News | Secular Coalition Responds to Gov. Huckabee's Proposal to Amend the Constitution

For Immediate Release: January 16, 2008
Contact: Anne Singer, 202-271-4679

Secular Coalition Responds to Gov. Huckabee's Proposal to Amend the Constitution

For years we've known the Religious Right's agenda was to replace civil laws with biblical ones. Now, thanks to Mike Huckabee, everyone else knows it, too.

Washington, DC - On the eve of the Michigan primary, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Republican candidate for president, told his supporters in Warren, MI that what America needs to do is "amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards." He was referring to his support for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between a man and a woman, and another protecting life. In response, Secular Coalition for America director, Lori Lipman Brown, said:

Thank you, Mike Huckabee! You’ve just made our job a lot easier. For years we’ve been saying that the Religious Right's political agenda was no less than replacing American laws with biblical ones. And now, thanks to you, everyone else knows it, too.

They've been telling us that their opposition to gay marriage wasn't religious, that they were really just interested in the welfare of children. But there's no reliable evidence that kids raised by same-sex parents fare any worse than other kids.

They've been telling us their opposition to contraception and stem cell research was about protecting human life, not about imposing a minority opinion that a bundle of cells equals a person.

Gov. Huckabee has complained more than once that he's the only candidate who gets asked about his religious beliefs. But he can't complain about that anymore, now that he's said on video tape that he's more interested in the word of his God than in his country's founding document and legal precedent, what he dismisses as "some contemporary view."

So what would President Huckabee's America look like? How many amendments would we need to make America conform to his God's standards? How many Supreme Court decisions would be nullified?

Would it be illegal to buy condoms? To "spill one’s seed," that is, masturbate? Would wives become property once again and slavery become standard practice? Would our cities shut down on the Sabbath? Would gays, lesbians, bisexuals, transgendered people and Jews, Catholics, atheists, scientists, pharmacists and bankers all be thrown in jail?

When Americans think of Sharia law, they shudder. Theocracy is unthinkable. But we now have a credible, serious candidate for president who has told us he believes in a country based on religious laws: that's theocracy.

You bet we're interested in Mike Huckabee's religious beliefs, because if he's president, they'll become our laws.

The Secular Coalition for America is the national lobby for atheists, humanists, freethinkers and other nontheistic Americans with the unique mission of protecting their civil rights. From our office in the nation's capital, our full-time lobbyist and support staff engage public policy makers and the media to increase the visibility and respectability of nontheistic viewpoints and to protect and strengthen the secular character of our government as the best guarantee of freedom for all. Information is at www.secular.org.

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