Community | August 06, 2011 | 84 comments

Governor Perry holds prayer meeting today at Reliant Stadium in Houston

source: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=8292695

JanforGore
How much is this event costing the tax payers while the state bakes in its most severe drought and farmers lose money to failing crops and dying livestock? People of Texas wake up. You are not being led by a leader but an Elmer Gantry looking to be president who will do anything to get there. As a Christian who believes in compassion and not using a situation as a selfish opportunity to appease ambititons I think what he is doing is irresponsible and anything but Christian -like. Where is his leadership on this drought? Climate change denial Kills.
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84 comments // Governor Perry holds prayer meeting today at Reliant Stadium in Houston

  • cmc101
  • Wyley_Wombat
  • wally60
  • marcy73
  • sharin
  • coolplanet
    • 0
      coolplanet  
    • sharin:

      Yes. A few weeks ago Climate Progress ran the headline: “Texas Drought Now Far, Far Worse Than When Gov. Rick Perry Issued Proclamation Calling on All Texans to Pray for Rain“ (7/15/11).

    • 10 months ago
  • bike10
  • EdJoyProductions
  • gypsysailor
  • Ashley_Byrd
  • Richard_Wyatt
  • HarukoHaruhara
  • Ashley_Byrd
    • +4
      Ashley_Byrd  
    • Image

    • (general warning, this is a long-ass post. I didn't mean to make it this long, I just kept typing. If you don't want to read it, it's okay)

      I'm not going to lie: Some times I do hope and wish for the best when faced with a difficult situation. I guess some time will call that prayer. But I don't pray to a higher power or as I like to call it "Sky Daddy."

      To think that Sky Daddy is punishing people, namely people of the U.S.A. of various things(take your pick), is childish, completely immature, and they think that's the only reason why natural disasters happen.

      The old saying "Bad things happen to good people" also pisses me off. Bad things happen to people, period, regardless of their moral compass. "Sky Daddy does these things to test us." Really? So people are saying that they know what Sky Daddy's will is? Oh wait.. They can't know what Sky Daddy's will is because Sky Daddy works in 'mysterious ways'. So what is it? It CANNOT be both.

      And never forget the different denominations of Christianity. They're basically worshiping the same Sky Daddy but they all do it in different ways because they think that's how the Sky Daddy truly wants it to be.

      What about people that pray for something positive to happen to them, like for instance, a sports team wanting a victory? Both sides pray for a victory, but one(usually) wins. Does that mean Sky Daddy hates the other team and wanted the better team to win? How does that make any sense?

      In times of trouble, we all look for a way to make it all make sense. We always ask the "Whys", "How could this have happened?" I guess saying that Sky Daddy works in mysterious ways works a hell of lot better than "Some times, bad shit happens for no reason." You can work hard all of your life, try to make a positive mark on your life or your families life and it still doesn't work out. Life. Isn't. Fair. That's all I can say.

      Prayer doesn't absolve people of their responsibilities. We can only hope that we tiny human beings can overcome anything. My grandmother is old school Methodist, I'm not. She doesn't treat me negatively, she still loves me. She loves me NOT because Sky Daddy and his Book tells her to. She loves me because she's my grandmother, and I love her too. She doesn't think I'm a horrible person for not believing in a Sky Daddy. She's kind of neutral about it actually.

      If someone tries to get up in my face about Christianity I usually shoot back, "Do you do good things to appease your Sky Daddy with the hopes of going to some place in the clouds or because it genuinely makes you happy and you can deal with not being praised about it?" No one has yet to give me answer.

    • 10 months ago
  • meesh76
    • +2
      meesh76  
    • Ashley_Byrd:

      ashley--this was an excellent, long ass post. People are afraid to confront facts. It is so easy to have someone or something to blame when shit in life don't go as planned. Hence, Sky Daddy. You hit the nail on the head with your graphic--Tell someone who is hungry to pray, they can stay in prayer all day, all week, but if they don't get their asses to the store, or to the kitchen then they surely will not eat. I always tell people about the stuff that they have in their own Bible, which there is a verse that states "Ye are all Gods"--to me, that means basically, get off yo ass and get it done. Look inside to find that God like strength, will and tenacity to go on--to go forward. We who are in search of the true god knows it dwells within each of us--we need to tap into each other to find that blessing. The way you and your grandmother seemingly has done.

    • 10 months ago
  • Ashley_Byrd
    • +1
      Ashley_Byrd  
    • meesh76:

      Thanks! A lot of people tell me that I'm a self-centered know-it-all, but I generally do care for humanity. I also weep for it too. We all have free will. What we do with it is entirely up to us. It's hard work. The hard work sucks, it's tiring, and most of the time it doesn't seem like it's worth it. It's only worth it to you. Not anyone else. Grandmom and I butt heads some times but we still make it work. She'd do anything for me, she has raised me since my mother(her daughter) died. I'd do anything for her.

    • 10 months ago
  • gypsysailor
  • Ashley_Byrd
  • demsbeans527
    • +2
      demsbeans527  

    • There is little difference between being a preacher/pastor and a politician. Both put people in position to dupe the public while asking for money. Both are shams.

    • 10 months ago
  • mybologna
    • +1
      mybologna  

    • Rick Perry's followers are not worried about losing their medicare, social security or starting WWIII because they have a mansion waiting for them in heaven. I say if you want to go to heaven soon, have Jim Jones kool aid at the event and leave the rest of us to live in peace.

    • 10 months ago
  • jacksonN
  • notsure
  • coolplanet
  • warman1138
    • +5
      warman1138  

    • If they pray hard enough maybe zombie Reagan will eat their brains and lead them to the promised land.''Oh Lord who art in heaven grant us Zombie Reagan, Amen.'' Oh yeah...Perry's a moron.

    • 10 months ago
  • ThirdSection
  • bike10
    • +7
      bike10  

    • They all believe the world to be flat, the earth is only 5000 years old at the most, the earth is the center of the univerise.

      The final event is when they raise Ronald Reagan from the dead.

    • 10 months ago
  • EdJoyProductions
  • EdJoyProductions
    • +4
      EdJoyProductions  

    • Our father, who might be in heaven
      Rational might be thy name
      Thy creations are nuts
      Rick Perry's a putz
      Please make his penis fall off in front of his minions.

      :: as sung to that tacky 70's version pop song ::

      Amen. :)

    • 10 months ago
  • notsure
    • +1
      notsure  
    • Image

    • Rigby: The right 'Response' would be to look into ourselves for guidance
      By The Rev. Jim Rigby, Local Contributor

      As a native Texan, I'm used to crazy religion and crazy politics. So the announcement of Gov. Rick Perry's plans to attend "The Response," a prayer event set for Saturday at Houston's Reliant Stadium, was not a surprise.

      But as a Presbyterian minister and community organizer, it's part of my job to stand up for my neighbors. The use of the governor's office to promote one religion in a country with such rich religious diversity is obviously unhealthy politics, but, if one takes the Christian and Jewish scriptures seriously, it is also unhealthy religion. Here are five rather important verses of scripture you aren't likely to hear at "The Response":

      Don't make a show of prayer.

      Read More at Link:
      http://www.statesman.com/opinion/rigby-the-right-response-would-be-to-look-16961...

    • 10 months ago
  • Misti
  • wynnmeg61
  • bluestranger
  • EdJoyProductions
  • coolplanet
  • EdJoyProductions
  • squarethecircle
  • JustZ
    • +2
      JustZ  

    • Rick Perry epitomizes the total idiocy of organized superstition. Evolution simply isn't working fast enough to weed these cabbage heads out of nature.

      America is so hosed these days, due largely in part to these kind of disfunctional religious clods ...it makes me sick. If this 2 digit IQ poster child becomes President, that's it; we're moving to Canada.

    • 10 months ago
  • WagonMaster
    • +4
      WagonMaster  

    • In looking over the major participants I notice the usual hate-spewing, flat-earth, anti-gay, anti-po'fo'ks, anti-ethnic minority,KKK'ers in vocal attenance. Makes me really proud to be a born-again Atheist.

    • 10 months ago
  • Progresshiv
  • chew_chew
  • JanforGore
  • Hardytoo
  • TanzaniteDiamonds
  • Progresshiv
  • Progresshiv
  • Progresshiv
  • demsbeans527
  • remanns
  • remanns
    • +1
      remanns  

    • Well, Jesus did ascend,.....and I suppose IS now a sky god,.....

      Hmmm,....still not sure he can pull off the "make it rain" trick like Thor or Zeus or Tlaloc.

    • 10 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +4
      JanforGore  
    • Image

    • http://thinkprogress.org/romm/2011/04/11/207873/texas-record-drought-climate-cha...

      Record drought (amongst the plethora of evidence) yet the entire Texas congressional delegation voted to deny climate change. This was five months ago before we saw this drought get even worse.Those experiencing the worst effects of this need to know that their own delegation cares nothing for their plight. Only preserving their status quo.
      Excerpt:
      "Conditions are likely to deteriorate further. The U.S. Seasonal Drought Outlook issued on April 7th and valid through June 2011 indicates that drought is likely to persist or intensify in Texas.

      By Friday, the Texas Forest Service warned that “critical drought conditions, high temperatures and high winds are combining to create a perfect storm for wildfire.” On Saturday, the Texas Forest Service responded to 16 fires that burned 65,181 acres, and it said in a press release that wildfire weather conditions “could shape up to be among the worst in Texas history“:

      Key weather factors include pervasive drought conditions, sustained winds of 30 – 35 mph – gusting up to 50 mph, high temperatures and low relative humidity. These weather conditions along with record-dry vegetation increase the potential for wildfires not only starting but also spreading quickly.

      After wildfires in late February burned over 88,000 acres and destroyed 58 homes in Western Texas, Texas Forest Service spokesman Lewis Kearney said, “With the drought pattern Texas has had, fire season now is almost running 12 months out of the year. I mean that’s not normal.”

      Unfortunately, it is the new normal. As Forrest Wilder said in February in the Texas Observer:

      While Republicans in Congress, led by members of the Texas GOP delegation, work to defund and defang the EPA, climate change – and the science of climate – marches on. The GOP’s willful suspension of trust in what ever-mounting evidence – and dare I say, common sense? – tells us is happening to the planet is not just short-sighted. It’s reckless."

    • 10 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • mrtraffic
  • mrtraffic
    • +2
      mrtraffic  

    • I just saw on CNN a reporter at the event he stated that he had asked the organizers if this was a Christian event and they said anyone of any faith was welcome to attend. However, he also said that the entire first hour has only offered Christian prayers to Jesus.

      Just thought I would share that.

    • 10 months ago
  • jim_b
  • wynnmeg61
  • remanns
  • WagonMaster
  • cherry5000
  • maasanova
    • +1
      maasanova  

    • I am not supporting Rick Perry, but I think you may be wrong about this being a tax-payer funded event. According the the Advocate, this event is being sponsored by the American Family Association. They are complaining very loudly about that and organizing the militant gay groups in Texas to go and protest the event.

      I also think that Rick Perry would start preaching global warming if he thought it would get him elected, just like he said that he was fine with gay marriage in New York.

      Sarah Palin has believed in global warming before, and according to a February 21, 2010 issue of USA Today, Glenn Beck says that anyone who doesn't believe in global warming is a fool.

      But you're right about one thing, Perry is an actor, and he's already been vetted as the front-runner by the people who decide our elections in advance.

    • 10 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • rustyred
    • +3
      rustyred  

    • A stadium that holds 70K+ and only 8000 RSVPs Guess no one is really interested. Oh, and this is an omen to Rick Perry's outcome of being a presidential candidate. No one is really interested.

    • 10 months ago
  • wynnmeg61
  • Joeydee44
  • demsbeans527
  • chew_chew
    • +1
      chew_chew  

    • "People of Texas wake up. You are not being led by a leader but an Elmer Gantry..."

      I was thinking more like Elmer Fudd... "kill da wabbit, kill da wabbit." Change one word in Elmer Fudd's "Kill da wabbit" spiel to Mr Perry's "Kill the Union" spiel, and the similarities are something to behold.

    • 10 months ago
  • Hardytoo
  • Leen61
  • Joeydee44
  • Leen61
  • Joeydee44
    • +1
      Joeydee44  
    • Leen61:

      And good luck to you and your fellow progressive Wisconsonites this Tuesday. I sincerely hope all goes well for you. The timing of the recall elections have become critical and Walker's minions could be the first dominoes to fall. You may be our 21st century Lexington & Concord! (The Massachusetts kind, not the New Hampshire kind.:)

    • 10 months ago
  • Leen61
  • MDBard
  • Leen61
  • hurleyburly
    • +2
      hurleyburly  

    • Take a close look at Perry. I still contend that he and Robert Tilton are the same person. Once you believe this theory...then everything that Perry does will fit. He's pathetic..and I look forward to him being in the spotlight..he will melt. He's nothing.

    • 10 months ago
  • dinm76
  • kennymotown
  • MDBard
  • grammabet
    • +3
      grammabet  

    • Let him seceed and take his nonthinking followers with him.This is what he talked about before. Also before someone told him it was more than a notion to execute this idea.Keith showed his grades in school last night. He falls in the same catagory as Palin, David Duke, Bachman,Rand Paul etc.Anything to divide and destroy this country,degrade Obama, all in the name of a fake christianity.

    • 10 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +6
      JanforGore  

    • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jetla5RBAHA

      Meet the people backing this prayer rally.
      This is not Christianity, at least not the Christianity I practice.
      This is delusional hatefilled swallop.

      Texas is in serious economic and environmental crisis and this is the best they can do? My heart goes out to the good people of Texas dealing with this. Please let yourselves be heard and drown out these crazies for the sake of your future.

    • 10 months ago
  • JanforGore
    • +4
      JanforGore  

    • http://blogs.abcnews.com/thenote/2011/08/groups-protest-day-before-rick-perrys-p...

      Groups protest prayer event.
      'HOUSTON - Over 200 people gathered at an alternative rally in Houston Friday night to promote the spirit of inclusion and send a direct message to Texas Governor Rick Perry.

      “He’s doing something very wrong, and my simple message to him is ‘Don’t mess with the Constitution,’” Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said at the rally.

      Organized by the Texas ACLU, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and Family, Faith and Freedom, the rally included speakers from various denominations, all preaching the need to be respectful of others religions and denouncing Perry’s prayer event for excluding non-Christians and affiliating with figures who espouse radical views.

      Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, attended the event as a guest in support of including people of all backgrounds in a gathering to show support for the country.

      “Faiths that have come together, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist and all faiths are welcome here today around the idea of love and charity,” Jackson Lee told ABC News. “I applaud praying, I applaud praying for this government. We have the right to pray. We have the freedom to pray, but I think it’s important that everyone be invited to be able to express themselves in a way they would like to express themselves.”

      Jackson Lee said Gov. Perry should be transparent about his intentions in organizing this type of prayer event, especially as he considers a run for the presidency.

      “I clearly wonder, certainly everyone has the right to express their faith, I want to be very clear about that. Everyone has a right to run for president of the United States, but there is a need I believe to be clear about what the event actually represents and certainly it seems that there may be something that causes many to raise their eyebrow.”

      Sean Tucker of The Woodlands, Texas is concerned that Saturday’s prayer event violates the separation of church and state and finds it particularly troubling as Perry considers a presidential run.

      “I believe that it is a gross violation of the concept of separation of church and state which is one of the core concepts that founded our nation,” Tucker said. “It should be a concern especially if he’s running for president.”

      “If he wins, that makes him the public face of America, so if he’s trying to push fringe, right-wing and conservative views upon the populace of America, that makes us look horrible to the rest of the world.”

      In another part of Houston, the GLBT caucus held a rally to protest the anti-gay views held by some groups participating in the prayer rally Saturday.

      Several groups are planning on holding protests against the prayer event outside Reliant Stadium Saturday.'

    • 10 months ago
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
  • oldbanjo
  • wynnmeg61
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