ROWAN COUNTY, KY, September 4, 2015 (LifeSiteNews) – Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee will hold a rally to protest the arrest and imprisonment of a Christian county clerk who refused to issue gay “marriage” licenses to homosexuals, saying the arrest shows that Christian persecution has come to America.
The rally, which he dubbed #ImWithKim, will be held in Kentucky on Tuesday, his campaign announced today. Further details will be forthcoming, as the event is still being planned.
“Having Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity in our country,” Gov. Huckabee said following the arrest for contempt of court, which took place Thursday afternoon.
“This is a reckless, appalling, out-of-control decision that undermines the Constitution of the United States and our fundamental right to religious liberty,” he said.
“Who will be next? Pastors? Photographers? Caterers? Florists?” he asked.
His rally is similar to the “Rally for Religious Liberty” held in Iowa by Huckabee's 2016 Republican presidential rival, Sen. Ted Cruz. The Texan senator invited Dick and Betty Odgaard, Barronelle Stutzman, Kelvin Cochran, Aaron and Melissa Klein, Philip Monk, and Blaine Adamson to join him in Des Moines – along with Nagmeh Abedini, the wife of Pastor Saeed Abedini, who is being held in prison in Iran.
Sen. Cruz also expressed his support for Davis. “Those who are persecuting Kim Davis believe that Christians should not serve in public office,” he said. “This is wrong. This is not America.”
“I stand with Kim Davis. Unequivocally.”
Religious liberty has been a longstanding concern of both Cruz and Huckabee, who draw largely from the same constituency of evangelical and conservative Christian GOP primary voters.
