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The former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee on Sunday continued to lead the Republican charge against the supreme court’s legalisation of same-sex marriage, predicting civil disobedience in response to Friday’s ruling.

“I don’t think a lot of pastors and Christian schools are going to have a choice,” the 2016 Republican hopeful said, in an appearance on ABC.

“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.”

On Saturday, speaking at the Western Conservative Conference in Denver, Huckabee compared the situation for opponents of same-sex marriage to that facing the nation when the 1857 Dred Scott decision said black people could not be US citizens. Regarding that case, he said, Abraham Lincoln, the president who won the civil war and ended slavery in the US, chose to disregard the court’s ruling.

On Sunday, Huckabee recruited another icon of the civil rights movement to make his argument.

“They will go the path of Dr Martin Luther King,” he continued, “who in his brilliant essay the letters from a Birmingham jail [sic] reminded us, based on what St Augustine said, that an unjust law is no law at all.

“And I do think that we’re going to see a lot of pastors who will have to make this tough decision. You’re going to see it on the part of Christian business owners. You’ll see it on the part of Christian university presidents, Christian school administrators.”

Huckabee also repeated his characterisation of the supreme court decision as “judicial tyranny”, an approach he previously compared to that of King George III towards the colonies before the American revolution.

Responses from other Republican presidential hopefuls have varied – if only in how they have expressed their opposition to the concept of same-sex marriage.

Outright opponents include Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal – who on Friday suggested “let’s just get rid of the court” – and Texas senator Ted Cruz, who has backed a constitutional amendment to overturn the court decision and institute elections for supreme court justices. Cruz, who was once a clerk for the supreme court, also supported county clerks refusing licenses to same-sex couples.

Such refusals and other delaying tactics were implemented with official approval in Texas, Louisiana and elsewhere on Friday, although in Texas one Dallas County clerk ignored official views and began marrying same-sex couples.

On Sunday, Texas attorney general Ken Paxton released a lengthy opinion in opposition to the supreme court ruling. In an accompanying statement, he said the court had “ignored the text and spirit of the constitution to manufacture a right that simply does not exist”.

“Texas must speak with one voice against this lawlessness,” he said, “and act on multiple levels to further protect religious liberties for all Texans, but most immediately do anything we can to help our county clerks and public officials who now are forced with defending their religious beliefs against the court’s ruling.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Michael Robinson and his partner of 14 years, Earl Benjamin, right, hold hands in New Orleans on Friday as they wait – fruitlessly – to be married. Photograph: Chris Granger/AP

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Other leading Republicans, however, including former Florida governor Jeb Bush, the leader of most polls regarding the 2016 primary field, said they supported traditional marriage but thought citizens should abide by the law of the land.

Another pragmatist, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, appeared on NBC on Sunday.

“I don’t believe there is any chance for a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman,” he said, adding that a call for such action in the Republican election platform for 2016 – it was included in 2012 – would hurt the party’s chances.

Graham added: “Accept the court’s ruling. Fight for the religious liberties of every American.”

Jim Obergefell, plaintiff in the case which prompted the supreme court’s decision, also appeared on ABC.

Asked if he had a message to Huckabee – who later said he was “deeply moved” by Obergefell’s comments and said he understood “his personal passions” – and other opponents of same-sex marriage, he said: “Well, I would simply like to say, think about your brother, your son, your sister, your daughter, a dear friend.

“If one of them were gay, they would still be the same person. You would still love them.

“And wouldn’t you want them to enjoy the same rights that you do and that everyone else in this country does? We’re simply asking to be treated equally and fairly and to enjoy the institution of marriage and to be able to commit to the ones we love.”