In the wake of the horrific shooting at Emmanuel African Methodist Church in Charleston, S.C., presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee said Christianity is the ultimate tool for achieving “true racial reconciliation” in America during “Meet The Press” Sunday. (RELATED: Karl Rove Says Only Way To Stop The Violence Is Repealing Second Amendment)
CHUCK TODD: If you were president of the United States today, and we have this racially motivated massacre that took place in Charleston, but we’ve had some social unrest as well — a trust issue between African Americans and law enforcement — how would you be addressing this today, if you were president?
HUCKABEE: I think the best way to address it is the way we’ve seen from the church members at Emanuel AME Church. If you look at the pastor who was murdered, it occurs to me that here is a shepherd who laid down his life for his sheep, the greatest example of Biblical love, of Christian spirit , and when you hear the family members — as we heard in that very powerful interview earlier — it reminds us that Christianity is no this cartoon-ish, contemptible, laughable faith that people today try to marginalize.
It is a powerful force of healing and reconciliation, and I know there are many people in our culture who don’t want people to bring faith into the discussion. Chuck, after watching that family and seeing the members of this church in court the other day I would say that most Americans stand back in awe and maybe would understand that it is precisely faith that would help this country have TRUE racial reconciliation.
Let me just add this personally. When I was a young pastor in my twenties, I stood in front of what had been an all-white church — this is well over 30 years ago — and I welcomed the first African-American member to that church. I had death threats. There were people that said they would leave the church, but instead I held my ground and said if he goes, I go. The result was our church grew exponentially, and even though people said they would cut off their giving, the very next month we had a record level of giving in that church. Sometimes it just takes courage to stand up and call out something to be evil.
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