Playing politics with God

That's what Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee did the other night in Washington. Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister, took the stage before President Bush delivered a pretty good speech to Republican governors who gathered for a fund-raiser. When Huckabee's cellphone rang, he pulled it out and pretended to have an extended conversation with God.

Maybe you had to be there to appreciate the joke. Via C-Span, the humor quotient was low. On the other hand, the arrogance factor appeared high. Who needs voters when the representative of one political party believes he can talk directly to the almighty?

And conservatives consider liberals arrogant?

During the "conversation," Huckabee said that while he knew the Lord couldn't take sides in a partisan way and support Bush, "We're behind him, yes, sir, we sure are." He also made a reference to taking care of "family" and "marriage" for God.

The next day, Bush backed an amendment to the Constitution that would ban gay marriage, a move that is generally viewed as an effort to satisfy the conservative base of the GOP, including the religious right.

Humor is in the eye and ear of the beholder. What makes you laugh can turn me off, and the opposite is true as well. The same principle applies to religion, at least it should in a country founded on the principle of separation of church and state.

Worship as you please or don't worship at all. Talk to God in your church, temple, or mosque, or in the woods while walking your dog. Live your religion as you see fit; don't expect me to live mine as you see fit.

And if you are a politician, please don't tell me, even in a joking way, that you know what God is thinking when it comes to the November presidential election. Behind the joke is a genuinely unfunny political strategy.

Despite the sanctimonious rhetoric, injecting God into American politics is not done for any high moral purpose but for the crassest of motives: to win votes. It comes down to pushing a hot button or driving a wedge -- choose your political cliche -- for the sole purpose of lathering up one constituency on behalf of a particular candidate.

In calling for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, Bush said the union between a man and a woman is "the most fundamental institution of civilization" and cannot be separated from "its cultural, religious, and natural roots." The state already does separate marriage from its religious roots; a divorced Catholic, for example, may remarry in a civil marriage ceremony that is not recognized by the Catholic Church. This civil marriage confers all the legal rights and benefits of religious marriage.

Gay rights advocates have an agenda, for sure, but they don't usually argue that it's about God, although they could. Why is it so far-fetched to imagine God's unhappiness about denying civil rights to any man or woman?

Besides, if you believe in the Lord, you might believe he is already disgusted with the overall tenor and direction of the 2004 presidential campaign. It's petty on both sides, between the Bush AWOL charges and the effort to paint John Kerry as a lewd intern-chaser. The official campaign rhetoric is already far from lofty, from the Democrats' "bring it on" to that old Republican standby, "soft on defense." The below-the-radar commentary is worse. Turn on a conservative radio program and the talk about the alleged slippery slope from gay marriage to marriage between man and beast is regularly chortled over in the most mean-spirited fashion.

If the presidential campaign continues along this path, God may end up telling some people to vote for Ralph Nader -- or just stay home and pray on Election Day.

In the meantime, God might also consider advising the country to read a good book rather than help Gibson make money off blood, guts, and Jesus Christ.

Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com.