When secular “progressives” encounter people of faith, they are stunned. For journalists, in particular, you can nearly hear the condescension dripping from their questions. “Haven’t you ever thought you might be, you know, a little backward and stupid?” That kind of exchange took place between The Huffington Post and a 2016 presidential candidate. The reporter asked Mike Huckabee if he ever thought he might be wrong about the existence of God. The question is supposed to cause the dumbstruck Christian to admit that, in his intellect, he has had doubts. Instead, the former Baptist minister confessed his faith without apology. “I’m not a person who has doubted God,” he answered in calm and sure tones. “I would more likely doubt the existence of clouds…God is much more real to me than the clouds, or anything else.” He adds that his faith “is not abstract. It’s not just something mentally that I believe in. It’s something that I’ve truly felt, experienced in my whole being and life.” That does not mean he has disengaged his mind from his Christian experience. He goes on to say that he studied the underpinnings of his beliefs — the reasons why he should believe — and the logical conclusions they demand. The Scriptures tell us, “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (I Peter 3:15). Whether he becomes the nominee or not, Mike Huckabee passed that test.
