June 10, 2005

IS TEXAS PARTISAN?:

Location of Bill-Signing Is Seen as Grounds for Protest in Texas: Gov. Perry is to hold today's ceremony at a church-run school, riling advocates of the separation of church and state. (Scott Gold, June 5, 2005, LA Times)

Advocates of the separation of church and state are protesting Texas Gov. Rick Perry's plans to hold a bill-signing ceremony on the grounds of a conservative evangelical church. One bill restricts abortion; a second calls for a ban on same-sex marriage.

The event is scheduled for today at a Christian school run by Calvary Cathedral International, one of the largest churches in Fort Worth. The church's founder and pastor, Bob Nichols, is to attend, as are national leaders of the religious conservative movement, including Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, sent Perry a letter Thursday asking him "in the strongest terms possible" to change the venue. In an interview, Lynn, who is a United Church of Christ minister, called the event a "grotesque misuse of religion for a clear partisan political advantage."


Except that they are laws of the state of Texas that he signed, not just Republican proposals, so, by definition, not partisan.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 10, 2005 11:34 PM
Comments

From what we have witnessed this week, I would say the Democrats and the Left have given up vying for religious voters altogether.

What was this called? A strategic wedge?

Posted by: Randall Voth at June 11, 2005 11:02 AM

I'd be delighted to be in Governor Perry's shoes and have Barry Lynn yelling at me like this. What an honor.

Posted by: Matt Murphy at June 11, 2005 11:56 AM

It's amusing that our liberal friends decided to hand Rick Perry some free publicity on this one.

Because all they really did was amplify his message to social conservatives, whom he needs firmly on board if he is going to head off a primary challenge by Kay Bailey Hutchison. And on social issues, they'd much rather have Governor Kay than Governor Rick.

So in raising such a stink over this, the libs probably just helped Perry's primary chances. Funny.

Posted by: kevin whited at June 12, 2005 10:40 AM
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