So today is Texas governor and putative Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry’s big day of prayer and fasting where he and a motley collection of evangelical religious bigots get together to pray for Jesus to save the nation. One of his key allies in this event is IHOP (no, not that one, this is the International House of Prayer) whose theology is based on the Book of Revelation, the nuttiest book of the Bible which is highly popular with the rapturites.
The signs so far are that the response has been less that overwhelming with only about 8,000 reservations (as of Thursday) for a stadium that can accommodate 71,000. What is worse for Perry, he invited all his fellow governors to attend and it looks like none will, since even the most bigoted politician has enough sense to not want to be associated with what promises to be a hate-fest.
In addition to the evangelicals’ open hatred of homosexuality, one of the interesting features is what lurks beneath the surface, a dislike of everyone who is not ‘born again’. And that includes Catholics and Jews. For example, the church that Michele Bachmann attended was vehemently anti-Catholic. She formally left it this summer and says that she has not attended for two years though it is not clear what church she has been going to, since she refuses to answer.
Ever read about the lawsuit against prayer at Texas High School football games, circa 2001? The lie was that the prayers were “spontaneous” when they were in fact organized. And the prayers weren’t for winning or not getting hurt, the prayers were worded to attack and insult those in the community who weren’t fundamentalist christians.
The plaintiffs who filed the lawsuit were catholics and mormons, those deliberately targeted by the prayers. As well, the plaintiffs filed as “Johns and Janes Doe” out of fear. The defendant school districts repeatedly filed to have the plaintiffs’ names released. The judge eventually relented, and within two days of the release, the plaintiffs were victimized with obscene phone calls, death threats, and vandalism against their homes.
It seems nothing changes in Texas: if you don’t share their narrow and narrow minded religious views, you’re seen as the “enemy”. Why do people believe that collectivism is only limited to communists?
Perry’s rally should be termed a “rally of peace”. It would be as accurate as the last rally that was named as such, in 1939.
P Smith,
Thanks for reminding me of that case. I actually wrote about this 2000 Santa Fe v Doe case in my book, God vs. Darwin.
I did not focus on the issues you raised about the hateful treatment of the plaintiffs because they were not central to my book, though.