Mike Huckabee: National Hero of Faith

According to this flyer [PDF] posted on Vision America's website, Mike Huckabee is scheduled to headline VA's "Heroes of Faith Gala" in August where he will receive the "National Hero of Faith Award": 

Vision America's President Rick Scarborough, who is among the most radical of Religious Right leaders, served on Huckabee's Faith and Family Values Coalition when he was running for president.

And Steve Hotze is another ultra right-wing Huckabee supporter who not only bankrolled the anti-gay attacks against Houston mayor Annise Parker but also happens to believe that disease is caused by sin: 

Hotze was able to better articulate his views in 1986, when he was one of dozens of ministers, professionals and laypersons who signed the Coalition on Revival's Manifesto for the Christian Church. The coalition claims on its Web site to be a national network of religious leaders aligned in a mission "to help the Church rebuild civilization on the principles of the Bible so God's will may be done on earth as it is in heaven." They want all aspects of life -- government, science and education -- to adhere to fundamental biblical beliefs. These beliefs include the following:

• A wife may work outside the home only with her husband's consent

• "Biblical spanking" that results in "temporary or superficial bruises or welts" should not be considered a crime

• No doctor shall provide medical service on the Sabbath

• All disease and disability is caused by the sin of Adam and Eve

• Medical problems are frequently caused by personal sin

• "Increased longevity generally results from obedience to specific Biblical commands"

• Treatment of the "physical body" is not a doctor's highest priority

• Doctors have a priestly calling

• People receiving medical treatment are not immune from divine intervention or demonic forces

• Physicians should preach to their patients because salvation is the key to their health

• "Christians need better health to have more energy, tolerate more stress, get depressed less often, and be more creative than our non-Christian counterparts for the advancement of God's Kingdom."

As I said yesterday, I have spent a lot of time chronicling Huckabee's ties to the radical Religious Right fringe and I'd hate to see it all go to waste if he decided not to run for president in 2012.