Religion, Nationalism, and Terror

Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times
A prayer circle formed in the room where the Huckabee campaign holds a Caucus watch party.

Evangelicals not on same page - Los Angeles Times, Jan 18, 2008

GREENVILLE, S.C — The Christian heart of the Republican Party beats fiercely on the broad boulevard where one finds both the gated entrance to Bob Jones University and the headquartersof His Radio network, home to an AM Christian station and a sister music station, “FM With Love From Jesus.”

But the two bastions of Southern evangelism mirrored the split in the ranks of conservative voters before the state’s Republican primary Saturday.

Host Tony Beam of the network’s “Christian Talk” became a warrior for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee from the moment he turned on his microphone at 6 a.m. Thursday.”We need a leader in America who has the core value system that’s built on the eternal truths of the Bible,” Beam told listeners. “We need a lighthouse, a guiding force to get us in the right direction.”

Prominent conservative and Bob Jones University dean Robert Taylor made an opposing pitch on the university’s radio station earlier in the week.”Mitt Romney is the only candidate who shares our values and can win in November,” Taylor said. “That’s why it’s so important that conservatives rally around him.”

Perrspectives Blog: Huckabee Proclaims Ignorance of Iran NIE, Evolution, December 5, 2007

As the Arkansas Times detailed in 2006, the teaching of evolution in state classrooms reached a crisis of biblical proportions (pun intended) during Huckabee’s tenure as Governor. One teacher reported his public school prohibited the use of the “e-word” and that “I am supposed to say that these rocks are VERY VERY OLD…but I am NOT to say that these rocks are thought to be about 300 million years old.” In a survey of public school instructors attending professional science education workshops in Arkansas, “80 percent of the teachers surveyed are not adequately teaching evolutionary science.”As the Arkansas Times detailed, then Governor Huckabee claimed not to know that schools in his state were pressuring instructors not to teach evolution in the classroom. In its article titled “Scientists Discover That Evolution is Missing from Arkansas Classrooms,” the paper documented this shocking July 2004 exchange between Huckabee and a pupil on “Arkansans Ask,” his regular show on the Arkansas Educational Television Network:

STUDENT: Many schools in Arkansas are failing to teach students about evolution according to the educational standards of our state. Since it is against these standards to teach creationism, how would you go about helping our state educate students more sufficiently for this?

HUCKABEE: Are you saying some students are not getting exposure to the various theories of creation?

STUDENT (stunned): No, of evol…well, of evolution specifically. It’s a biological study that should be educated [taught], but is generally not.

MODERATOR: Schools are dodging Darwinism? Is that what you…?

STUDENT: Yes.

HUCKABEE: I’m not familiar that they’re dodging it. Maybe they are. But I think schools also ought to be fair to all views. Because, frankly, Darwinism is not an established scientific fact. It is a theory of evolution, that’s why it’s called the theory of evolution.

State Rep. Jason Bedrick, left, hosted a house party for presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, right, in October 2007. Rabbi Moshe Bleich of the Wellesley Chabad also attended the event. (Yeshiva World News)

Munson: Huckabee makes some seemingly sensible statements in his article in the January-February issue of Foreign Affairs. For example, he writes: “The Bush administration’s arrogant bunker mentality has been counterproductive at home and abroad. American foreign policy needs to change its tone and attitude, open up, and reach out.” He also writes that if the US “attempts to dominate others, it is despised.” These statements are reminiscent of the seemingly sensible things George W. Bush was saying when he ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000. But other parts of Huckabee’s Foreign Affairs article could have been written by a neoconservative. As for Huckabee’s advocacy of a Palestinian state in Egypt or Saudi Arabia, the Yeshiva World News notes that “when asked about a Palestinian state, Gov. Huckabee stated that he supports creating a Palestinian state, but believes that it should be formed outside of Israel. He named Egypt and Saudi Arabia as possible alternatives.” That one of the leading candidates for the Republican presidential nomination–according to recent polls –should spout such nonsense is disturbing. But the rhetoric of his main competitors is equally obtuse when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Huckabee’s rise puts focus on religious rhetoric - JTA, December 24, 2007

NEW YORK (JTA) — Mike Huckabee was a barely known former governor of Arkansas when he attended an October house party on his behalf at the home of Jason Bedrick, New Hampshire’s first Orthodox Jewish state representative.

Despite the candidate’s long odds, Bedrick was brimming with confidence in an interview he gave to an Orthodox news Web site.

“No one had ever heard of the last governor from Hope, Ark., Bill Clinton, the summer before he was elected,” Bedrick told Yeshiva World News. “Huckabee is polling well in all the early states. He’s a long shot, but he’s the best shot we’ve got.”…

To boot, the New Hampshire lawmaker added, Huckabee is pro-Israel: He has visited the Jewish state nine times, and told the crowd at the Bedrick house party that he favored the establishment of a Palestinian state — in Egypt or Saudi Arabia.

Jonathan Martin, Huckabee runs as GOP rebel, Politico.com, December 24, 2007

SHELDON, Iowa - To spend a day with Mike Huckabee on the campaign trail is to hear echoes of his three insurgent predecessors.

He has the fervent evangelical following in this state that Pat Robertson had in 1988, he deploys populist rhetoric like Pat Buchanan and, just like John McCain eight years ago, he is not afraid to diverge from party orthodoxy in speaking to Republican audiences….

“Well, he is not afraid to say, ‘Merry Christmas,’” Gary Thies of Mapleton said when asked after the Sioux City event why he’s supporting Huckabee.

And why is that important?

“Because that’s the most important thing in my life,” Thies responds with an icy glare. “That’s what we’re doing here. Those are the principles that made this country great.”…

His supporters are unmistakably Christian conservatives.

The boys are typically dressed in their Sunday best, the girls wear modest, ankle-length dresses, and the parents offer Christmas blessings after speaking with a reporter.

“It has the feel of a revival meeting,” George Schneidermann explained after Huckabee’s appearance in Orange City.

Elizabeth White, Huckabee defends religious tone in ad, Associated Press, Boston Globe, December 24, 2007

SAN ANTONIO - Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee made no apologies yesterday for the religious tone of a recent holiday campaign commercial and said it is important to look for Jesus at this time of year.

“You can find Santa at every mall. You can find discounts in every store,” Huckabee said from the pulpit of Cornerstone Church. “But if you mention the name of Jesus, as I found out recently, it upsets the whole world. Forgive me, but I thought that was the point of the whole day.”

Huckabee was referring the ad airing in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina that shows him in a red sweater in front of a Christmas tree.

In the ad, Huckabee asks: “Are you about worn out by all the television commercials you’ve been seeing, mostly about politics? Well, I don’t blame you. At this time of year sometimes it’s nice to pull aside from all of that and just remember that what really matters is the celebration of the birth of Christ and being with our family and friends.”

“And I hope that you and your friends will have a magnificent Christmas season. And on behalf of all of us, God Bless and Merry Christmas. I’m Mike Huckabee and I approved this message,” he says in the spot….

Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas and an ordained Southern Baptist minister, has been on the defensive in recent weeks because of the ad and his rise in the polls, particularly in Iowa, where he has taken away the top spot from Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Speaking at a later church service, Huckabee said: “I got in a little trouble this last week because I actually had the audacity to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ Isn’t that an odd thing to say at this time of year?”

Michelle Goldberg, Mike Huckabee, conservative golem, Guardian, December 19, 2007

Leading conservative pundits have discovered that the Republican electorate is dominated by Christian fundamentalists, and they are shocked, shocked! Aghast at the rise of the backwoods populist preacher-turned-governor Mike Huckabee, now polling first in Iowa with only two weeks until the caucuses, they’ve suddenly divined the value of secular politics, of knowledge gained by studying something other than the Bible.

“There is a sense in Iowa now that faith has been heightened as a determining factor in how to vote, that such things as executive ability, professional history, temperament, character, political philosophy and professed stands are secondary, tertiary,” an alarmed Peggy Noonan wrote in the Wall Street Journal last Friday. “But they are not, and cannot be. They are central. Things seem to be getting out of kilter, with the emphasis shifting too far.”

National Review’s Rich Lowry concurred. “[N]ominating a southern Baptist pastor running on his religiosity would be rather overdoing it,” he sniffed. “Social conservatism has to be part of the Republican message, but it can’t be the message in its entirety.” In the Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer’s column was titled An Overdose of Public Piety. “This campaign is knee-deep in religion, and it’s only going to get worse,” he wrote.

Paul Vitello, Small Town Cheers Huckabee’s Embrace of Faith - New York Times, December 21, 2007

DIKE, Iowa — He came to town this week dressed in a dark pinstriped suit and cowboy boots, advocating lower taxes, death to the Internal Revenue Service and restoration of the words “Merry Christmas” and “Jesus Christ” to the American lexicon.

And Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor and Baptist minister who rose to the first tier of Republican presidential candidates on the strength of his Christian bona fides, was received by supporters as he returned to Iowa this week like the second coming of Santa Claus.At rallies, they posed their red-sweatered children on his knee for photographs, as if he were the man in the red suit at the mall. They gave him standing ovations when he said the words they wanted to hear.

“I know this is probably a very controversial thing, but may I say to you, Merry Christmas!” Mr. Huckabee told an audience of 200 in Marshalltown on Thursday morning, as the crowd rose to its feet.

Clearly delighted over a controversy set off by a recent campaign advertisement in which he says “what really matters” this time of year is not the presidential campaign but “the celebration of the birth of Christ,” Mr. Huckabee has missed no opportunity in his speeches to his core supporters of evangelical voters to utter those words, underlining the Christ part.

“What’s wrong with our country, what is wrong with our culture, is that you can’t say the name Jesus Christ without people going completely berserk,” Mr. Huckabee told a crowd in Dike, a tiny farm town about 80 miles northeast of Des Moines, where people also stood to applaud.

Robert D. Novak - Baptists Not on Board - washingtonpost.com, December 20, 2007

When Mike Huckabee went to Houston on Tuesday to raise funds for his fast-rising, money-starved presidential candidacy, a luncheon for the ordained Baptist minister was arranged by evangelical Christians. On hand was Judge Paul Pressler, a hero to Southern Baptist Convention reformers. But he was a nonpaying guest who supports Fred Thompson for president.

Huckabee greeted Pressler warmly. That contrasted with Huckabee’s anger two months ago when they encountered each other in California. The former governor of Arkansas took issue then with comments by Pressler, a former Texas appeals court judge, that Huckabee had been a slacker in the war against secularists within the Baptist church.

The warmth in Texas and hostility in California reflects the dual personality of the pastor-politician who has broken out of the presidential campaign’s second tier. Huckabee can come across as either a Reagan or a Nixon. More than personality explains why not all his Baptist brethren have signed on the dotted line for Huckabee. He did not join the “conservative resurgence” that successfully rebelled against liberals in the Southern Baptist Convention a generation ago.

Munson: It is perfectly natural that a Baptist minister would send a message to the members of his church, and to his family and friends, reminding them that Christmas is “really” about celebrating the birth of Christ. But Huckabee’s Christmas message is a political ad paid for the Huckabee campaign to be broadcast in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to influence the January caucuses and primaries in these states. The implicit message in this seemingly innocuous videotaped Christmas card is that “real” Christians should vote for Huckabee. This in turn implies that the simple fact of being a “real” Christian is directly relevant to one’s qualifications for the presidency. Most of the people who support Huckabee assume this is true since they see the US as a Christian nation. The fact that current polls show Huckabee defeating all his opponents in Iowa and South Carolina demonstrates the influence of white evangelicals in these states. Huckabee is much weaker in states like Michigan, New Hampshire, and Florida, all of which also hold primaries in January 2008. But national polls show Huckabee narrowly trailing front-runner Giuliani.

Ironically, given that Huckabee attributes his “surge” to God, his views on foreign policy are more sensible than those of the other leading Republican candidates, although he is much less sensible than pragmatic realists like Senator Chuck Hagel.

Mike Huckabee for President, New Ad: What Really Matters, December 17, 2007

Liz Clarke, A Higher Power - washingtonpost.com, December 15, 2007

“I didn’t get into politics because I thought government had a better answer,” he told a group of pastors on the eve of the 1998 Southern Baptist Convention. “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.” He concluded that speech with words he says he’d phrase differently today: “I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ.”

Munson: If only 27% of Iowa’s caucus voters were white evangelicals in 2004, it seems strange that 40% of caucus voters (61% of Republicans) in 2000 thought that a candidate’s relationship to Jesus Christ should play a part in the campaign for the presidential nomination.

Pew Forum, Religion and Politics 2008: Iowa

Iowa voters care deeply about presidential candidates’ individual beliefs. For example, according to a 2000 Los Angeles Times survey (registration required to view webpage), 40% of all Iowa caucus voters thought that a candidate’s relationship with Jesus Christ should play a part in the campaign. For Republican voters, that number jumped to 61%.

The influence of religion on Iowa’s caucuses and elections has grown since the early 1980s. A book co-edited by Pew Forum Senior Fellow John Green notes that in 2000, 40% of GOP caucus participants were evangelical Protestants, the highest percentage ever recorded. In an April 2007 Religion News Service story, one state GOP spokesman estimated that evangelicals and social conservatives account for 50-60% of all Iowa voters.

For Iowa Republicans, particularly evangelical Protestants, religion is a key political factor. In presidential elections since 1984, “the single best predictor of Republican voting is the evangelical population in the county,” according to Green’s book.

In the 1988 caucuses, evangelical religious broadcaster Pat Robertson won a quarter of the Iowa vote, placing him above eventual Republican nominee George H.W. Bush. Robertson’s strong showing surprised political observers. His backing came primarily from conservative Christians, whose concern about moral issues motivated their politics.

Don Imus: “Why don’t you like Huckabee? Because you’re gay, or what?”Media Matters, December 12, 2007

On the December 12 edition of ABC Radio Networks’ Imus in the Morning, while discussing Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee with nationally syndicated radio host Jay Severin, host Don Imus asked, “Why don’t you like Huckabee? Because you’re gay, or what?” Following Imus’ comment, co-host Charles McCord exclaimed, “Oh, come on, what the hell was that?”

Huckabee winning support by highlighting Romney’s Mormonism, Salt Lake Tribune, December 12, 2007

WASHINGTON - Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee appears to be using Mitt Romneys Mormon faith as a wedge issue to attract evangelical voters in the early states, political scientists say, a move that in part seems to be helping Huckabee stay ahead in Iowa polls.

Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, aired a TV commercial in Iowa recently telling voters he is a “Christian leader,” a move that could be seen as a veiled hit on Romney, whose faith is viewed as heretical by some Protestant evangelicals. And Huckabee has so far refused to say whether he believes the LDS Church is a cult, as his Southern Baptist religion labels the church.

In Sunday’s New York Times Magazine, Huckabee goes even further when asked if he believes Mormons are cultists. While first saying he didn’t know much about Mormonism, Huckabee then asks the reporter in an “innocent voice”: “Don’t Mormons believe that Jesus and the devil are brothers?”

Some political observers say Huckabee, now the leading GOP candidate in Iowa polls, is raising the issues of Romneys faith as a campaign tactic.

I think he knows its clearly an issue with his base,” says Kelly Patterson, director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at the LDS Church-owned Brigham Young University. “Hes sending signals through his advertisements and his comments that his base will understand.

Huckabee’s NRA Speech, September 28, 2007

And somehow, by the grace of God, when I squeezed the trigger, my Weatherby .300 Mag, which has got to be the greatest gun, I think, ever made in the form of a rifle — for my sake in hunting, I’ve never squeezed the trigger and not gotten something — did its work, and somehow the angels took that bullet and went right to the antelope, and my hunt was over in a wonderful way.

YouTube - Huckabee: Divine Providence Helps My Poll Numbers, December 4, 2007

STUDENT at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University: Recent polls show you surging… What do you attribute this surge to?

HUCKABEE: There’s only one explanation for it, and it’s not a human one. It’s the same power that helped a little boy with two fish and five loaves feed a crowd of five thousand people. (Students applaud–rapturously.) That’s the only way that our campaign can be doing what it’s doing. And I’m not being facetious nor am I trying to be trite. There literally are thousands of people across this country who are praying that a little will become much, and it has. And it defies all explanation, it has confounded the pundits. And I’m enjoying every minute of them trying to figure it out, and until they look at it, from a, just experience beyond human, they’ll never figure it out. And it’s probably just as well. That’s honestly why it’s happening. (More rapturous applause.)