I was listening to Freethought Radio today and Annie Laurie Gaylor gave quite the strong appeal for support for their suit against Texas Governor Rick Perry’s prayer rally. I finally did my due diligence and spent 90 seconds looking at Perry’s website and found that FFRF is fully justified in their lawsuit. I made the mistake of assuming that Perry was smart and responsible enough to not issue an official proclamation or have his office issue a press release to promote The Response.

Perry’s official proclamation says the following (note: I skipped the preamble; emphasis his):

THEREFORE, I invite my fellow Texans to join me on August 6 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, as we pray for unity and righteousness – for this great state, this great nation and all mankind. I urge Americans of faith to pray on that day for the healing of our country, the rebuilding of our communities and the restoration of enduring values as our guiding force.

THEREFORE, I, Rick Perry, Governor of Texas, do hereby proclaim August 6, 2011, to be

A Day of Prayer and Fasting for Our Nation

in Texas, and urge the appropriate recognition whereof.

In official recognition whereof, I hereby affix my signature this the 23rd day of May, 2011.

RICK PERRY
Governor of Texas

A press release from the Governor’s office says the following (emphasis mine):

Gov. Rick Perry has proclaimed Saturday, Aug. 6th, as a Day of Prayer and Fasting for our Nation to seek God’s guidance and wisdom in addressing the challenges that face our communities, states and nation. He has invited governors across the country to join him on Aug. 6th to participate in The Response, a non-denominational, apolitical, Christian prayer meeting hosted by the American Family Association at Reliant Stadium in Houston. Gov. Perry also urged fellow governors to issue similar proclamations encouraging their constituents to pray that day for unity and righteousness for our states, nation and mankind.

Perry has officially proclaimed a day of explicitly Christian prayer and utilized his position, office, human and other resources to promote this event. He is also officially aligning himself with the anti-gay American Family Association, identified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.

This proclamation and event doesn’t even feign the ceremonial deism that has been used to defend legislative prayer, the National Day of Prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the National Motto. He is not only crossing the line in terms of the separation of church and state, but clearly marginalizing the atheists, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, pagans, LGBT, and any other non-heterosexual and/or non-Christian Texans with this abuse of his office.

I’m not sure that I completely agree with the direction of FFRF’s lawsuit. Yes, there definitely needs to be a lawsuit, but I’m not sure they’re suing for the right thing. I know it’s a pipe dream, but it would be nice if the Texas legislature censured or impeached Perry for this egregious violation of the constitution.

What’s scary is that Perry may run for president and has a decent chance at the GOP nomination.

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I’ve updated the previous posts on this topic.