Huckabee: Atheists are senseless, evil

[lwcon]

From the NYT's portrait of Mike Huckabee:

"If integrity and character are divorced from God, they don't make sense," he writes in his book, with John Perry, "Character Makes a Difference" (B&H Publishing Group, 2007). "Integrity, left to define itself, becomes evil because everyone ends up choosing his own standards."

Lots more in the piece, but nothing we haven't heard before: that Huck is surprisingly progressive on a few issues, he's a sucker for people — no matter how evil, ironically — who claim to find Jesus, he's up to his eyeballs in small-time graft, and he's ruthless with opponents.

___

The Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy, now at my new home: Correntewire.com

[EFerrari]

1. We CANNOT allow the GOP to steal this election.

:scared:

[derby378]

2. If integrity and character are synonymous with God, then they are purely subjective

But then again, everything the Republicans say and do seems pretty subjective nowadays.

[tekisui]

3. fuck huck.

[ColbertWatcher]

10. Huckabee! F*ck Me! Red State Update rules! n/t

[LoZoccolo]

No more Republicans ever, lol!

That's great! :thumbsup:

[frogmarch]

4. It's scary that lots of people

agree with the Huckster about this, including my husband's stupid fundie relatives.

[RDANGELO]

5. Everybody chooses their own standards!

If someone follows a religion. then that is their choice. We should all be judged on how we treat others; not on whether someone agrees with those standards.

[Quixote1818]

6. We have seen what happens when Christians use their "standards" of Integrity

You end up with War and those in power doing what ever the hell they want to do because they think the have truth on there side regardless of what our Constitution says. Talk bout dangerous shit!

[goodgd_yall]

7. His theology stinks n/t

[gateley]

8. What a coincidence. So are the RW Christian Presidential candidates. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Ugh...

Enough with the Huckabee stuff. He doesn't deserve any more attention.

Talk about attention whore!

This guy is like a peacock who lost a lot of weight and is now selling used cars (Meh, I'll work on it)!

Can no one see how insincere he is?

Ever notice all his sound bites are in the cadence of a joke and sound as if they're followed by a registered trademark symbol?

"Don't Mormons believe Jesus and the devil are brothers?^TM"

Speaking of brothers...ever notice how Barack Hussein Obama is a Muslim?^TM

Thank you! I'll be here all week, try the veal!

[CyberPieHole]

11. Slaughtering a defensless dog is ok, though in his book...

at least when it's his son who has tortured and killed it.

thank god his son is not an atheist though...then he would be damned to hell.:eyes:

[ColbertWatcher]

14. For the GOP faithful...

...it was between a lowly dog and his only begotten lardass of a son.

http://wikiality.com/David_Huckabee

[jpgray]

12. Taking ecclesiastical thought back to the 18th century--Mike Huckabee

[NoFederales]

13. "Integrity, left to define itself,..." doesn't make sense. nt

NoFederales

[Fire Walk With Me]

23. He may be implying that selfishness and self-justification may run rampant.

We are animals. Without a good reason to treat others well, one may simply conclude that there is only this time and why not take whatever one may get away with. People may conclude that "nothing matters" and tend toward anarchy.

I believe in God, but don't go as far as Huck: I don't care if someone doesn't believe in God, so long as they are decent to themselves and others. You need neither religion nor spirituality to see the wisdom of the Golden Rule.

[DavidDvorkin]

15. So it's not just atheists he's condemning

But anyone who's not a monotheist. That's a lot of the world, and specifically a lot of America.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

16. This is not merely religious drivel. It's a core of the conservative racket, going back centuries

People can only receive virtue from above... from God, a king, a generalissimo, a father.

The odd thing is that I agree with the conservative view of human nature... we are terribly violent, tribal selfish beasts.

I just don't think dictators, religious or secular, are so likely to have good values to pass down to the people.

[pokercat999]

19. It's been my observation after 57 + years that the

"terribly violent, tribal selfish beasts" are extremely rare and are to some degree insane. Most people given the chance are fair and helpful. A notable counter intuitive observation is that the poor and "underclass" among us are usually the most giving (when their means are taken into consideration) and forgiving.

It's seems odd that the "least" of us are also the "best" of us. But then again the richest have the most to lose and the most to fear. Fear is a powerful motivator and the cause of a lot of hatred in America.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

21. Our instincts are complex

The same person can, in different circumstances be a saint or a monster.

It is in our social behavior that our worst traits come out. Humans in the state of nature will form tribes that consider other tribes somewhat less than human, and all the rottenness of history follows quite sensibly from that.

But if people think you are within the tribe, or are so dispossessed that that have no tribe of their own---anything that allows individual to individual interaction---people can be wonderful. People with little to lose are indeed capable of surprising generosity, just as you say.

We tend to be fairly good to family, and defining family is the whole challenge.

[lwcon]

26. Good thoughts, thanks

The Bible, as it happens, sets terrible examples for family behavior, including -- in just the first two chapters -- one of the first generation of children killing his sibling; Abraham being willing to sacrifice his son; Lot offering his virginal daughters to an angry mob, and then the daughters raping him; Leah sneaking into her sister's marital bed and doing her unsuspecting new husband; Joseph's brothers throwing him in a ditch and leaving him to die, then Joseph framing his innocent younger brother, probably scaring him to death, before letting him go; Ham (apparently) raping his father, Noah, and Noah taking it out on Ham's innocent son; Tamar letting Judah, her twice-over father-in-law, believe she was a prostitute and having sex with her, and then Judah nearly killing her over it; and endless theft of birthrights.

[pokercat999]

28. Only a fool would believe the crap contained in the bible.

2000 plus years of lies and jest designed to con the population into doing the religious leaders bidding against their own interests. And the best part is the pay off comes from a third party in the afterlife, it would be hilarious if it were not so tragic.

[THUNDER HANDS]

17. he sounds like Bill Clinton's dark side evangelical brother

[nickinSTL]

18. "If integrity and character are divorced from God, they don't make sense"

Right, because the only reason to behave with integrity is the fear of a vengeful god. So...if you aren't threatened with eternal damnation, you obviously have no reason to act in a civilized manner.

Personally, I think that someone whose religion gives you a pass on evil action if you only believe in the divinity of a person who may or may not have actually existed is way more likely to act without integrity and character than an atheist who believes that the world would be a better place if everyone acted in ethical ways for the betterment of society.

Based on some of what I've learned about Huckabee recently, he's the one whose character should be in serious question.

[spooky3]

22. When Huck's mommy wasn't watching, he was bad.

Sadly, he still hasn't outgrown his childish projection, that all of us behave badly if someone with authority isn't watching us every moment.

[Steely_Dan]

20. Okay...

Now we have two Republican candidates that think Atheists and Agnostics are either evil or un-American....or both.

I just shake my head...

-Paige

[mainer]

24. Wow. That includes most of western Europe.

Those damn non-religious Europeans. I wonder what they'll think of an American president who calls them evil?

[Cass]

25. People can conduct themselves with integrity and character without religion.

Conversely, one can also conduct themselves without integrity and character and have religion. Junior and his ilk are a great example of this.

Huckabee's statement doesn't make sense, not that this surprises me.

[Skittles]

27. my standards are higher than those of any religious piece of shit

unlike them, for the good I do I don't expect some kind of stupid payoff in the end - I do good because it is the right thing to do - PERIOD

[Beetwasher]

29. Exactly

You don't have threaten me w/ going to hell in order for me to be a good person.