Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who is exploring a bid for the presidency in 2016, wrote a column called "RAPture Express" as a high school senior and college freshman for the Baptist Trumpet, the weekly newspaper of the Baptist Missionary Association of Arkansas.
BuzzFeed News previously reported on his columns that were published in 1973. Huckabee also wrote the column in the year 1974 and 1975, the best of which have been included below.
The articles paint a picture of Huckabee as very much involved in the ministry (he would become a Baptist pastor) and covers topics such as gays, drinking, pot, how to dress, and Watergate.
"It's a column that I wrote for the Baptist Trumpet newspaper. It was actually even before I went to college, I was writing it when I was a senior in high school. I was 17 years old and I wrote this weekly column in the newspaper and it was sort of an advice column for teenagers who were believers," said Huckabee in a radio interview discussing BuzzFeed News' first story.
"So the term the 'Rapture Express' came from the very popular term in the 70's for 'rap,' meaning to converse and of course rapture was something we were all talking about in the 70s. So much talking about the second coming. But anyway, I did this so, BuzzFeed, I don't know how they got em', I'm not sure, don't really care, but they found sets, a whole selection of the columns I wrote, on which I discussed things like dating, dancing, smoking, I mean all sorts of issues that would be relevant to a 1973 teenager. Cause that's when it was, 1973. I was 17."
Here are the highlights:
On "Short Skirts!": "Some of the newer fashions include the very-low cut dresses on girls, extremely tight pants on guys, as well as the halters, bra-less looks on some girls...Don't make the temple of God look like some trashy slum-house."
On young people who drink: "The young person who drinks is to be pitied. Not from a pious view, but a compassionate one. The way of the drinker is destruction."
On gays: "One often hears people talk of homosexuality as a disease, or a psychological problem. Now homosexuality may in fact be both, but it remains a sin, and needs to be acknowledged before God as such if any lasting cure is to be found."
On The Exorcist: "I am not going because I don't feel like spending $3.00 to support a movie that contains violence, profanity, and perversion."
On gun control: "To outlaw guns would be a poor solution in curbing crime. Guns don't kill people -- people kill people."
On a man wearing a beer t-shirt: "Here's a guy that a week ago was telling the congregation of people how much Jesus meant to him...and yet, here is the same guy advertising to the world that this particular beer will give you 'High Life.'"
On Christians and politics: "To me, if the politicians would apply the principals of Christianity and if Christians would employ the fervor and dedication of the politicians then the world that you and I live in would be a lot better."
On drinking during intermission at the theater: "I am personally against the use of alcoholic beverages for the simple reason that it does a lot more harm than good for people who think think they have to have such."
On graffiti: "Something that disturbs me somewhat is when I see junk scribbled over the walls of a public washroom. In past, this junk...has been pretty well limited to phone numbers of wild girls (supposedly) and various four-letter obscenities..."
On long hair: "I know the letters against things like outward appearances alienate many young people and makes them feel that the church is against them. I just want to say that it is not against you, young person."
On Watergate and Nixon swearing: "Even while we point fingers at the White House in anger and disgust, we as church people in America need to recognize the monkey that has been placed on our backs..." as a result of Nixon's swearing.
On Nixon's pardon: "Many will say that Nixon was never proven to be a criminal...but one must assume that when a man accepts a pardon, he does so due to guilt..."
On guidelines for Christian television: "Simply refuse to watch or allow your family to watch trash shows. You’ve got to draw the line somewhere."
