Friday, July 1, 2011

Rick Perry playing evangelicals with prayer rally?

Rick Perry may run for president. I may vote for him if he does. He would be preferable to many of the GOP candidates and infinitely preferable to the present occupant of the White House.

But my radar is up on politicians who start marshalling the evangelical Christian vote and I'm getting a pretty strong reading on Perry. Not that other politicians aren't capable of the same but I just hate to get the feeling that evangelical Christians are just another voting bloc to be wooed, cajoled, and romanced into one politician's camp.

I started getting fwd:fwd:fwd emails last week about Perry's big prayer meeting - evangelical notables pumping 'our kind of guy' and all that. I'm all for prayer. I'm perfectly willing to grant the benefit of the doubt to him. I'm not questioning his sincerity in the prayer meetin'. Maybe it just looks like the governor has started to strum the evangelical strings as a prelude to declaring his candidacy.

There are critics. Some far more harsh than anyone quoted in this article: Perry's upcoming prayer event draws sharp criticism

So, this is merely Plodder pondering on the Perry prayer pow wow. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Perry, if he had thought of it, would have called for a mass prayer meeting back when Obamacare was passed, or when the Congress was furiously spending our grandchildren's trillions rather than when it's time to fish or cut bait on running for president in 2012.

Maybe the funny feeling I'm getting over this is too much sun, sugar, and cholesterol.

Hope so...

14 comments:

stephen fox said...

William: Presheate your good sense on the Prayer Ralley. Wish you woulda linked or otherwise worked in the Brian Kaylor report from Ethicsdaily.com on the Ruth Graham and Bob Reccord and Dallas Jeffress event couple weeks ago targetting President Obama for defeat.
I know I may be nauseating some folks with my repeated reference, but the Dan Williams God's Own Party book endorsed by Mark Noll among others is must reading for serious students of this matter. I have long thread in SBC trends at Baplife.com if any body wants to pursue.
Would be grand reading for Howell Scott and David Miller, not to mention Richard Land.
Be careful with the BBQ Monday

Anonymous said...

William,

There is just no way I would vote for Perry. He's as slick a snake as they come. He's tried to ram rod his road to nowhere down our throats. He wants it built by a company from Spain (who's board he sits on), not giving it to a US company. With one hand he said he didnt want the bail out money, while accepting it with the other. The guy is just a slime ball.

However, if he did run for President...IT WOULD GET HIM OUT OF TEXAS!!!!!

Ok, now I'm cnflicted.

Tim Dahl

Anonymous said...

I have no problem with your concern but I would hardly accept as authoritative a report from the Austin bureau of anything. Liberals hate it when conservatives take a stand in churches but see nothing wrong with it when Obama and every black politician in Texas are always in churches trumpeting their causes.

On the other hand, I would hardly want to associate myself with the American Family Association and their bigots so I share your concern. Its kind of like the Democratic party leadership on one hand and the AFA on the other.

What are we to do as believers? Run and hide or work to elect Godly men and women to govern our country.

Anonymous said...

Are there any ethics concerns with Perry rewarding his 'friends' ? What is actually known, if anything.

Perry was recently called to a meeeting with the Koch Brothers. Also invited were the governors of Virginia and Florida. The Koch brothers connected also to the governor of Wisconsin.
I'm not comfortable with any candidate for office who is answering to the Koch brothers, so I likely would not be able to support Perry for President.

William Thornton said...

Perry is about as well known around here as Pawlenty or Huntsman. I know nothing about what he has done in Texas. I've just seen too many politicians, and Christian organizations like AFV do a cattle call for evangelicals.

Glad to know there's so much love in the Lone Star state for your guvnor.

Anonymous said...

We do love him down here and would vote for him again in a second--and so would all my family and the vast majority of our friends. He's not what the liberal press paints him to be and he's done a dang good job here in our state.

K Gray said...

Is anyone else calling us to prayer and fasting? Church leaders? Maybe so, and I'm woefully unaware of it. Or maybe there's a leadership void into which a politician, for whatever motive (we don't know and I won't speculate) steps.

Many Texans love Perry, and some love to hate him. He represents red-state success relative to other states. So, Texas is a target for progressives, and Perry is the target of targets. The idea he may enter the presidential race motivates stepped-up attacks on Perry.

Anonymous said...

Thank God I live in a red state and may Perry have prosperity and success in all that he undertakes. He has served us well here in Texas.

Jonathan said...

One reason that this type of thing is a concern might be because of the methods that evangelical (especially conservatives) leaders have used to rally other evangelicals. Maybe its that we don't like being used...because we've been used by big talkers within our own camp too often.

Anonymous said...

And of course there are no big talkers within the liberal camps? They have the exact same problems as conservatives but just call it by different names.

William Thornton said...

The reason I wrote this piece on Rick Perry is not because of any of his issues, or his record. He may be the best candidate. I don't know.

I just hate to see Christian groups and individuals promote a candidate as "our" Christian candidate and I hate to see a politician seem to use a religious exercise, a prayer rally ostensibly for the state of our nation, for what appears to be a strictly political purpose.

I don't agree with Weldon Gaddy on much but I agree with his statement that his objection to the prayer event comes out of his "not wanting religion to be prostituted for political purposes."

David Montoya said...

Perry has used the Christian community in Texas and will do so again. He treats the church like a cheap date with the expectant results.

David Montoya said...

From BaptistLife.com

The Christian Governor of Texas -- Rick Perry -- made over $1,000,000 in 2007, and, according to his 1040, gave $90 of it to his church.

Jonathan said...

William said, "I don't agree with Weldon Gaddy on much but I agree with his statement that his objection to the prayer event comes out of his 'not wanting religion to be prostituted for political purposes.' "

Just for fun, Google "Weldon Gaddy" and "Social Justice" and see where he seems quite alright to prostitute religion for political purposes.