Christians may be forced to choose between following their consciences and following the law, warned Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. The former Arkansas governor claimed Friday’s Supreme Court ruling granting same-sex couples the right to marry means there are few options left for Christians.
Host George Stephanopoulos asked Huckabee on ABC’s “This Week” whether what Huckabee was advocating for was actually civil disobedience.
“I don’t think a lot of pastors and Christian schools are going to have a choice,” said Huckabee. “They either are going to follow God, their conscience and what they truly believe is what the scripture teaches them, or they will follow civil law.”
“They will go the path of Dr. Martin Luther King, who in his brilliant essay the ‘Letter from Birmingham Jail’ reminded us, based on what St. Augustine said, that an unjust law is no law at all,” said the Republican candidate. “And I do think that we’re going to see a lot of pastors who will have to make this tough decision.”
Both the Thursday Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act and Friday’s gay marriage ruling show “judicial tyranny” from a court that has changed the “process of how we govern,” said Huckabee. “We’ve always been a nation of law. We’re now a nation of men.”
Despite elected representation and states’ laws in over 30 states, “a court edict of five unelected lawyers, a part of a committee … decided that they knew better than the legislators who actually get to make law,” said Huckabee.
Huckabee expressed concern that Friday’s ruling would cause many more Christian business owners to lose their businesses when they refuse to bake a cake or sell flowers for gay weddings. He fears that university presidents, school administrators and county clerks will lose the ability to conscientiously object.
If business owners or public administrators object to participating in gay weddings for religious reasons, “I think they should be excused,” said Huckabee.
Commenting on President Obama’s decision to drape the White House in rainbow lights Friday night, Huckabee said “please don’t complain” if he becomes president and puts up a nativity scene on the White House lawn.
