Mike Huckabee: The Military is Too Hostile to Christians, So Don’t Enlist Until Obama Leaves Office

Former Governor Mike Huckabee, who says he’ll announce whether or not he’ll run for President on May 5, made news for an entirely different reason on Friday.

Rather than encourage people to enlist in the military — something you’d think any presidential candidate would advocate — Huckabee told Iowa radio host Jan Mickelson that prospective soldiers should hold off for a couple of years because the military is too anti-Christian right now.

This administration has had an open hostility toward the Christian faith. And I know that sounds like a bold statement, Jan, but when you have a president whose administration orders its chaplains to put its Bibles away, not to pray in Jesus name, not to counsel people on the issues of sexual morality; when you have this attitude that is more about promoting gay marriage and gay rights in the military than it is about being able to protect religious liberty for those people of faith, it’s gonna be hard to find people who are truly devoted people of faith and Christian believers and Orthodox Jews and others…

…

There’s nothing more honorable than serving one’s country and there’s no greater heroes to our country than our military. But I might suggest to parents, I’d wait a couple of years until we get a new commander-in-chief that will once again believe “one nation under God” and believe that people of faith should be a vital part of the process of not only governing this country, but defending this country.

Nobody, of course, ever told chaplains to put their bibles away or not to pray in Jesus’ name. But the military is not an extension of their church, and not every interaction with other people is an opportunity for chaplains to foist their personal beliefs upon others. Non-Christian chaplains in the military seem to understand perfectly well that they’re there to help people with their problems, not notch another tally mark in their church walls.

(What would happen, you have to wonder, if Hillary Clinton becomes the next President? Will Huckabee then tell people not to join the military for another several years?)

The comments came in response to a Washington Times article in which some Christians complained about the “hostile work environment” for chaplains who want to proselytize and convert instead of provide helpful service to others. Like during a suicide prevention training when one chaplain told the troops that if they ever wanted to kill themselves, they just had to “invite Jesus into whatever you’re feeling.” And like the Navy chaplain who was removed from his position after condemning homosexuality during private counseling.

So basically, Mike Huckabee claims the military is too anti-Christian because Christians chaplains aren’t allowed to make life worse for people who don’t agree with them.

If atheist chaplains (which don’t exist in the military) did the same thing, you can bet Huckabee would be calling that anti-Christian, too.

Everything is anti-Christian in the military, it seems, except going to war in the first place. Which I guess Jesus loved.

The military isn’t anti-Christian. It’s overwhelmingly Christian. But the military has to follow the law, and that means respecting church/state separation. Not that Huckabee understands that. He still wants Christian prayers back in public school in order to stop school shootings.

Watch out, Ted Cruz. You may have competition for the delusional vote in 2016.

(via Right Wing Watch. Image via Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com)