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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.
from the November 7, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 4
After attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth for a year, Huckabee moved to Dallas to be director of communications for James Robison, an evangelical leader who helped broker Evangelicals' support for Ronald Reagan's presidential bid in 1980.
By the time Huckabee returned to Arkansas in 1980 to preach at the Immanuel Baptist Church in Pine Bluff, he was a skilled communicator. At age 21, Huckabee was directing a faith-based advertising agency, including producing television programs. He set up a 24-hour broadcast ministry and, by 1984, was hosting a TV show. When he moved to the Beech Street First Baptist Church in Texarkana, he did the same.
"If the medium for moving public policy is television, then understand that TV is the field of play and learn to run on it," he writes in his 2007 book "Character Makes a Difference."
In 1989, he was elected president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention at a time of deep division over issues such as the role of women in family and church. Conservatives say Huckabee did not do enough to help them in this struggle. Supporters say he tried to bring sides together. "Mike's whole personality is one of conciliator," says Rick Scarborough, a pastor who heads Vision America and was Huckabee's classmate at seminary.
His stint as head of the Baptist State Convention also gave him wider recognition and contacts to launch a statewide political organization.
Huckabee credits his 12 years in the ministry with helping him understand the issues facing average people. "As a pastor, I've seen every step of a person's life from cradle to grave. None of it is abstract to me, and I've seen it all," he says.
But over time, he lost some of his early idealism in the ministry. Instead of "leading God's troops into battle to change the world," most people seemed to want me "to captain the Love Boat, making sure everyone was having a good time," he writes in his 2007 book. "I wasn't bitter or angry; I just wanted my life to count for something more than being an ordained cruise director."
Commenting on that passage, Huckabee said in an e-mail: "I didn't leave the ministry, as I am still ordained. The good news is that churches have been changing over the past 15 years – with not only a continuing and proper focus on eternal issues but also involved in confronting hunger, poverty, disease, lack of education, housing, stewardship of the earth, etc. That is a good trend that is taking hold in the most conservative and evangelical churches."
A new calling
Huckabee launched his career in politics with a race against three-term US Sen. Dale Bumpers (D) in 1992. To his surprise, he lost. "He felt that God wanted him to run for the Senate. I, too, felt that that was what he was supposed to do," says his wife, Janet, in an interview. "We didn't have a Plan B" when he lost, she adds. "But you can't second guess something when you think you've done the right thing. You have to make the decision and have peace about it. That's where your faith comes in."
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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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