First, whose God and which standards? In our incredibly pluralistic religious landscape, we Americans worship many different Gods and some worship no God at all. Our Constitution should not be amended to permit the majority — even a super-majority that would be required to amend the Constitution — to pick and choose the preferred God and the proper standards. When it comes to religion, what the majority thinks doesn’t matter.

Second, much of what God requires — at least as I, a Baptist minister, understand it — can readily be implemented under the Constitution. While the Establishment Clause protects against passing “religious laws,” many of our laws reflect morals found in our religious tradition. For example, laws prohibiting murder, theft and bearing false witness are perfectly constitutional, as well as embodying three of the Ten Commandments in the Jewish and Christian tradition. We can (and sometimes do) pass laws that help the poor, the homeless, the hungry — to do the work required by Jesus’ teachings. These laws have a demonstrable secular purpose, and they do not have the primary effect that advances or inhibits religion. They reflect broad moral principles that do not require adherence to a particular interpretation of “God’s standard.” In this sense, an amendment would be unnecessary.

Third, I believe God wants us to come to faith freely and voluntarily — without compulsion or restriction. Both of the First Amendment’s religion clauses and Article VI’s ban on religious tests for public office already ensure that freedom. An amendment seeking to ensconce God’s law guts protections for religious freedom and establishes a theocracy or something close to it. This would fundamentally alter America as we know it. It would also undermine the religious freedom that we enjoy and that has served to make this country one of the most religious and the religiously diverse nations on the face of the earth. Such an amendment, paradoxically, would undermine the religiosity that Gov. Huckabee presumably wants to promote.

Finally, and importantly, the amendment would thwart the right of upwards of 30 million American citizens not to be religious. Without freedom from religion — at least state-sponsored religion — we can not truly have freedom of religion.

So, yes, Rev. Huckabee, the preacher, is free to try to Christianize American culture; but Gov. Huckabee, the candidate, should not seek an amendment to try to establish a Christian government. Heaven forbid.