Governor Perry has posted this video invitation to his summer prayer and fasting rally in Houston. The all-day event is scheduled for August 6 at Reliant Stadium.
“As an elected leader, I’m all too aware of government’s limitations when it comes to fixing things that are spiritual in nature,” Perry says in the video. “That’s where prayer comes in.”
“With the economy in trouble, communities in crisis and people adrift in a sea of moral relativism, we need God’s help,” he says. “That’s why I’m calling on Americans to pray and fast like Jesus did, and as God called the Israelites to do in the Book of Joel.”
Gov. Perry invited all 49 governors to attend the August 6 rally, dubbed The Response. So far, only Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has said he will attend, according to the American Independent, while a growing number have said they won’t be able to make it.
The rally is sponsored by the socially conservative American Family Association, a group known for its anti-gay rhetoric. The organization’s spokesman, Bryan Fischer, has courted controversy by saying things like gay people helped form Hitler’s Nazi party and that homosexual behavior should be outlawed.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a non-profit civil rights organization, has labeled the AFA a hate group.
The AFA’s involvement is one of the reasons why the Houston Clergy Council, an interfaith religious group, has come out in opposition of the rally. The Council also cited church-state separation and a lack of inclusion for other religious traditions as reasons why it was “concerned” about The Response.
Here’s a promotional video for The Response that was released when the rally was announced earlier this month.
The Response Promo from The Response USA on Vimeo.
