…can be found at The Smoking Gun, courtesy of Rick’s Cafe Americain.

Nice work if you can get it… and keep it…

…so is this really the path we want to travel?

In a post at Althouse, Ann Althouse writes of a bill signing ceremony in Texas, quoting from the Washington Post:

Gov. Rick Perry (R) is going to church tomorrow, not necessarily for the obvious reason: He plans to sign two bills sought by conservatives and passed by the Republican-dominated Texas legislature. One requires parents to sign off on abortions for minors; the other calls for a November vote on a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Actually, the signing will be held in the gymnasium of the private school that is next door to and under the auspices of Calvary Cathedral, one of the largest Christian churches in Fort Worth.

“This is way over the line,” said Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. “This is a grotesque use of church by a political figure.”

Althouse concludes:

People who are religious Christians should find this as offensive as people who are not find it.

What I found most interesting was the first comment to her post, from Mark:

As a Christian and a pastor, I find this deeply offensive.

There is no “Christian” political program. God is not a Republican or a Democrat. What is happening is that slowly, many Christians are allowing their faith and Christ Himself to be subordinated to the political philosophies they embrace.

Jesus upbraided the Pharisees for thinking that if they got people to acquiesce to their version of “righteousness,” they could stem the tides of faithlessness and irreligiosity. (Coincidentally, they could also trumpet their “moral superiority.”) By the Pharisees’ program, they unwittingly replaced the teachings of both the Old Testament and later, of the New Testament, that righteousness–rightness with God–is a gift to all with faith in God, not an attainment of proscribed behaviors.

This comment encapsulates neatly my concerns in recent trends in the Republican Party.

Sadly, the Democratic Party is no better. Their dogma is not based upon religion, but is just as dangerous despite being secular in nature because the followers of their faith are equal the ruthlessness of the Republican true-believers in punishing anyone who does not follow the party line.

This trend where both extremes are ruling rather than relegated to the lunatic fringes they deserve to be a part of is troubling to say the least. I hope to write more about it soon.

Average tobacco chewing Joe at Cadillac Tight needs a trackback after changing his weblog system, so here is one.