How do we arrive at God’s standards? By relying upon the Hebrew scriptures, the New Testament, the Qur’an, the Upanishads, the Dhammapada? Candidate Huckabee seems to have some implicit standard in mind, likely the Christian scriptures. However, all Americans do not subscribe to Christianity, and even for those who do, differences of interpretation complicate attempts to know “Gods standards.”
If one relies upon a deductive method of determining God’s standards for moral behavior, a static view of human nature emerges. All one has to do is know what God wants and apply it to the human situation. However, competing theories, derived mostly from the social sciences and social philosophy, do not view humans as static. Thus, [moral] standards evolve with the development of society and the individual, that is, “some contemporary view” in Huckabee’s words.
While some of those who crafted the Constitution may have held religious views, the Constitution was not designed to articulate, impose, or enforce God’s standards. It is a civil, not a religious, document. Huckabee’s suggestion that we amend the Constitution to reflect God’s standards is problematic. Is it God’s standard that everyone should worship God? If so, how? And what about Americans who do not believe in God? Is it God’s standard that slavery should be reintroduced since the Bible can be interpreted as condoning the practice? Should homosexuality be outlawed?
We cannot change God’s standards, as Huckabee suggests Americans are doing. God’s standards are God’s standards. However, God’s standards are not only not easily interpreted; they are not easily identified and stated univocally in the first place. The problem arises when we try to determine and to state in specific terms God’s standards. Different revelations indicate different standards. Should we punish offenders with stoning, as some interpretations of Islam hold? Does God condone or abhor capital punishment? It depends upon the interpreter of God’s law. I don’t want the legislative branch of the government to act as my theologians or biblical exegetes. Even the experts in these fields often come to different conclusions. Religions disagree on theological and ethical claims. But their role is to study, ponder, question, debate, and teach religion. The state is not in the religion business. We should not amend the Constitution to align it with God’s standard because even religious persons cannot agree on what that standard would be.
Huckabee may have said it better had he advised that we need to amend our lives, not the Constitution. We don’t need the Constitution to tell Americans what God requires of them. For that many have their respective religions.
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