Rick Perry is coming to Fort Worth on Sunday to sign two bills - one restricting abortions and one to set the vote on a definition of marriage agreement.
He's going to sign both of those bills in the Calvary Cathedral, a church which has had a problem with separating politics from religion in the past.
"Most Texans get it," Perry said in response to a question about the audacity of signing these bills in church. "The two issues talk about values. A church is an appropriate place to come together and celebrate a victory for the values of the people of Texas."
Values? What kind of values does Rick Perry hold dear? As long as we can label them
Christian values, they're okay with Rick.
I hope all Texans will feel welcome Sunday at Calvary Cathedral.
Gov. Rick Perry is going to the church to sign bills restricting abortion and setting a vote on a definition-of-marriage constitutional amendment.
Sounds like this will have less to do with praise than with politics.
We're about to see an awful lot of the governor between now and March. He's running for re-election against possible opponents from Austin and Dallas, so he's lobbying to line up conservative church support from Fort Worth.
Even for a governor who says bluntly that he thinks the United States was founded "on Christian faith," it's audacious to bring a public ceremony into a church.
Perry doesn't see it that way.
I asked him Wednesday at another bill-signing ceremony inside Lockheed Martin Aeronautics, where a workers compensation compromise was somehow signed into law without any political pitch for "values."
Asked about the choice of a church, he first said: "I try to go to church on Sunday."
He called Calvary Cathedral -- one of the largest churches in town, the home of the private-school Calvary Academy Conquerors -- a "great setting" for a bill signing and said he hopes for a "large and boisterous" crowd.
"Most Texans get it," he said, belittling the question. "The two issues talk about values. A church is an appropriate place to come together and celebrate a victory for the values of the people of Texas."
No question that most Texans think a parent should have a say-so over a minor daughter's abortion.
There might be more disagreement over whether to constitutionally limit the use of the word marriage. Some Texans think love and commitment are also worthwhile values.
I'm not the only person surprised that Perry would bring a bill-signing to a church.
Cal Jillson, the oft-quoted political science professor at Southern Methodist University, called the signings "extraordinary" and "over the top."
"There is no question that the Republican Party, nationally and in Texas, is the home of the Protestant fundamentalists and Christian conservatives," he said. In other words, the "values voters" who stuck with President Bush in 2004.
"But" -- he paused for emphasis -- "the idea of taking bills passed in the Legislature into a church to sign them into law, instead of in the Texas Capitol or the governor's office, seems unusually political. And unusually inflammatory."
You can read the article in its entirety here
Two problems I have with this move:
- If the Jewish and Muslim people of Texas wanted to view Rick Perry signing this bill, they'd have to go to a Christian church to do it. Perry thinks the United States was founded on Christian faith. Evidently he thinks that Texas should have been founded on Christian faith as well. If these are bills for all Texans, it would have been more appropriate to sign the bills in a more secular location.
- This is one of the most blatant political bootlicking moves I've seen from a politician in years. He's looking to line up conservative church support in Fort Worth, of which there is a plentitude. But conservative churchgoers aren't stupid, and don't like to be manipulated.
Me, I think I'll vote for Kinky. Why the hell not?