Only watch from (0-3:24) after that point, Colbert digresses to a rant about a coyote.
The clip posted above is from the Colbert Report on July 30, before Perry announced his candidacy for President. It highlights Perry's plan for The Response, a prayer ceremony led by the Governor in Houston, Texas. In the Response, Perry stresses the need for each and every citizen to ask for God's forgiveness and His help to solve our nation's problems. Perry looks to God for answers to local and national issues and does so in a large public forum. The Governor’s personal relationship to God and his church are perfectly acceptable for a political figure, but when he crosses the threshold of private to public prayer he no longer separates church and state. Gov. Perry, as the prayer leader, essentially asserts his beliefs onto each person in the stadium, and although those in attendance shared his beliefs, had they not he would be imposing his religion on non-Christians. As a leader in charge of the state of Texas, he should not show favoritism or preferences publicly for one religion over another. The Response, is specifically a Christian rally one aimed at building support for Perry’s eminent Presidential candidacy.
In class this past week, we discussed the nation’s cultural shift and a new generation of prospective voters. Perry’s Christian rally somewhat contradicts Fowler’s idea of a cultural shift from organized religion to spiritual individuality. Fowler proposed that voters today are more private and individual in their religious practices, but the massive congregation of voters at The Response shows that many still cling to organized religion. Perry’s campaign targets these enormous pools of voters, and preaches Christian ideals in his politics to earn their electoral and more importantly financial support.
I chose this clip from the Colbert Report, because I thought it detailed Perry’s prayer rally in a refreshing and amusing manner. Colbert presents news reports and facts about The Response while offering his own comedic insight on the matter.
I very much agree with you that Perry's ideals fall outside the scope of Fowler's proposed theory of a cultural shift; however, I do not know if that means the theory of a cultural shift is invalidated. Perry has a unique target audience that adheres to his devout Christian practices, but I do not know if this group can truly outweigh more moderate Republicans. That is to say that there are other groups of voters who do not turn out to such events, that I would estimate are larger than these religious fractions that openly support Perry.
ReplyDeleteI think this goes back to the reading on defining secularism that we did last week as the sizes of these other groups are not well measured/do not participate in politics as heavily as more religious groups. Thus, although mass groups show up to partake in the prayer, I do not know if this voting force is truly larger than those groups that do illustrate the cultural shift thesis.
Thanks for sharing this very entertaining clip. I thought the most alarming part was Perry's statement, "It's time to just hand it over to God and say 'God, you're gonna have to fix this' ". While many presidents and politicians have used prayer in times of crisis, Perry's statement seems to indicate that, rather than asking for help, he is giving up all responsibility. It certainly seems dangerous to me if a presidential candidate does not hold himself/herself accountable for political decisions.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree with the comment above in that Perry's rally does not negate the culture shift thesis. Instead, I think Perry may recognize this culture shift and see it as a threat to evangelical Christianity in the US. Also, evangelical Christianity can be considered more "spiritual" than the more traditional forms of Catholic and Protestant Christianity, so the growth of evangelism in itself might support the culture shift theory.
I do not see Perry holding The Response as crossing the line of separation of church and state. He is simply expressing his personal faith and trying to help others of like mind in troubled times. It does not matter that he is part of the government, he should be allowed to express his faith in whatever manner he chooses just as every other American is allowed to. This does not cross the private-public line- he made no laws, passed no legislation, made no demands on all his constituents.
ReplyDeleteHe definitely alienated many by holding a clearly Christian prayer rally and it can hurt him in an election but he did not infringe on any person's right to freely exercise their religion. I liken this event to Perry holding a republican convention or special interest group meeting. Yes, not everyone agrees with the group's views, but there is nothing unconstitutional about that.
Thank you for sharing this. Colbert is quite entertaining.
ReplyDeletePerry's public call to prayer (the juxtaposition of his "sincere" politician image in the ad and the call to prayer are hilarious) is inappropriate for two reasons. Not only because he uses his authority as governor to organize and advertise an event explicitly for one religion, but also because he abuses his own religion while doing it. Jesus had some clear things to say about people who pray publicly for the purpose of appearing holy (Matt 6:5-7).
I would disagree that Fowler's statement that spirituality is shifting towards a more personalized journey means the dissolution of organized religion. Fowler also argues that a religious community (e.g. a church) offers people with a religious community, among many other things that offer a feeling of security during spiritual journeys. Fowler notes ways in which evangelical and non-denominational Protestant Christians are accommodating this shift by providing more expressive and personal church services and emphases (e.g. a strong focus on "a personal relationship with Christ"). Such a thing might explain the simultaneous increase in white evangelical Protestants and decline in white mainstream Protestants during the 1970s that Espinosa discusses (pg 4). Then again, that may have been due to different causes.
Anne-Marie, I agree that Perry's statement that "It's time to just hand it over to God and say 'God, you're gonna have to fix this' " was very alarming. There's trusting God, there's turning to faith in a crisis, and then there's putting yourself forward as a candidate after saying, as Colbert remarked, "I got nothing."