Yeah, Huckabee's religion should give us pause, but I would say that it puts up less of a red flag than, as one example among many, Giuliani's delusions of grandeur.

A candidate's religion should be assessed in the same way as any other quality in a candidate, since it's an influence on their decisions. It should neither be swept under the rug nor used as an automatic disqualifier. Maybe it deserves emphasis because of America's squeamishness when it comes to critical thought about religion, but maybe Hitchens is overemphasizing it, at least when you consider the other choices in the Republican field.