I wondered what angle Rick Perry was gonna go for his campaign to be Vice-President. Remember one thing about his run, this is for the Vice-President's office because he is to bone lazy to be President. Forget about being qualified, he just doesn't have the work ethic ever to lead our nation.
Heck, his other ethics are quite questionable, too. This brings me to his rather odd God and Pony show known as "The Response". Now, before we go any further, I am one of those white buffaloes known as the Christian Left. Not just any domination either, I am of a little known group known as Freethinking Lutheran.
We're so liberal we make Adlai Stevenson look like Pat Buchanan. What really chaps our hide is when politicians bear the cross and start to blur the line of church and state. Now, Rick Perry can do whatever he wants, but what he is not allowed to do is lie about it.
Texas Gov. Perry draws criticism on prayer event
By MANNY FERNANDEZ and ERIK ECKHOLM, The New York Times
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...
AUSTIN, Tex — When Gov. Rick Perry invited fellow governors to join him on Aug. 6 for “a day of prayer and fasting on behalf of our troubled nation,” some speculated that he was trying to raise his national visibility for a possible presidential run.
Absolutely not, said Mr. Perry, a conservative Christian who described the event, to be held in a Houston stadium, as an “apolitical Christian prayer service” to provide “spiritual solutions to the many challenges we face in our communities, states and nation.”
Whatever the goals, his plan has drawn strong protests from advocates for the separation of church and state, who say an elected leader should not be leading what looks to be, in effect, an evangelical Christian revival. Gay rights groups are also objecting because Mr. Perry placed the event in the hands of conservative religious groups that not only oppose gay marriage but also stridently condemn homosexuality.
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Mr. Perry rejected the accusations of exclusion. “It is Christian-centered, yes, but I have invited and welcome people of all faiths to attend,” he said in an e-mail on Friday.
This is outrageous, according to the The Response, this is what you need to believe to attend:
http://theresponseusa.com/...
1. We believe the Bible to be the inspired, the only infallible, authoritative Word of God.
2. We believe that there is one God, eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. We believe in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, in His bodily resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and in His personal return in power and glory.
4. We believe that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.
5. We believe in the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.
6. We believe in the resurrection of both the saved and the lost; they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.
7. We believe in the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.
This not only excludes any other religion, it also excludes many other Christians. This is a very hard-right Evangelical line on faith. Besides the Holy Trinity being rolled all into Jesus, this set of belief says anyone who doesn't believe exactly American Family Association believes are destined for damnation.
Speaking of the American Family Association, these people are very anti-gay, in fact they are listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. Nothing says Christian compassion than saying members of the LBGT community are the reason for anything that goes wrong in this country. They are the ones who promote the "culture war" against LBGTs and actively support boycotts against any company or organization that lives in the modern times.
Besides their bigoted ways against citizens in our secular country, the American Family Association is also responsible for American Family Radio. Remember those people? The ones who used the Rapture to ruin countless lives and fleece their flock of their life savings?
Why Rick Perry would align himself with the Rapture is beyond me, considering the election will take place well after the October end of the world deadline promoted by the American Family Association.
This sort of using Christianity to fleece people of money has always pissed me off. The American Family Association and Rick Perry are no different than the old tv preacher taking the pension check of some old lady least God call them home. These are the sort of people Rick Perry has tied his wagon to.
Totally shameless of Rick Perry to align himself with a hater and money changers in the temple
Then he lies and says Muslims and Jews are welcomed? Seriously? Could you imagine if a group of Muslims tried to attend this day of Rick Perry getting up on the cross?
Besides the base morality surrounding the group, the political aspect is a devil in the details. Rick Perry is having his God and Pony show a week before the Iowa straw poll. While he claims that is total coincidence, this is all just an obvious ploy to appeal to the far-right Republican Christians in Iowa.
If people say, well, let's give ol' Hot Tub Hero Rick Perry the benefit of the doubt, let's check The Response's own web page:
http://theresponseusa.com/...
David Lane
Fundraising Director for The Response
David Lane educates and energizes pastors to mobilize their congregations to vote their faith. In 2010 he organized pastor meetings in key battleground states resulting in a significant increase in voter turnout. He often says, "What I do is spiritual. The by-product is political."
Wayne Hamilton
Event Coordinator
Wayne Hamilton is the founding partner of San Jacinto Public Affairs. Hamilton was senior aide to Congressman Joe Barton as well as serving three State Chairmen. He served as Governor Rick Perry’s Executive Director of the 2003 and 2007 Texas Inaugural Committees and currently working with events and consulting for the Governor in Austin, Texas.
Yeah, no politics here!
I hope that as this event gets closer people start to question more about the hard-line hate filled rhetoric of the American Family Association and Rick Perry.
Does the AFA believe any Christians who don't follow their dogma are destined for damnation?
Does Rick Perry believe the Rapture was invisible, as said by American Family Radio, ran by the American Family Association?
Does Rick Perry believe in the culture war against LGBT that the American Family Association wages?
Does Rick Perry believe in tolerance and compassion, and if so, what in the hell is he doing with the American Family Association?
We should all demand these answers out of Rick Perry.