Posted on 02/14/2005 8:12:49 PM PST by HAL9000
Arkansas governor, first lady promote covenant marriage on Valentine's Day
Thousands of couples renewed their marriage vows Monday night along with Gov. Mike Huckabee and first lady Janet Huckabee in a Valentine's Day ceremony supporting the state's four-year-old covenant-marriage law.
"There is a crisis in America," the Republican governor told a crowd of 6,400 in Alltel Arena. "That crisis is divorce. It is easier to get out of a marriage than (to get out of a) contract to buy a used car."
Before the renewal of vows, the Huckabees converted their 30-year marriage to a covenant marriage. Huckabee, dressed in a dark business suit, and his wife, in an ankle-length, long-sleeved red dress, stood before Pulaski County Clerk Pat O'Brien while he stamped the paperwork converting their marriage.
Huckabee then kissed his wife on the cheek while the crowd roared its approval and gave the couple a standing ovation.
The Huckabees then repeated their vows to one another, but before the governor kissed the first lady again following the exchange of vows, he asked all of the couples to face one another and renew their vows as well. The men repeated the words of the governor, and the women repeated the first lady's words.
Many of the couples in the crowd looked into each other's eyes. Some began crying, and many held hands. Afterward, most of them kissed - including the Huckabees.
Earlier, some women clutched roses and most held hands with their husbands as they listened to speakers. One woman wore a veil during the event that was dubbed the "Arkansas Celebration of Marriage."
The couples heard three speakers in addition to Huckabee and gospel music star CeCe Wynans.
"There is a difference between a contract promise and a covenant," Rabbi Daniel Lapin told members of the audience, who clutched copies of the state's covenant-marriage contract that were passed out at doors to the arena.
"A covenant involves a third party. A covenant involves God," Lapin said.
The state Legislature passed the covenant marriage law in 2001, and between 2002 and 2004, 768 couples have either chosen or converted to covenant marriages according to the Arkansas Department of Health's Vital Records Division. But in the same period, 111,938 couples were married in Arkansas and less than one percent of them chose covenant marriages.
Arkansas is the third state with a covenant marriage law. Arizona and Louisiana have similar laws. Under the law, couples voluntarily enter into an agreement to get counseling before they get married and before they seek a divorce. A covenant marriage contract also would require a two-year wait before a divorce becomes final, except in cases of adultery, abuse or imprisonment for a felony.
Arkansas' marriage rate is nearly double the national average - 15.1 per 1,000 population compared to the national rate of 8.3, but the state's divorce rate is among the highest in the nation, at 6.5 per 1,000 population, according to the governor's office. The national average is 4.2.
While Huckabee spoke about the merits of marriage, a group in the back of the arena raised bedsheets bearing the message, "Queer Equality Now." Huckabee ignored the message, but those in the crowd who noticed stood and cheered Huckabee's words.
Outside of the arena before the ceremony, about 100 people waved signs in support of gay marriage while chanting, "Separate Church and State" and "Equal Rights Now."
Opponents of covenant marriage argue against government involvement in a religious ritual and question whether provisions would trap abandoned spouses in a marriage without spousal or child support.
One couple attending the event, Ina Martin-Mobbs, 79, and Fred Mobbs, 85, sat in the front row dressed in their best, and held hands. The Russellville pair said they met at a dance last year, and were married five weeks later.
"I saw her and two ladies walk in the door, and I said 'That's her,'" Fred Mobbs said. "I called my sister in Dallas and said, 'I found me one.'"
The couple said both of their first spouses had died, and they came Monday night to celebrate their new union.
"Our marriage is so new, and we're so happy," Ina Martin-Mobbs said. Other couples, "their marriages will be enriched by a coming-together like this."
At a news conference afterward, Huckabee said he and his wife wanted to send a message.
"We hope to say to others, 'marriage is tough, but it's best to work through those difficulties,'" he said.
Huckabee said the event cost $65,000, all of it paid by private donations.
But he said it would not have been inappropriate for public funds to have been spent on the event.
"If taxpayers knew how much we spend on broken marriages, they'd be begging us to spend more to keep them together," he told reporters.
Have a nice honeymoon!
I'd be perfectly happy if I never heard the phrase "Arkansas governor" again, thank you.
True, but at least this time it says REpublican Arkansas governor. And this one respects his marriage vows. This is a nice change to me. :)
Huckabee is the governor that said a bill denying social monies and voting rights to illegal aliens is "race baiting and demagogury", even questioned those that sponsored of being false christians. It is nice though that he is remarrying his wife, it makes for good publicity, when you are for the process of lifting wallets to give to people that break the law.
this is a very nice post for St. Valentine's day. I think Mrs. Huckabee is quite daring to wear a red dress, I like it!
The government needs to step OUT of the marriage business.
By our Constitution - IF a law is passed it MUST apply to everyone equally!
You don't want homosexual, pedophile, or bestial marriages?? Tell the federal govt to step out and keep out of it and let the people decide as they always have here in the U.S.A. There would be NO NEED for any federal law and especially NO NEED for a Constitutional Amendment.
Our Constitution was not written to tell the citizens "You may not..." It told the GOVERNMENT "YOU WILL NOT...!"
Funny how most of this garbage began with the creation of the I.R.S. and the other socialist systems in our frderal govt.
According to Gov. Huckabee, illegal immigrants are already prohibited by law from voting here, and the only money they receive is what is required by federal law - except for public school education.
I've been asking how much taxpayer money would be saved if S. 206 passed, but noone has provided an answer. Do you know?
One last thought on the "state religion" ...
As Antonio Gramsci laid out back in 1919 in his outline on how to destroy the western civilization ...
< snip >
...E. Both Capitalism and Judaeo-Christian culture must be destroyed before a Communist revolution can succeed
......1. Religious sentiment cannot be destroyed through legislation, as Lenin believed, but must be redirected from the divine to the state
< snip >
......2. Infiltrate religious academies and become priests and clergymen
.........a. Subtly promote heresy within religious organizations
.........b. Infiltrators must act so as to discredit the church
............(1) Cause financial and sexual scandals
............(2) See that this is given a high profile in the news
< snip >
......3. Once religion is discredited from within, continuously promote the idea that only the state can solve the problems that have been traditionally brought before the church
< snip >
When the state destroys the Church - then the State becomes the church. - - - Ergo: Covenant Marriage.
Bet he has a bunch of ILLEGALS manning the punch bowl. Ya know, those jobs that Americans won't do.
Arkansas passed a Marriage Amendment to the state Constitution last year. That article defines who can get legally married here.
I must be getting tired...I thought it read 'Gov. Mike Huckabee and First Lady Janet Reno
I'd love to see a picture of her in the dress. I love red dresses.
One of my favorite dresses ever was the most beautiful shade of red. But my nephew spilled coke all over it and I never did get it out.
Made me sad. :-(
Thanks Hal. Her suit is pretty. I'm glad they did this.
My red dress was midcalf length and the neckline was a very pretty, not trashy, plunging V. Just enough revealing to be nice, not (very) naughty.
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