We have been putting pressure on former Governor Huckabee for the last few weeks through our campaign, and as Pastor Dan noted its time to take it up a notch.  This is especially true since we finally heard from Huck PAC’s Executive Director Sarah Huckabee in regards to two simple questions:

1. Will you affirm the Christian faith and the American principles of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness by signing the Evangelical Declaration Against Torture?

2. Will you require the candidates supported by your PAC to take a stand against torture?

In my multiple efforts to get these easy questions answered by Huck PAC and Ms. Huckabee (the Governor’s daughter for anyone keeping score) my final response from them was:

My dad does not fill like it is appropriate to sign a pledge since he is not a candidate but he is against torture. Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

First, there are so many things to take issue with on this statement from the Executive Director.  I will ignore the typo of fill, which should be feels, because I have my fair share of them as well.

Yes, Mr. Huckabee is not a candidate, as of now.  But in a few short months he could very well be John McCain’s running mate for the White House as he campaigns with McCain.   We deserve to know more details and to have a pledge from a potential VP candidate when it comes to torture: a heinous act that has been used by the current administration.

Regardless of Mr. Huckabee’s candidacy, his new political action committee places him within a distinct leadership position within his party, his followers as well as a new leader in the Christian Right.  Mr. Huckabee’s influence has far reaching potential to be a great leader on this moral issue, an issue that also addresses the sanctity of life that so many in the Christian right pride themselves on.

He is raising money and doing appearances for candidates that have supported the use of waterboarding as I have demonstrated before.  Instead of taking the moral high ground and ask them to end their support of this practice in order to gain his backing he has opted to stay silent.

We are calling on him to publicly support the Evangelical Declaration Against Torture by signing onto the statement through a petition.  His leadership would be instrumental in bringing about real change in a bipartisan manner.  Because this should not be about which political party you belong to, it’s a matter of standing up for what is right.

We ask that you join us by asking Mr. Huckabee to also sign on.  You can do so by signing and submitting the petition.  The more people that do it the more they will know how much we care he joins us.  But Mr. Huckabee would not just be teaming up with: Leith Anderson, Rich Cizik, Joe Carson, Rev. Randall Balmer, Joel Hunter, Becky Garrison, Brian McLaren, David Neff, Chrstine Pohl, and hundreds of others.

I will leave Mr. Huckabee with the challenging words of David Gushee to take a stand:

I believe that no evangelical leader has moral credibility who does not oppose torture unequivocally. I invite Governor Huckabee to sign our "Evangelical Declaration Against Torture" and to help end evangelical ambivalence about this issue. Based on statements he has made on this issue, I am hopeful he will do so. That will be real moral leadership!

So sign onto the petition, make your voice heard, and press Mr. Huckabee to show some real moral leadership.

Cross posted at Faithfully Liberal.