Former Arkansas governor and ex-presidential candidate Mike Huckabee told a large audience at Abba's House in Hixson on Sunday that freedom is not the right to do what you want, but what you should, and without fear.
"The degree of government is directly proportionate to the degree of our unwillingness to live by a moral code that is written into our hearts," Huckabee said during the church's All American Day service as the congregation cheered and clapped in agreement.
He gave the example of two towns, one with low crime rates and one with high. He said the one with more crime would be more expensive to live in because the cost of jails and policing would drive taxes up, while the town with no crime would not have "a lot of people in government telling you what to do because they don't have to."
In a telephone interview Thursday, the former Fox News commentator said the church's All American Day is "not intended to be political or partisan, but inspirational about what is right with America and how each of us have a responsibility to be the salt and the light in the context of our culture."
The morning service began with a medley of patriotic songs from the Abba's House orchestra and choir, with Fourth of July-themed streamer cannons fired into the congregation. Senior associate pastor Ronnie Phillips Jr. welcomed elected officials in the audience, including U.S. Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, R-Tenn.
"We are thankful that he is safe and that Scalise is on his way back to health," Phillips said in reference to the June 14 shooting in which Rep. Steve Scalise was wounded during a congressional baseball practice. Fleischmann, a member of of the GOP team, injured his arm and side diving away from the gunfire.
Phillips' father, senior pastor Ron Phillips, also welcomed Huckabee.
"When Governor Huckabee first ran for president, he had our 100 percent support," said the elder Phillips. "Then when he got on the Fox channel, I knew it was more than just a television program. He has been promoted to, I believe, a prophetic role. And as a prophet to the nation, he was able to declare the Judeo-Christian values that made our nation great."
Huckabee is the father of Sarah Huckabee Sanders, White House principal deputy press secretary. He opened his speech with jokes about how he's recognized these days as "Sarah's father."
Sanders' profile has risen since she conducted numerous White House press briefings in recent weeks.
"I'm very proud of her," Huckabee said in the Thursday interview, adding that he thinks the media treats President Donald Trump and the people who work for him differently than they did other administrations.
"She handles herself with extraordinary poise. She knows full well she's walking into that room, and she might as well be Lady GaGa wearing the meat dress walking into the zoo and heading into the lion's cage."
" You have these people who are looking for the opportunity to do theatrics and get on the news and make a name for themselves," as opposed to off-camera briefings, in which he said reporters ask "more serious questions because there's nobody there to record them making a spectacle of themselves and trying to become the story."
He said he respects the media's First Amendment right to publish what they wish, but added journalists should understand the president has no obligation to "help load a gun that is pointed at his head" by disclosing information that is not "necessarily helpful to [Trump's] administration or agenda."
Huckabee said he is "unapologetically conservative" but believes the best politics are not horizontal (left vs. right), but vertical. With a vertical view of politics, he said, the issue is not one party against the other, but whether policies will make things better or worse.
"If you're in the middle of the game, it's OK to be horizontal," he said. "But if you're elected, you need to see things vertically. Will it take us up or down?"
For example, Huckabee said Republicans need to be more concerned with how their policies affect the nation's well-being.
"I think there is more to conservatism than saying we're going to cut taxes," he said. Past administrations boasted about not raising taxes, he noted, but "they didn't stop spending money at an alarming rate, increasing the debt and the deficit" for the next administration.
He said politicians should not only be concerned with how much taxes people pay, but how they are spent.
Trump's base of support depends heavily on conservative Christians, but Huckabee, a Southern Baptist minister, said Christians are not one-dimensional and it should not be assumed they hold common beliefs when it comes to anything from musical tastes to politics. He said it has a lot to do with the person's personal political values.
"It doesn't mean that a person who has a different point of view is any less of a Christian," he said. "That would be completely irrational and very inaccurate of how the faith of a Christian works."
Despite Trump's campaign promises regarding the Muslim ban and the recent enactment of the temporary travel ban from six Muslim-majority countries, Huckabee said he thinks the president's policy positions reflect respect for the Christian community.
He said Trump has a "great respect for religious liberty, for people of faith; he believes the government shouldn't dictate the boundaries of what a person believes, as long as it doesn't, in some way, impede the rights of other people."
Huckabee said he finds the respect for religious freedom to be refreshing.
"I'm not saying he himself is a leader in faith - I'm not sure he could find John 3:16 in the New Testament," he said. "But you didn't elect him to be your pastor. You elected him to be your president."
Contact staff writer Rosana Hughes at rhughes@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6327. Follow her on Twitter @HughesRosana.