http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/12/15/the-saturday-night-line-hucked Comments On: The Saturday night line: Hucked by Max Brantley en-us Copyright 2013 Arkansas Times. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Arkansas Times readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Arkansas Times. robert@arktimes.com (Arkansas Times Webmaster) Wed, 19 Jun 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:30:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Dear Mr. Huckabee,

If kicking God out of our public school system is what lead to this atrocity, as you claim, then why did a similar atrocity happen in an Amish school in 2006? The Amish can't exactly be accused of pushing God out of their lives, yet God still let this tragedy happen in their community. How do you explain this?

I really do wish the world was the way that you believe it is. I wish the world was predictable and systematic, and that we could be assured that if we just did the right things that horrible and tragic things wouldn't happen to us. I would love to have that kind of control. I would love to live in a world where my children's safety could be guaranteed if I just acknowledged God enough.

But the world is not this way, and to keep insisting that it is does a great deal of harm. Think about it. You are telling the world that there is a God who is apparently so insecure and irritable that if his name isn't mentioned in public schools he decides to teach us a lesson by allowing children to be slaughtered.

Mr. Huckabee, from what I have seen of you, you strike me as a good-hearted and very likable person. But you seem much more benevolent than the God you claim to believe in.

I understand that you are now claiming that you were misunderstood, and that what you really meant by your comments was that:

"... we have as a culture decided that we don't want to have values, that we don't want to say that some things are always right, some things are always wrong. When we divorce ourselves from a basic sense of what we would call, I would say, collective morality where we agree on certain principles to be true always, then we create a culture -- not that it specifically creates this crime. It doesn't. But it creates an atmosphere in which evil and violence are removed from our sense of responsibility."

This makes no sense either. We may not all agree on how to define marriage in our society, for example, but we all agree that murdering children is absolutely wrong. People do not commit atrocities like this because they have been influenced by a pluralistic culture that doesn't take strong enough moral positions. People do things like this because of some combination of evil, sickness, and perversity that is simply not rationally explainable.

Your explanations sound very similar to that of Job's friends, who simply couldn't understand a world where the righteous tragically suffer. As a Baptist preacher, I am sure you have read this book, and you'll recall that when God shows up, Job's friends are silenced and told that they are wrong. I really wish God would speak to you from a whirlwind so you would stop saying this stupid stuff and giving Christians a bad name. You're trying to help, I know, but it isn't working.

Sometimes really horrible things happen- things that should never happen- even to the very best of people. To pretend otherwise is not only to ignore empirical reality, it is to deny the heart of the Christian faith you claim to represent. Jesus didn't systematically push God out of his life. Jesus fully and completely welcomed the presence of God in his life, more so than any other human being ever, and he was tortured and murdered.

Evil doesn't just happen in God's apparent absence, as you seem to believe. The Jesus story shows us that horrible evil even happens to God's presence.

According to our faith, God raised Jesus from the dead. When children are murdered, our message that we have to offer the world (when it comes time to speak) is that God will refuse to let tragedy have the last word in their lives. We believe in a God of Easter who can ultimately wipe away all tears. The Jesus who welcomed children into his arms in this world will do so in a world without end.

Our faith doesn't allow us to explain tragedy; it allows us, through groans and tears, to hope in the midst of it.

So, Mr. Huckabee, please stop using tragedies like this as a platform for espousing your particular political vision of church-state relations. The problem isn't that our public culture isn't Christian enough; the problem is that your theology isn't Christian enough.

http://thesundaydrivehome.blogspot.com/201…
Posted by avatar]]> Mon, 17 Dec 2012 16:37:52 -0600 Arkansas Times
"This is about 20 children & their teachers that lost their lives."

No question about it, but everybody feels so helpless and overcome with horror about this, that we tend to lash out at somebody (Huckabee) who tries to take advantage of the situation to promote himself in the public eye. He'll have a book out about it within a month I predict.

"Neither God nor prayers could have saved them, but in such a situation one could pray for all to be safe, whether you believe in God or not, it's your own choice."

A little late for that particular prayer but you say that God nor prayers COULD HAVE SAVED THEM which tells me that you don't have a lot of confidence in the power of prayer. I have evolved (pardon the term) over time about other people praying. You're absolutely right; it's your own choice. If you convince yourself that the Master Of The Universe is guiding your every move and watching over you then that should help, at least, your self-confidence. What we're talking about here is sanctioned prayer in taxpayer-paid public institutions. The state is constitutionally bound neither to promote nor inhibit any religion. Not only that, it's a good idea. The idea of "Keeping God Out of the Public Schools" is ridiculous on its face. If God is truly omnipotent, He'll damn-well go where He wants and do what He wants. And... that God hears telepathic prayers so you can pray all you want in public schools...just keep it between you two. Just remember that God helps those who help themselves.

"Now the idea of Gods teaching is very important for everyone for having Morals & knowing right from wrong."

That idea has been expressed by just about every religion and philosophy since the birth of mankind in some form of what Christians call the "Golden Rule" and it's really just common sense when you think about it. You rub my back and I'll rub yours. The problem is that most people recognize this but in the practice of it? Not so much. Jesus gets all the credit for "Do onto others what you would have done to you". Except for the masochists in the world, we should all practice this good advice.

"As for our schools these days I think it is very important to rethink of our childrens
safety in schools, etc.. We need better security in our schools, for our children."

Good advice in general but that school in Connecticut had a lot of security. There's only so much that can be done.

Amos N Andy, you sound like a good person(s). I just wanted to give you the viewpoint of "the Devil's Advocate".
Posted by Olphart]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 13:17:08 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Sound Policy]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 12:10:03 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Rockford]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 10:39:03 -0600 Arkansas Times Others ask, "Are we all safer with these guns?"

It's the old self-centered dip-shits versus the devil-worshiping socialists, again.
Posted by Doc]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 10:11:10 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Verla Sweere]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 08:32:09 -0600 Arkansas Times In fact, the White House emailed me back a few months ago on this subject. http://thedailyhatch.org/2012/05/25/feedba…
Posted by SalineRepublican]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 08:08:52 -0600 Arkansas Times Nothing better than random acts of kindness to show the true human spirit .
Posted by mountaingirl]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 07:49:01 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Paul Covert]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 01:44:15 -0600 Arkansas Times

The heat comes on and the weasel is weaseling....

"Huckabee Tries To Walk Back Comments On God And School Shootings"

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/15/hu…

"we have to do something about our culture and our culture has hardened," said one talking head. Huck works his forked tongue overtime on this one.
Posted by eLwood]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 01:23:31 -0600 Arkansas Times


"Huckabee Tries To Walk Back Comments On God And School Shootings"

"We have to look at our culture and our culture has hardened" said one talking head,

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/12/15/hu…
Posted by eLwood]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 01:12:05 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Amos N Andy]]> Sun, 16 Dec 2012 01:11:01 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://www.examiner.com/article/westboro-c…

What good, loving Christians they are! (Sarcasm intended)
Posted by NeverVoteRepublican]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:35:00 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by bugeyedlittlefreak]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:25:50 -0600 Arkansas Times
They're probably packing their bags right now--onward Christian Soldiers marching as to Connecticut.

One more thing: "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?" Famous quote by attorney Joseph Welch to Senator Joseph McCarthy. Army-McCarthy Hearings, 1954

I think those very questions need to be asked to the good rev. Huckabee.
Posted by Olphart]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:07:52 -0600 Arkansas Times
Razorblade, I'll say this again as gently as I can- you don't know what you are talking about. As a long-time poll worker, I can say from 10 years experience that Bryan King's bill if enacted will cause longer waits for voters and disenfranchise many if not most of those who don't have an authorized photo ID with them on election day. Those voters would be forced to go through the provisional ballot process which is much more tedious and takes much more of a poll worker's time. And many of those votes would not count because experience tells us many of those voters wouldn't bother or simply couldn't afford to take time after election day to prove they are who they are.

Voter ID laws are not about preventing voter fraud. They are about making it more burdensome for certain classes of people to cast their votes. That's why the Koch brothers monstrosity ALEC has foisted these laws on states.

You want us to believe you would risk serious jail time and a large fine in an attempt to change one vote by engaging in this type of voter fraud? Be honest- you know you wouldn't.

You can spin "what I believe" six ways from Sunday, but the facts are the opposite from what you think they are. If you're unwilling to take my word for it, become a poll worker and come back in 10 years when you have as much experience as I do and tell me why you were right.

Why do ReTHUGliconS have such a comprehensive program to disenfranchise voters, including even veterans? Because they have been unable to convince those voters they have better solutions, or any solutions at all, to the serious problems facing our country.

End of sermon.
Posted by Sound Policy]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:05:17 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://www.wnd.com/2007/12/45077/

It's got nothing to do with prayer in school Mikey. Otherwise churches would be safe, now wouldn't they?

Kinda reminds me of when the teacher for Gravette School District's voluntary bible classes was on the witness stand and told Judge Arnold he was gonna go to hell.
Posted by Vanessa]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 23:03:10 -0600 Arkansas Times Actually, HHH and I have done #6 several times although we've never left a note. We get a big kick out of watching good parents with their young-uns, especially the babies.
Also, I often have to remind HHH not to seem quite so 'stalk-y'. LOL
Posted by HardHeadedWoman]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:49:14 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by NeverVoteRepublican]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:45:08 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Doc]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:35:43 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by mrprincipal07]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:16:53 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by mrprincipal07]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:12:17 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by mrprincipal07]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 22:08:33 -0600 Arkansas Times
If the lack of Christian teachings in a school subjects it to the whims of evil, then please explain why an armed man killed several school children in an Amish school house a few years back? I don't think it was because they were Godless.
Posted by Ron Rizzardi]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 21:43:15 -0600 Arkansas Times
The NY Times has a new editorial by some 30 year old evangelical preacher yammering away about how Christians didn't show up for the Republicans in the last election, futher signs that Christianity is fading away. Of course he doesn't mention that the Republican candidate was a goofy Mormon and even Christ-overloaded Christians know better than to vote for a Mormon.

Still his goofy editorial about how Christian faith will be strengthened as their numbers fade cites some statistics that people are finally pulling the wool out of their eyes and seeing that hocus-pocus is just that, hocus-pocus. Fat boy Huckabee just keeps pounding the nails into the Christian coffin....with his Jerry Falwell back from the grave act.

I wish I believed in god.......if there actually was such a thing Mike Huckbee would be 87 miles up Shit Creek. He's have MS, bone cancer, be stroke-ridden and his grandkids would have been among the victims of Sandy Hook. But instead some idiot no doubt sent him a Love Offering today because he knows well how to send messages to mental midgets in exchange for half their tiny Wal-Mart paychecks.

We'll be a much better country when religion is put back up on the hobby shelf and clears out of our politics. When charlatans like Huckabee can't draw a crowd, when those who replace crooked governors and presidents turn around and launch investigations into their wrong-doing, when people quit wasting THIS life by being greedy worrying about the afterlife.

WHEN GUN DEALERS ARE IMPRISONED FOR SELLING GUNS & AMMO TO INSANE PEOPLE......we might just have us a better country. Until then fear and cringe and cry when someone can easily shoot 20 kids as easily as I can buy lottery tickets. We simply HAVE to pull our pointy heads out of a fantasy world of our own creation and actually solve our problems with concrete ideas and actions. Please, do not dream on, wake up and embrace reality because IT will kill you, not an angry mythical higher power on the warpath......
Posted by DeathbyInches]]> Sat, 15 Dec 2012 21:39:27 -0600 Arkansas Times