Friday, January 11, 2008

Second Thoughts On Huckabee

If you read this blog you probably get the impression I am not a big Huckabee fan. And while I am still not I am starting not fear his presidency lie I used to. Still I think his "quarantine" comments and his religious views are rather strict but that is just the thing, they are strict, as in he actually follows what he preaches. For example, when he was governor of Arkansas he signed legislation that extended coverage of health care to children called ARKids First which cut the number of uninsured kids in his state. While hje was governor he signed a lot of legislation that actually praticed what he preached. I guess I was so used to religious politicians being fakes that when one actually came up I was skeptical. I would have to say this guy has more religious honest in his little pinkey than George Bush could ever wish for.

Now, that being said I am still very much against his election. While he has created decent legislation in Arkansas he also injected his religion into alot of aspects of those bills. While he did signed the Child Welfare Agency Licensing Act in 1997 which included provisions that made sure that the religious organizations preach their faith to the people they are helping. Is this a bad thing? Well, no it is not, but it is also not right, religiously. As the saying goes "Preach the gospel frequently and if necessary, use words." One of the main reasons religion turned me off as a child is because I had a few family members that kept shoving it in my direction. I would come home at times and find a mini bile on my pillow. I would get religious material sent in my name to my house, heck, I am still getting it. My parents were not religious, my late grandma was an atheist so I had to sides in my life that were vastly different. One side preached to me, while the other let me be. As a child there was no question which one I would gravitate my beliefs or non beliefs to. But that is not say I am against religion or even religious people running my country. Now when they inject their faith into their bills to not only do some good but to pad their numbers of people in their faith I find that very uncomfortable. Because if you ever listen to the words of Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and others that have a very prominent influence in many members of our government, and they say things like "Homosexuality cause 9/11" and "We should assassinate Hugo Chavez and take his counties oil" and these are supposedly godly people, it tells me that they are not the game for the betterment of the world but to change money in the temple. Is Huckabee of these guys or politicians? I dont know quite yet. But one look at last night Republican debate and how every candidate went after Huckabee and called him a democrat and not a Reagan republican and Huckabee took it in stride and stuck with his message I started to think a bit differently about him. He is NOT what the GOP wants, he is an outsider and someone like him as the republican candidate for the presidency would get good natured people who are spellbound by the false family values that the current party preaches to think about what their faith is and what this country is doing to the world. We sit back and claim to be a very spiritual land but one look at what out trade agreements and war and we are quite hypocritical.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi,Stu just got done going through your blog and wow , lots to take in. I was thinking about your comments and was just watching my pastor on u tube. If you google Greg Boyd you will find the short video clip which I think may interest you:)It is about have way down the page you will see it:) He wrote a book about the myth of a christian. I think you will like the clip:)
Once again I really enjoy reading your blogs, and very much enjoy reading about the beer's you find:)
Have a great day!
Margie