Huckabee makes a bold claim:
On the one hand, one could claim that he is pandering to the audience (i.e., Evangelical college students at Liberty University). On the other, the claim essentially amounts to: “God wants me to be President” or it is a manifestation of a political “name it and claim it” theology wherein God is somehow required to answer affirmatively if prayer is sufficiently earnest.
One of the reasons that I have been skeptical about Huckabee’s chances is that I don’t see the electorate ultimately placing a Southern Baptist minister in the White House. Certainly there are a large number of voters who would be uncomfortable with the idea, and even Republicans who have no problem with the concept might be persuaded to support a different nominee on electability grounds.
Statements like this will certainly create concern in the minds of many voters.
Huckabee is talking very much like a Southern Baptist minister in this clip, as there is a basic belief in the church that whatever happens, happens because it is God’s will-or, at a minimum, that God directly intervenes in these matters, especially when prayerful consideration is applied. Despite this view, it is actually a rather dubious theological proposition.
Indeed, if God is actually choosing our Presidents, he has some ’splainin’ to do.
h/t: Andrew Sullivan
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Huckabee is just stressing the important of pray and God’s will. I John 5:14-15 says, “And this is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.”
Prayers are precious, potent and promised. So I’m not sure it’s clearly a “dubious theological proposition.” However, whether or not a presidential candidate Q&A session is the right platform for something like this, that’s a different question.
Comment by Chris — Thursday, December 6, 2024 @ 4:15 pm
I am going to stick with the “dubious” designation.
Comment by Dr. Steven Taylor — Thursday, December 6, 2024 @ 4:38 pm
Doesn’t Bush pretty much have the same “theology”?
Bush is always talking about how much he “prays”-while at the same time he can’t even ask his CIA director about the new intelligence on Iran!
Comment by Ratoe — Thursday, December 6, 2024 @ 5:35 pm
Huckabee Claims a Key Endorsement
Posted by Damozel | Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee is taking the whole faith-in-politics thing in the opposite direction from Governor Romney. It seems that Huckabee is God’s candidate. No wonder, then, that Romney is trying to distance himself from the who…
Trackback by Buck Naked Politics — Friday, December 7, 2024 @ 3:22 am
[…] As such, the Bush Effect on this issues will make it easier to attack Huckabee on the question of governance as influenced by an overtly Evangelical worldview, especially when Huckabee has already made claims about the power of prayer and his recent rise in the polls. Let’s face facts, even highly religious people get nervous when people starts talking like they are God’s agent, especially people who want to be the commander-in-chief of the United States of America. […]
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