60 online
 
Most Popular Choices
Share on Facebook 13 Printer Friendly Page More Sharing
OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 12/26/12

Huckabee Strikes Again

By       (Page 1 of 1 pages)   3 comments
Follow Me on Twitter     Message Frederick Clarkson
Become a Fan
Fox News talk show host Mike Huckabee distinguished himself recently by asserting that the reason for the Newtown massacre was that America has removed God from the public schools.   Unsurprisingly, other other Religious Right leaders have made similar assertions, although they vary in the reasons from a generalized national apostasy to marriage equality. All this has generated several rounds of unsurprising outrage.  

And now Huckabee has struck again.

This time, Huckabee broadened his argument.  In a sermonette on his show, he  blamed contraception, which he demagogued as "abortion pills" -- in an apparent reference to the Obama administration's requirement that oral contraception be included in employee insurance packages.

Think Progress transcribed Huckabee's latest: 

Christian-owned businesses are told to surrender their values under the edict of government orders to provide tax-funded abortion pills. We carefully and intentionally stop saying things are sinful and we call them disorders. Sometimes, we even say they're normal. And to get to where we have to abandon bed rock moral truths, then we ask "well, where was God?" And I respond that, as I see it, we've escorted him out of our culture and marched him off the public square and then we express our surprise that a culture without him reflects what it's become.




Of course, God and gods, are very much a part of our culture and our public life. That has not changed in any important ways in decades. The way that these things are expressed evolve over time, and not everyone likes change, but people are nevertheless free to express themselves in the "public square" (just try and stop Huckabee!). And in a free society, they might get some feedback when they do. 

That Huckabee and his allies on the Christian Right want hegemonic conservative Christian control over our society, our institutions and our laws, is no secret even if they do not always speak openly about it.  But when the leaders of the Christian Right are speaking more frankly, we hear declarations that they have a God given mandate to seek and achieve that hegemony. And when they don't get their way, they blame the unspeakable on their failure to achieve the unspoken. And, of course, it is someone else's fault.

Rate It | View Ratings

Frederick Clarkson Social Media Pages: Facebook page url on login Profile not filled in       Twitter page url on login Profile not filled in       Linkedin page url on login Profile not filled in       Instagram page url on login Profile not filled in

Frederick Clarkson is a Senior Fellow at Political Research Associates, a progressive think tank in Somerville, MA. He has written about politics and religion for thirty years. He has written many ground breaking exposes. He was the first to (more...)
 
Go To Commenting
The views expressed herein are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this website or its editors.
Follow Me on Twitter     Writers Guidelines

 
Contact AuthorContact Author Contact EditorContact Editor Author PageView Authors' Articles
Support OpEdNews

OpEdNews depends upon can't survive without your help.

If you value this article and the work of OpEdNews, please either Donate or Purchase a premium membership.

STAY IN THE KNOW
If you've enjoyed this, sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter to get lots of great progressive content.
Daily Weekly     OpEd News Newsletter
Name
Email
   (Opens new browser window)
 

Most Popular Articles by this Author:     (View All Most Popular Articles by this Author)

Real Religious Liberty is Not Oppression

Democratic National Committee Cuts Ties with Latino Christian Right Leader

Hallelujah, Mike Huckabee, Hallelujah

Obama's Spirit of '76

Huckabee Strikes Again

To View Comments or Join the Conversation:

Tell A Friend