Huckabee expects civil disobedience in response to SCOTUS gay marriage ruling

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee slammed the Supreme Court’s historic ruling on same-sex marriage, suggesting Christians will have no choice but resort to civil disobedience in order to follow their faith.

“This case wasn’t so much about a matter of marriage equality, it was marriage redefinition,” Huckabee said on ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” Sunday. “And I think people have to say, ‘If you’re going to have a new celebration that we’re not going to discriminate [against], may I ask, are we going to now discriminate against people of conscience, people of faith who may disagree with this ruling?’”

The 2016 Republican presidential hopeful was asked if he was recommending those who disagree with the court’s decision engage in “civil disobedience.”

“I don’t think a lot of pastors and Christian schools are going to have a choice,” Huckabee said. “They either are going to follow God, their conscience and what they truly believe is what the scripture teaches them, or they will follow civil law. They will go the path of Dr. Martin Luther King, who in his brilliant essay the 'Letter from a Birmingham jail’ reminded us, based on what St. Augustine said, that an unjust law is no law at all.”

Huckabee said Christian county clerks should be excused from issuing same-sex marriage licenses.

“If they have a conscientious objection, I think they should be excused,” he said. “I’m not sure that every governor and every attorney general should just say, 'Well, it’s the law of the land because there’s no enabling legislation.’”

Huckabee argued that liberals would do the same if the tables were eventually turned.

“If we get a future court that is conservative and that conservative court decides that this was a mistake and we’re going to go back to traditional marriage and we’re also going to say that every unborn [person] is, in fact, a person and is absolutely guaranteed due process and therefore we would strike down the idea of abortion from conception forward,” he said, “is the left going to be OK to let the Supreme Court make that decision?”

Huckabee launches his 2016 bid in May. (Photo: Mike Stone/Reuters)

He added: “When the president lit up the White House the other night with rainbow colors, I guess that’s his prerogative. If I become president, I just want to remind people: Please don’t complain if I were to put a nativity scene out during Christmas and say, you know, 'If it’s my house, I get to do with it what I wish despite what other people around the country may feel about it.’”

Of course, Huckabee isn’t the only 2016 hopeful speaking out on the issue.

“My view of marriage is based on my Christian faith — no earthly court’s decision is going to change that,” Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. “I think it is wrong for the federal government to force Christian individuals, businesses, pastors, churches to participate in wedding ceremonies that violate our sincerely held religious beliefs. We have to stand up and fight for religious liberty. That’s where this fight is going.”

“The only alternative left for the American people is to support an amendment to the U.S. Constitution to reaffirm the ability of the states to continue to define marriage,” Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said in a statement Friday.

But South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said that would be a mistake.

“You can put it in the platform, but it will, in my view, hurt us in 2016, because it’s a process that’s not going to bear fruit,” Graham said. “What I want to do is protect the religious liberties of those who believe that opposing same-sex marriage is part of their faith. So no, I would not engage in the constitutional amendment process as a party going into 2016. Accept the court’s ruling, fight for the religious liberties of every American.

Slideshow: Gay Pride parades across the country >>>

"If I’m president of the United States, here’s what would happen,” Graham said. 'If you have a church, a mosque, or a synagogue, and you’re following your faith, and you refuse to perform a same-sex marriage, because it’s outside the tenets of your faith. In my presidency you will not lose your tax-exempt status. If you’re a gay person or a gay couple, if I’m president of the United States, you will be able to participate in commerce and be a full member of society, consistent with the religious beliefs of others who have rights also.“

On CNN’s "State of the Union,” Donald Trump was pressed about his support of “traditional marriage” when two of his ended in divorce.

“What do you say to a lesbian who’s married, or a gay man who is married, who says, 'Donald Trump, what’s traditional about being married three times?’” Jake Tapper asked Trump in an interview that aired Sunday but was conducted ahead of the Supreme Court’s ruling Friday.

The Republican presidential candidate conceded they would “have a very good point.”

Trump said his first two wives “were very good” but he was too busy building his real estate business.

“I don’t blame them, but I was working … 22 hours a day,” he said.