Mike Huckabee Once Preached Against Alcohol, Sex, and Monty Python

Mike Huckabee preaches against sex, alcohol, monty python
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Long before presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee called Natalie Portman a slut and compared homosexuality to swearing and drinking, he was spreading his version of the holy word as a young Baptist preacher in Arkansas. According to a newfound sermon from 1979, he was already busy fervently condemning all that our “pleasure-mad” society had to offer at the time.

Among the vices the 25-year-old Huckabee railed against? The devil’s drink, aka alcohol:

It’s a sad thing but it’s true in this country: 10,000 people a year are directly killed by alcohol in this country. Ten thousand. But we license liquor. There’s one person a year on average killed by a mad dog, just one. But you know what we do? We license liquor, and we shoot the mad dog. That’s an insane logic! But it’s what’s happening, it’s because we love pleasure more than anything else. A lot of times we look around our society we see this problem we see pornography and prostitution and child abuse and all the different things that we’re all so upset about. You know why they’re there? You know why they’re in the communities? You say “because the Devil”—they’re there because of us.

The pastor also had a bone to pick with Monty Python’s Life of Brian. Upon its release, the ’70s flick drew criticism from both Christian and Jewish communities. However, judging by Huckabee’s strong words, it seems the movie holds a special place on his own sh*t list:

There was a time in this country when a movie like The Life of Brian which, I just read—thank God the theaters in Little Rock decided not to show, but it’s showing all over the Fort Worth–Dallas area, which is a mockery, which is a blasphemy against the very name of Jesus Christ, and I can remember a day even as young as I am when that would not have happened in this country or in the city in the South.

But friend, it’s happening all over and no one’s blinking an eye, and we can talk about how the devil’s moved in and the devil’s moved in but what’s really happened is God’s people have moved out and made room for it. We’ve put up the for sale sign and we’ve announced a very cheap price for what our lives really are. We’ve sold our character, we’ve sold our convictions, we’ve compromised we’ve sold out and as a result we’ve moved out the devil’s moved in and he’s set up shop. And friend [he’s] praying on our own craving for pleasure.

He also lamented the fact that “an x-rated theater can open up down the street from a church.” After some 30 years, many of his stances remain mostly unchanged. Remember, this is the same guy who legitimately believes that Jay Z has been “pimping” Beyoncé.

(Via Mother Jones)

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