Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee spoke to the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference in Houston, Texas, on April 29, in advance of an expected announcement of a presidential bid. Of course, Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, had to weigh in on the Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on marriage equality.
According to CNN, Huckabee told the conference,
I respect the courts, but the Supreme Court is only that — the supreme of the courts. It is not the supreme being. It cannot overrule God. When it comes to prayer, when it comes to life, and when it comes to the sanctity of marriage, the court cannot change what God has created.
In the speech, which CNN described as “sermon-like,” Huckabee touched on a variety of social issues that are of concern to Christian conservatives. One of those is the various “religious freedom” laws that are appearing in many areas of the country. Huckabee told the crowd that Christian business owners were being “criminalized” for refusing to participate in things like same-sex weddings. He said, “Somebody’s got to be willing to take on the institutions that challenge and threaten our ability to believe as we believe, because when religious liberty is lost, all liberty is lost.”
Just what definition of “marriage” does God use?
Those opposed to marriage equality have been saying recently that marriage is between one man and one woman, “as ordained by God.” But, the Bible offers an array of marriages that were “ordained by God.” In 2013, the Huffington Post reported on an op-ed by three religious scholars, that pointed out the different types of marriage that had the blessing of the almighty in Biblical times.
In the op-ed, which is no longer available from the Des Moines Register, where it originally appeared, but which is quoted at length at Patheos, the authors point out that the Bible approves of marriages that range from monogamy, to marrying your brother’s widow — even if you are already married. The authors also say that polygamy was ok, as it was practiced by both Abraham, and David.
University of Iowa professor Robert R. Cargill, one of the authors of the op-ed, told the Huffington Post that the Bible endorses many types of relationships, but that professors shy away from discussing that fact, for fear of the backlash they would receive. Cargill said that the “argument against same-sex marriage is wholly unsustainable. We all know this, but very few scholars are talking about it, because they don’t want to take the heat.”
Maybe the Supreme Court can’t overrule God on marriage equality. But maybe it would be a good idea for God to issue a clear ruling on the subject. Until that happens, we only have the so-called “divinely inspired word of God,” that Mike Huckabee and so many others claim to be experts on, to go by. And that says that God is probably cool with marriage equality.
Here’s a report from the Huffington Post, on what the religious scholars had to say about the Biblical definition of marriage:
Featured image via Gage Skidmore/Flickr
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