If you drink, smoke, dance or date, you may not have a lot in common with Mike Huckabee. The Southern Baptist evangelist follows an ascetic path to God that is more prohibitive than Jesus' own, if we are to believe accounts of the Last Supper and the Wedding at Cana, where wine, for instance, was plentiful and celebration the norm. The astringent end of Southern Baptist culture first touched me when my Dad and brother and me went to the Marietta, Ga., YMCA so Dad could sign us up for activities that might keep us out of trouble. You can only imagine our shock when we were told that the Y - this was 1962 - did not accept Catholics. While I know the Y has moved past that level, I wonder how well-planted in the modern world the general scope of Southern Baptist dogma is, and I think Americans deserve to know. Will a Huckabee candidacy work against the alcoholic beverage industry, against the arts, against other cultural norms that they do not accept? How influential will his religion be when it comes to his treatment of them as President? For my money, the Southern Baptists are even more racially discriminatory (as with the Mormons, from a historical standpoint. not currently) as the Mormon brethren of Mitt Romney. Does the Huckster have Catholic advisors, or will he in the White House? Has he met the Pope, or would he? Will alcohol be banned at the White House? Will dancing? Will the Inaugural Ball be of the popular variety, or the Baptist variety? Do Southern Baptists have any peculiar end-of-life practices? These are questions whose answerws will let us know how his religion would help shape his presidency, if he gets one, and I think he ought to step up and answer them as forthrightly as Mitt Romney did.

Where is your evedence...

???I don't see it????

I am a Baptist, but that is no assurance that we all have the same slant on issues such as drinking, smoking, dancing, or other such things. Most are personal preferences which are not intended for all people alike like cookie cutter religion. Such things do not define salvation as is clear in the Bible. My salvation is based on the atonement of Jesus Christ on the cross for the sins of the world. How I live my life should reflect his nature, but because I am only human, I am sure I will not be sinless. I can only try and sometimes I succeed, others I don't, but He will forgive me. There should be an intent to do right by the Bible and loving consideration of others. Nobody says that is easy, it takes thought and sacrifice.

I intend to vote for Mike Huckabee in the primary and in the general election because I believe we need a more religious and moral emphasis in our children and nation. Mike Huckabee may influence public policy or governmental laws but no more than you or I. He still has to sell his ideas on right and wrong like everybody else. Either he will or he won't, the nation will survive with or without him.That is my belief and we are free to express our own opinion alike or different which is what makes America great, at least the United States variety.

“Imagine a city that is constantly being attacked at a vulnerable point along one of its walls. The enemy habitually exploits the same weakness—with startling success. Don’t you think that the inhabitants would rebuild the defective fortification in preparation for the next assault? Yet countless Christians repeatedly succumb to the same temptations without a constructive program for strengthening their defenses. They have accepted failure as a way of life, reasoning, ‘That’s just the way I am.’”

God has a different plan—for which He has given us a message of deliverance and hope. True, there are no easy miracles. Our success is neither instant nor automatic. Slick and easy solutions lead to false expectations which, in turn, spawn disappointment and unbelief. Applying biblical principles takes time and discipline. But steady progress is possible.

What was the cry of the Roman Philosopher? “Oh, that a hand would come down from heaven and deliver me from my besetting sin!” This is the cry of a man who reaches the point in his struggle against sin where he realizes that without intervention from heaven, he will forever be bound to besetting sin. Like so many others, he wanted freedom from the controlling power of sin and he knew he couldn’t gain it in his own strength.

Rom. 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

In other words. Those who are united with Christ can be free from the controlling power of sin. Through our union with Jesus at salvation, “sin is no longer our master”.

"I believe it's a lot easier to change the Constitution than it would be to change the word of the living God. And that's what we need to do is amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than trying to change God's standards so it lines up with some contemporary view of how we treat each other and how we treat the family." —Mike Huckabee

That's about all I need to hear from him before I decide that he would be absolutely incapable of discharging his duties as President of the United States. The defender of the Constitution and steward of American freedom should not so blatantly disregard the right of all Americans to choose to worship—or not worship—in the manner they see fit. I'm waiting for him to start banning books now. Overall, he reminds me of a brilliant bumper sticker I saw once that read, "The last time we mixed politics with religion, people got burned at the stake."

Why is it that Republican candidates should "tell us about their religion" and Democrats shouldn't?

Romney's Mormonism makes him a huge target here in the land of the free.

Brining up questions about Oprama's religion seems verbotten. The Billary campaign surreptitiously raises questions about his religion that amount to attacks.

Meanwhile, Hillary's religious zebra changes spots faster than Al Gore's.

I think what we ought to do with religion in political discussion is simply ban it.

Huckabee is running a trailing third anyway. 'Sides, he looks more Vice-Presidential to me.

Normally, I do not care much about a candidate's religion -- unless he/she gives me some reason to believe that the religious beliefs will inform his/her policies if elected.

So if Mitt or Huck start talking about how their religious values will drive their policies, they make those questions fair game -- clearly they bring that up in the hope that those who share those values will be more inclined to support them, and it logically follows that those who do NOT support those values have the right to vote AGAINST them.

I think Mitt is dodging that bullet like it is a mad hornet.

I once had a Muslim Chaplain who originated form E. Africa (sorry, can't remember the country). This was pre-911 but the overall apprehensions were still there, those, that is caused mainly by the fear of the unkown, overall ignorance and a lifelong exposure to a redneck train of thought. He heavy accent didn't help matters.

Once I actually started interacting with this guy and started sending Soldiers his way for various issues, I soon found that he was one of the most effective Chaplains I had encountered. He managed to effectively dispatch problems, find solutions etc. At first I grilled the soldiers to see if he had tried to indoctrinate them in anyway into the non-Infidel way of thinking (Yes, i was paranoid).

What I found in the end was that he used his life experience, which was obviously tempered by his religion, to gain a unique perspective when dealing with personal issues the soldiers might have. This, as well as his eternal positive outlook, hilarious personal anecdotes from growing up in Africa (not always intentionally funny on his part) made him very popular among the soldiers.

And, oh, by the way, he didn't "convert" anyone as anti-Islamo extremists would have you believe is the covert function of any muslim.

Whats wroug with Huck telling us about his believes if his is asked. Just two days ago the DEMS had a political revieval at some southern Baptist church in California with Carter and Algore and more. Do the DEMS think they need to get religion before super tuesday? Do you get my point?

OIFVet,

Your experience proves the point that we are all individuals, regardless of our religious beliefs, or lack thereof.

A person's religion might or might not render them unfit for public office. It all depends on their own individual take on their religious beliefs and how much their faith should or should not affect their behavior in their activities outside of the Church.

I don't think that a minister should seek public office. That doesn't necessarily apply to an ex-minister.