We can’t say it surprises us that a man who thought of using tax payer dollars to start a Government endorsed “day of prayer” in Texas is making an even harder push again to bring church into state, that’s exactly what GOP Presidential hopeful and Texas Gov. Rick Perry is attempting to do.
Perry told his followers this weekend that they must ignore the “politically correct police” and that he and god’s followers must make a “biblically charged” push into the public arena.
During a speech in front of 90 Methodists at First Wesleyan Church he said:
“In the world today, we get often told — particularly people of faith — that you leave your faith at the door or on the steps of a public arena, as those that I refer to as the ‘politically correct police’ who say you can’t bring your faith into public arena.”
Perry went on to note:
“You will be criticized. Do not be intimidated,” Perry said. “Somebody’s values are going to decide the issues of the day. Whatever they may be, whatever policies are being discussed in city council meeting or on the school board or at the state capitol or in our nation’s capital. Somebody’s values are going to be installed, if you will. The question is going to be, whose values? Is it going to be those of us of faith or is it going to be somebody else’s values?”
While the speech was not a radical departure from Perry’s “my religion is way better than your religion” rhetoric he did manage to stay away from claiming that President Obama was waging a “war on religion” a message he has used to almost no success over the last several weeks.
At the conclusion of his speech the churches Pastor Denis Bachman thanked Perry for his stand against separation of church and state and then pointed to the church lawn sign which reads:
“We’re not afraid to say Merry Christmas around here.”
The scary part of Perry’s rhetoric is that he classifies “those of us of faith” as “those of us of Christian beliefs” while completely ignoring a large and ever growing presence of non-Christian Americans.
Do you believe separation of church and state is an important part of our countries makeup?
[Image via Christopher Halloran / Shutterstock.com ]
CORRECTION: This article incorrectly stated that Pastor Denis Bachman and his followers “marched out into the street” with signs when in fact the pastor simply pointed out that the sign “We’re not afraid to say “Merry Christmas” around here” existed on the churches lawn. Our original source also stated that he claimed Santa Claus didn’t exist, a mention that was not included anywhere in the churches full text sermon. Our apologies go out to Pastor Bachman and his entire congregation.