I think if I got to know Mike Huckabee, I probably would like him.  He was a contender for the Republican presidential nomination until Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) rounded up enough electoral votes to carry the upcoming nominating convention.

Huckabee was the governor of Arkansas for nine years, has written a number of books, has been a leader during every phase of his life, served as a pastor for a few Baptist congregations, and plays in a band.  He is perhaps a year or so younger than I.

He seems like a personable fellow, and while we see many things differently, I can imagine getting along well with him and enjoying his company.  He once even described his experience as a pastor as trying to be the “captain of a ship” on which everyone pulled together on a journey of faithful witness and service, only to discover that most of the folks simply wanted to be “passengers on the Love Boat.”  

But, I’m a little concerned by Huckabee’s establishment of a “think tank” called the “Vertical Politics Institute.”  Maybe I am over-reacting, but even though Huckabee says the organization is “vertical” because its focus is not “left or right politics,” I have to wonder if there isn’t a hidden agenda.  The institute will fulfill an “educational” role “in states where there may be ballot initiatives that involve things like the fair tax or marriage issues or sanctity of life issues,” according to the man himself.

Those are sounding like target issues of the religious right, and the image of a “Vertical Politics Institute,” makes me suspect that someone’s version of God’s intentions, desires, will, or scriptural mandates is the expression of what is found when one goes “vertical.”  I have to wonder if Huckabee, or the Institute, will define what God wants, and then “educate” others about it.  If that is the case, danger is all around.

As good a guy as Mike Huckabee seems, neither he nor anyone else speaks for God.  I believe people can pray, study, meditate, discuss, and do all kinds of things to open themselves to the leading of God, but to identify and codify somehow God’s will for a diverse society and nation, usually in a way that reflects the dominant culture’s worldview, is nothing short of idolatry.

And I do know God doesn’t like that.