NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Thousands of couples joined Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and first lady Janet Huckabee in renewing their wedding vows at a Valentine's Day ceremony supporting the state's voluntary covenant-marriage law that makes divorce harder to obtain.
"There is a crisis in America," the Republican governor told a crowd of 6,400 at an arena Monday night. "That crisis is divorce. It is easier to get out of a marriage than (to get out of a) contract to buy a used car."
Before the Huckabees renewed their wedding vows, they signed legal papers converting their 30-year marriage to a covenant marriage. Organizers of the event did not ask other couples to convert their marriages.
Under the 2001 Arkansas law, couples getting a covenant marriage agree to seek counseling before they wed and before they seek a divorce. A covenant marriage also requires a two-year wait before a divorce becomes final, except in cases of adultery, abuse or imprisonment for a felony.
Huckabee kissed his wife on the cheek while the crowd roared its approval and gave the couple a standing ovation. The Huckabees then repeated their marriage vows to one another.
The governor then asked all of the couples to face one another and renew their vows as well. The men repeated the words of the governor, and the women repeated the first lady's words.
Many of the couples in the crowd looked into each other's eyes. Some began crying, and many held hands. Afterward, most of them kissed — including the Huckabees.
"There is a difference between a contract promise and a covenant," Rabbi Daniel Lapin told the audience. "A covenant involves a third party. A covenant involves God."
The state Legislature passed the covenant marriage law in 2001, and between 2002 and 2004, 768 couples either chose or converted to covenant marriages, according to state records. In the same period, 111,938 couples were married in Arkansas.
Arkansas is the third state with a covenant marriage law. Arizona and Louisiana have similar laws.
Opponents of covenant marriages argue against government involvement in a religious ritual and question whether the law's provisions would trap abandoned spouses in a marriage without spousal or child support.