Agreed.
Okay.
Now, let the games begin...
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Texas Governor Rick Perry, expected to enter the Republican race for the White House within weeks, offered a prayer for America on Saturday at a controversial religious rally that put the spotlight on his Christian faith.
Perry, who has made his religious beliefs a big part of his public image, urged an enthusiastic crowd at the seven-hour gathering to pray for President Barack Obama and other U.S. leaders.
"Father, our heart breaks for America," said Perry, who hatched the idea for the rally and brushed off heavy criticism for participating.
"We see discord at home, we see fear in the marketplace, we see anger in the halls of government. As a nation, we have forgotten who made us," Perry said in a prayer offered to a crowd estimated by organizers at more than 30,000 people.
The event was named "The Response" and billed as a day of prayer for a nation in crisis. It also gave Perry a national platform to sharpen his appeal to religious conservatives who play a big role in the Republican nominating race and have been unhappy with the current crop of contenders.
Sponsors of the rally included the American Family Association, whose leaders have condemned gays and Muslims, and the International House of Prayer, founded by an evangelist who warns celebrity Oprah Winfrey is a pastor in a Satan-inspired religion.
It also drew prominent religious conservative leaders such as Focus on the Family head James Dobson and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council.
Critics condemned the event for excluding non-Christian faiths and blurring the boundary between church and state, as well as affiliating with controversial fringe religious groups and leaders.
"Governor Perry achieved his goal today -- he drove almost every religious right leader and group into his corral," said Reverend Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
Perry is poised to enter the 2012 Republican presidential race in the next few weeks. He already has shot into the top tier of contenders in opinion polls.
At the rally in Houston's cavernous 70,000-seat Reliant Stadium, home of the Houston Texans professional football team, Perry discussed his faith, read scripture and said a prayer.
"We know the greatest darkness comes just before the morning," he said in a 12-minute appearance, adding God was wise enough to avoid affiliation with any political party.
"His agenda is not a political agenda. His agenda is a salvation agenda," said Perry, who was criticized for blending politics and religion in launching the prayer rally.
'A CAMPAIGN PROP'
"This isn't the first time we have seen Governor Perry use a religious gathering or house of worship as a campaign prop," said Kathy Miller, executive director of the Texas Freedom Network, a nonpartisan watchdog on far-right religious groups.
Perry closed the event by saying he hoped it would begin a national renewal and "our willingness to stand in the public square" would inspire others to seek God.
The rally had a mix of Christian rock, testimonials and scripture from pastors and children, as well as numerous calls to end abortion but little other overtly political rhetoric.
Participants said they were praying to heal a troubled nation and politics was not their concern. Many in attendance, who came in church buses from throughout the region, praised Perry for leading the effort.
"He was brave enough to stand up and say, 'Hey, we've got to pray for the nation.' He's the governor but he's a Christian man," said Lonnie Lavender, a pastor at the War Cry Prayer Ministry in Venus, Texas.
Eddie Ellis, a delivery service owner in Conroe, Texas, who bused to the event with about 50 parishioners from his church, said Americans needed to "wake up."
"Perry is a politician but he says we've got to pray. He hits the right keys," Ellis said.
Perry invited all of the nation's governors but Republican Sam Brownback of Kansas was the only one to attend. Florida Governor Rick Scott, also a Republican, sent a video message.
The event was broadcast on the Internet to more than 1,000 churches around the country, sponsors said. Organizers draped black curtains behind the stage to hide empty seats, although the crowd was larger than predicted earlier in the week.
Perry's emphasis on his Christian faith could be a drawback in a general election when it could turn off moderates and independents, along with those of non-Christian faiths.
The aforementioned, previously agreed upon to be avoided 3 notwithstanding, there is, I think, an honest middle ground here that deserves some thoughtful conversation.
Because a knee jerk recitation of the 3 oversimplifies the matter.
And dismisses a reasonable question.
What's wrong with bringing God into the process?
After all, there's not a human being, possessed of any amount of common sense and/or intelligence who could convincingly dispute that we mere mortals have made a pretty marvelous muckety muck of it all.
And the whole notion that we must blindly and, without exception, adhere to the strictest letter of the law intended by the 3 has a few cracks in its metaphorical mortar, given that we are a society based on the freedom to express our religious beliefs, not to mention that "In God We Trust" is posted on everything from our currency to the walls of legislative chambers from Denver to Dakota to DC.
And let's not forget Kate Smith and/or Lee Greenwood's mass appeal.
Also, let's keep in mind that the founder's documented intent was not to prevent religion from being a part of the political process but the prevent government from interfering with religious freedom.
Ergo, the 3.
All of that said, here's where this theological work in progress thinks the wheels come off the wagon when it comes to the kind of "God Save The Republic" approach taken by Mr. Perry and his followers.
Our system of government, frustrating and flawed as it admittedly can be, is built from a template that includes checks and balances, points and counter points, a set of circuit breakers, so to speak, that while not stopping the lights from flickering frantically from time to time have, to date, prevented anyone from blowing the place up with too much power, regardless of their personal agendas and/or interpretations of the law.
Religion, as a practiced concept, on the other hand, has no such circuit breakers. What God says, goes. And that would be fine if God showed up, for example, once a week on God TV to give us an update on how we're doing, what we're doing right and what still needs a little, or a lot of, work.
If He threw in weather on the eights, we'd further laud and magnify....
Absent that, we are left with interpretations of God's wishes offered up by the aforementioned flawed mere mortal human beings who, for good or evil, right or wrong, sincere or psychotic, inevitably and unavoidably have a personal agenda.
Even the more dubious among us are willing to concede that God ultimately has our interests at heart.
Rick Perry?
Michele Bachmann?
Et al?
Maybe oui.
Maybe non.
God only knows.
And until we have a little better read on whether it's oui or non, the prudent move is to continue giving the passionate, fervent, cut no slack, take no prisoners proselytizers of God's holy word free reign behind the pulpit of the neighborhood church and/or synagogue.
And not a podium in the East Room at 1600 Pennsylvania.
The founders pondered the pitfalls and prepared powerful preventatives with just 3.
Church and state.
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