The only three preachers I’m aware of who have run for president. They are all Baptists.
Now I’ve been noticing that Huckabee’s name has never been prefaced by the title “reverend” in the media (that I’ve heard", though I can recall countless times hearing of Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend Al Sharpton. I thought perhaps Jackson and Sharpton had congregations while Huckabee no longer has, but I can’t find anything to confirm that.
I googled “Al Sharpton” 1,120,000 hits
“Reverend Al Sharpton” 87,200 hits
“Jesse Jasckson” 1,690,000
“Reverend Jesse Jackson” 23,900
“Mike Huckabee” 1,440,000
“Reverend Mike Huckabee” 2,300
Its pretty clear that although Huckabee has gotten the same amount of attention on the internet, He seems to get an order of magnitude less reverence than the other two.
Is that because he’s white ?
Is that because titling retired preachers is passe ? (Mike’s attention is more recent")
Is it because he is a Republican ?
For Jackson and Sharpton, the ministry is essentially their main occupation and it’s an honorific they use for themselves. Huckabee is a [rofessional politician, not preacher and “Governor” is a better title. He also does not typically refer to himself as “the Reverend Mike Huckabee,” and so it does not get picked up by the media as a normal form of address for him.
A lot of well-known white preachers do get called “Reverend,” if the ministry is their primary occupation (Billy Graham, for instance).
“Republican” has fuck-all to do with it. So does race.
Pat Robertson has no official affiliation with any church. He technically no longer holds any clerical role or title (though he once did). He’s just a televangelist. He’s not really “Reverend” any more than the judge of a pie eating contest is “Honorable.”
Though I cannot find a cite, I recall that Sharpton changed his affiliation to Baptist some years ago. It was on the local news in New York at the time.
The disparity between Rev. Huckabee’s Google score and those of Jackson and Sharpton is due mostly to the number of times Jackson and Sharpton, as ministers, got involved in newsworthy issues. Did Rev. Huckabee lead a march for anything? Did he call a press conference to express outrage about anything? There ya go, right there.
