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| Fundamental belief: Republican '08 contender Mike Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, says every life has 'intrinsic worth
and value.' Jason Katz/Special to The Christian Science Monitor |
Mike Huckabee: a conservative with a social gospel
The former Arkansas governor and ordained Baptist minister speaks the language of Christian Evangelicals on social issues, but his concern for the poor means he's willing to spend more than fiscal conservatives would like.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the November 7, 2007 edition
Page 1 of 4
Washington - The first time Mike Huckabee walked into the Church at Rock Creek, then meeting in a storefront, he knew he'd found a church home.
There was no lack of Southern Baptist churches for Arkansas's new governor to attend in Little Rock. But Mr. Huckabee, an ordained minister-turned-politician, liked the people he met at the fledgling church – many coming off addictions or otherwise rebuilding their lives, none wearing a suit and tie.
"This is a church that was created for the people that no one else wants," says Huckabee, in a Monitor interview. Its motto is: Taking Jesus as he is to people as they are.
Now in a race for the GOP presidential nomination, Huckabee is shaping his come-from-behind campaign on the same principle that grew the Church at Rock Creek from a few dozen people in 1996 to more than 5,000 today: Every life has value – and don't count anyone out.
"We care about individuals because of the intrinsic worth and value in every single human life," he says often on the campaign trail.
It's the central theme in his campaign on issues ranging from abortion rights, which he opposes, to healthcare for poor children, which he promoted as governor. But it's opened him to charges that he is not a "consistent conservative," because he's willing to tax and spend on issues like education and healthcare to meet those needs.
Until recently, Huckabee has been consigned to a second tier by most political handicappers – and is typically given less airtime in debates than the front-runners. But he's winning converts, especially among so-called values voters, by his ease and agility on the stump.
If elected, Huckabee would be only the second preacher president, after James Garfield. He senses that could be an obstacle. "Anytime you have been a person who was identified as a pastor and you've got a seminary education and theology degree, people tend to worry about you," Huckabee told the Values Voter Summit in Washington last month.
He heads off the issue with a story: "When I first started running for office, a lady asked me, 'Are you one of those narrow-minded Baptist ministers who think only Baptists will go to heaven?'" He replies, "Actually I'm more narrow than that. I don't think all the Baptists are going to make it."
His appeal prompts comparisons with another politician from Hope, Ark. Bill Clinton went off to Georgetown University, Yale Law School, and Oxford University. But Huckabee sank deep roots in the evangelical culture of the New South – and the vast Christian communications networks that shot up around it.
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Heading into Election 2008, the Monitor profiles the candidates through the lens of their core convictions – through their values, worldviews, and, when applicable, religious faiths. |
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