion. Whoever commented the above is in no way affiliated with “Reverend Manny,” the ReverendManny blog or Manny Jalonschi the writer or journalist. Reverend Manny Jalonschi is an atheist, as most of his readers know.

      The above comment seems to have been copied and pasted from an old ReverendManny column, with a paragraph or two extra that imply the Reverend is a man of Religion. He is not. I apologize for whoever thought it would be funny to use the Reverend’s name in vain while harassing actual believers. “False flags” and “sock-puppets” are cancerous to democracy. The above comment by someone who typed in the Reverend’s details, is clearly disingenuous and meant to confuse and instigate all parties (including the reverend’s atheist followers).

      Warm Regards.

  2. Huckabee isn’t afraid to talk to anyone.

    He was the only Republican to meet with the NEA. He’s been endorsed by the NH NEA — and this is a governor who put the first homeschooler on the state board of ed.!

    He’s interested in uniting for a common cause, and doing what’s right — and many African-Americans have the same values.

  3. Reverend Jalonski,

    Huckabee has more in common than you think. He grew up poor, was first to graduate from high school in his family, and has no widespread backing. He’s not a political elitist. He speaks for the common man. His campaign has largely advanced on his ideas, his ability to express them, and support from grassroots guys like me.

    Romney came out and said if you can’t raise 20 million in the 3rd quarter you don’t have a shot. Huckabee has barely raised 3 million. All along he has been advocating the presidency shouldn’t be bought, but won in a fair and thoughtful, idea-advocating campaign.

    As for religion, the pundits and media are making it a big deal with Huckabee. He does not spiritualize things like Bush does. I don’t like the whole America is a city on a hill, idea. Because America isn’t, Christ’s church is. Huckabee doesn’t give the mission of the church to the state. Instead, he applies Christian values like love for everyone, doing for others what you’d have them do to you, doing what is right, etc., to government. In doing this, he is living out his faith in a real and practical way.

    He doesn’t want to criticize Romney’s religion or anything like that. He repeatedly refuses to comment on that issue. He is running for president, not pastor in chief. He complains about all the attention for his religious views. But he will stand by what he believes and let it impact his life.

    This leads him to be strongly pro-life, yet not unmoved by the plight of the poor and disadvantaged around us.

    I hope Huckabee might restore some faith in politics. He has for me.

    Blessings in Jesus be on you,

    Bob Hayton

  5. thanks for writing this. this is good stuff. huckabee is getting attacked and he is doing an okay job of holding his own. it takes a lot of restraint and a lot of people knowing your true heart… when people are taking word slips to the next level at all times. it should all be interesting.

    mikehuckabeenews.com
    eblack44

  7. This is kind of off the subject, but what do you think of the recent ‘flap’ regarding Huckabee’s comments to the New Yorker about Mormonism? I listen to Glenn Beck (who is a Mormon) and Beck had some pretty negative things said about Huckabee’s motives in his statements about Mormonism’s belief in Christ and Satan being created ‘brothers’. I think that Beck had a valid point about Huckabee’s statements, although I think it doesn’t rise to the charge of ‘bigotry’ that Beck ascribed to Huckabee. According to Beck, Huckabee was underhandedly attacking Mitt Romney by raising a question about a doctrine of Mormonism.

  8. Thanks guys. Regarding the Mormon issue, Larry, Huckabee has repeatedly refrained from commenting on it. Remember this is the New York Times were talking about here.

    Here is a good video clip of Huckabee explaining the situation, and mentioning his apology to Romney. And here is another one.

    The point is, the media is trying to make Hucakbee into a religious nutcase or a religious candidate for some time, now. Over and over, I’ve watched video clips of interviews where Huckabee is extremely careful to not berate Romney’s mormonism at all. It isn’t an issue with him, nor should it be.

    Hope that helps, Larry.

  14. I’m late to the party on this I see, and for the most part I usually agree with you on most topics other than calvinism, and even then we are not terribly far apart. But I’m gonna pick just alittle bit here and its really not that big, but you say “that conservative christians were instrumental in hindering the civil rights movement” this reminds me of folks that want to believe that everyone was catholic before the reformation. Let me state clearly here that on a large scale the “church” did not do a great deal to promote civil rights, now let me also state that wonderful men and women of God laid their lives on the line in support of slaves and did it in the name of God, and also don’t forget wonderful christians that helped the slaves to read and write and led many to the Lord. Don’t forget as well the underground railroad, that while not an exclusive christian movement would never have happened w/out God-fearing men and women.

    I would hope that I would have been in the number that would have helped the slaves. I feel somewhat like I am on an island right now with my faith, I don’t exactly fit in anywhere very good. I have fled from extreme fundamentalism (baptist) and now find myself in a very small baptist church, which is not legalistic at all, and I’m loving it. You see I am past the point of caring alot about what man thinks, I care about what thus saith the Lord. So I believe that just like me “now” during the reformation and before the reformation there were men and women of God and during the civil rights movement there were caring, concerned men and women of God. Sad to say but my old church probably would have been one to have hindered the civil rights movement, and yes I probably would have gone right along with them, but thanks be to God I have been changed!

    So just a few thoughts, keep up your good work.

    God bless,
    Greg

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