America is not a Christian nation in more ways than one.

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The Reverend Jerry Falwell was apparently a warm and loving person to those who met him. He looked that way –as if one would like a big bear hug from him. But, alas, I believe he preached a divisive and even dangerous form of Christianity. From where I sit, his is a legacy of finger pointing and judgment that is not the Good News as I hear it.

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Okay, he was speaking to "values voters" in Michigan. Even so, Mike Huckabee's insistence that God's values are enshrined in the Bible neglects the fact that the Bible does not speak with one consistent, clear voice. Even on the issue Huckabee was clearly speaking about in Michigan --the "definition of marriage"-- there is little consistency in the Bible. What is the Bible's definition of marriage? Most marriages were not those many would want to emulate, and Jesus was not a family man at all, though he deliberately created a new kind of family among his disciples.

While those of us who are Christians derive our deepest values from the overarching message of love and justice that we find in the Bible, our neighbors of other faiths have deep and world-shaping values that come from God's word, heard in their own traditions. Indeed, in a land of many faiths, values voters come from every religious tradition, and there are also values voters who have become quite disgusted with all religious traditions and consider themselves ardent secularists. The arena we share is the constitutional covenant we hold as citizens, not the sacred texts of our respective faiths.

The Christian right does not have a monopoly on values. That a candidate for President would suggest amending the Constitution to bring it in line with a narrow and sectarian understanding of Christianity would be appalling to our founders. We have a sturdy and cherished constitution precisely to guard against moves toward the kind of theocracy Huckabee suggests.