The devil’s work
Rick Perry’s recent pronouncement about religion and politics—“Church and state separation is the devil’s work”—is an indication of why he will not get anywhere if he tries to run for president again. He might as well wear a stamp on his forehead labeled “extremist.”
No doubt there are people in America who agree with him, but there are many more who will be repelled by Perry’s comments and who respect the wisdom of “render unto Caesar.” It wasn’t just “oops” that sank his presidential race in 2011-12; it was also his personality. It was dark, menacing, and angry. His campaign was devoid of uplifting messages. He was ready to come to blows with Romney over immigration. His threat against Bernanke was over the top (and misguided). The Republican electorate didn’t buy what Perry was selling in 2011-12, and they aren’t going to buy it in 2016 unless Perry moderates his anger. It is a complete misjudgment for Perry to adopt this persona, when he is fundamentally a likeable fellow. America is not a theocracy, and Perry will not get elected president by pandering to the evangelical right–not that he won’t try.
Tagged: rick perry
LuzVilla'sGhost says:
I don’t recall you ever being (in my opinion) 100% on the money with one of your assessments. But you have hit the nail on the head on this one. You could not be more spot on.
Reply »
donuthin Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 12:36 pm
Disagree that he is fundamentally likable. He comes across as phony, shallow and self serving, even when among friends.
Reply »
Distinguished Gentleman Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 3:11 pm
Well-said, donuthin.
Reply »
Blue Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 5:05 pm
I’ve never seen Perry as likable, at all, and I’m not a Perry-hater.
Reply »
MarkS says:
One thing at a time. Perry can’t win the 2016 GOP nomination unless he shows he can win re-election in Texas as governor. Pandering to the evangelical right might accomplish that.
Reply »
Blue Dogs Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:19 am
Perry won’t be on the ballot in 2014 because he’s finished politically and he knows it.
Reply »
Distinguished Gentleman Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 3:14 pm
Perry WILL be on the ballot in 2014 and, regrettably, he WILL be re-elected as Governor.
That is why we desperately need term limits.
Even the President of the United States is limited to 8 years (10 if he or she fills no greater than 2 years of someone else’s unexpired term).
Reply »
Blue Dogs Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 4:23 pm
Distinguished, I’m strongly pushing for 12 years with a 4-year sitting out period before running for your job again.
See these examples:
1. Jim Hunt (D) of North Carolina was governor from 1977-1985 before launching an unsuccessful US Senate bid (he almost beat Helms) in 1984, and was re-elected governor in 1992 and 1996.
2. George Wallace (D) of Alabama: 1963-1967; 1971-1979; 1983-1987
3. Bill Janklow (R) of South Dakota: 1979-1987; 1995-2003: recently passed away
4. Edwin Edwards (D) of Louisiana: 1972-1980 (they used to hold their inaugurations for LA governors in May until March of 1980 then it was pushed to January’s 2nd Monday in 1992); 1984-1988 and again from 1992-1996.
5. Jim Rhodes (R) of Ohio served from 1963-1971; 1975-1983: during his 3rd and 4th terms, Rhodes refused to live in the governor’s mansion because it looked ugly (it does and Kasich doesn’t live there).
6. Bruce King (D) of New Mexico from 1971-1975; 1979-1983; 1991-1995.
Did I leave anyone else out ?
Dave says:
Maybe he has realized that the real money is in being a televangelist.
Reply »
Beerman Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:11 am
Amen!
Reply »
garyfan says:
Question for the audience (and Paul): Is Perry pandering or (more scary) does he really believe this stuff?
Reply »
Beerman Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 10:21 am
Perry needs to practice Commandment #9.
As someone else said: “Our faith journey isn’t just about showing up on Sunday, it’s about what we do Monday through Saturday as well”.
Reply »
Justin Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 11:43 am
He’s a career politician. They never believe anything that comes out of their mouth from “good morning” to “goodnight”. Two words for the office of th Texas Gov: Term limits. I liked Perry when he first took office, but some of the things he says and does leaves this life long Texan scratching his head. I like church and I have no problem if our elected officials have religious views, just don’t push them on me. Thanks.
Reply »
Distinguished Gentleman Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 3:15 pm
You are so correct about term limits, Justin.
Reply »
Blue Dogs Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 4:24 pm
Justin, TWELVE YEARS with a sitting out period of 4 years.
I’ve got cousins in Louisiana and they prefer the sitting out period (see the Long brothers and Edwin Edwards who controlled the state with an iron fist).
Reply »
Tellnit says:
When it comes to perry and religion, watch what he does instead of focusing on what he says.
He preaches religion and worships money.
Several times since becoming governor he gave not a cent to his church. One year his AGI exceeded $1 million and he gave $90 of it to church.
Reply »
Vernon says:
Aside from always being able to act as a power broker between the Evangelicals and candidates wanting their votes, I’d say Perry moving further to the right looks more like a strategy that gives him future options.
- If the Republican electorate moves even more to the right ( an Obama win and/or Tea Party take over of the party might do that) he’ll be there to greet them on the ballot.
- He can make easy money by signing on with Fox News or doing the paid speaking gigs as the ‘ultra conservative ex-governor who’s outspoken, plainspoken and unashamed about putting the church back in government.’
Make no mistake, there’s a large audience for the latter. Perry has always been good at knowing his audience and giving them what they want.
Reply »
paulburka Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 12:56 am
I do not think that Fox News is an option for Perry.
Reply »
Big O Reply:
September 23rd, 2012 at 10:16 pm
Don’t be too surprised Paul. They have picked some doozies in the past…..
Reply »
Blue Dogs Reply:
September 24th, 2012 at 10:01 am
Perry will likely wait until his 3rd full term as governor ends on January 20, 2015.
Arturo Reply:
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:51 am
Sara Palin, Huckabee….loonies all. Perry fits the Fox mold for sure.
Anonymous says:
Another misguided “Republican”
http://texasconservativepolitics.blogspot.com/
Reply »
retrocon says:
Perry thought he had a good economic record in Texas that he could use in the general election against Obama, but to get through the Republican Primary he figured all he had to do was hitch the Texas economy to a giant prayer rally and he’d be home free.
But in 2008 Huckabee had tried the same flopped strategy in a campaign that won him some states but would never get him close enough to sniff the presidency. Couple that with Perry’s belligerent self-righteousness and his oops-tarnished national image and you’ll see why he’s not seriously mentioned by pundits analyzing the Republican up-and-comers.
Reply »
Anonymous Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Perry has nowhere near the intellect of Huckabee. Perry is a Ken doll who can be programed to spew out whatever the audience in front of him wants to hear. Dumbass Texans eat that up. Dumbass Obama supporters suffer from the same malady.
Reply »
Blue Dogs Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 4:27 pm
At least Huckabee won several primaries before dropping out of the 2008 presidential race, finishing in 2nd to McCain, who locked up the nomination on Super Tuesday.
Huckabee began his political career with a loss for the US Senate in 1992 to Dale Bumpers (D). Huckabee won the Lieutenant Governor’s office in a 1993 special election, won a full four-year term in 1994 and two years later, ascended to the Arkansas Executive Mansion after then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker (D) was forced to resign due to his involvement in the Whitewater Scandal in July 1996 and Huckabee went to serve 10 consecutive years as governor with two full four-year terms.
Reply »
Arturo Reply:
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:51 am
Huckabee is a right wing ayatollah.
Tom says:
Well what do you know. All this time I had no idea he thinks the Muslims have it right:
“Sharia law is the moral code and religious law of Islam. Sharia deals with many topics addressed by secular law, including crime, politics, and economics, as well as personal matters such as sexual intercourse, hygiene, diet, prayer, and fasting. Though interpretations of sharia vary between cultures, in its strictest definition it is considered the infallible law of God—as opposed to the human interpretation of the laws (fiqh).”
Reply »
Dee Simpson says:
I don’t make a habit of judging folk’s religious convictions, but I agree with your excellent observation-this stance is pretty silly and pretty cynical. I don’t think Billy Sunday will sell even if he uncovers the Great Satan was at work on the framers of the Constitution of the United States.
Reply »
City Slicker says:
It wasn’t his holy anger at Washington and liberals that doomed him. He flopped because he had no command of the basic issues, policies, etc. of being commander in chief.
I bet he reads a book once a year?
Reply »
Goldie says:
In the same Glenn Beck interview, Rick Perry said that the UT System has “a billion dollars in actual gold” and he would like to get “actual possession of that gold” and move it from NY to Texas. I bet he would like to get actual possession of that gold. That may explain his obsession with UT!
Reply »
Anon Reply:
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:53 am
Aggies need to stay out of politics, education and football. They suck at all three.
Reply »
donuthin says:
How much do you want to wager that he reads at least one book a year?
Reply »
City Slicker Reply:
September 23rd, 2012 at 11:52 am
Maybe a Dr. Pepper but anything else would be a gift. The point is that it isn’t not his use of his Christianity that doomed him, it was the fact he was a C-/D college student that never wanted to learn about these bigger issues.
Reply »
Bill Jordan says:
I’m not sure who Rick Perry is pandering too anymore. The only thing that is obvious is that the circle of advisers he’s surrounded himself with is growing more and more out of touch with reality both on a national level and a state level. He’s paying a mighty high price for his loyalty to a group of people that have been feeding bad advise by the bucket loads for the past two years.
Reply »
WUSRPH says:
But the question is WHAT BOOK? Reading Glenn Beck or O’Rielly DOES NOT QUALIFY as reading a book…
Reply »
WUSRPH says:
Is anyone but me just a little bit concerned about the fact that in the past Rick and his friends would have called this a “Judeo-Christian nation” but if you notice, they have now dropped the “Judeo”…I guess that means that Judaism (and/or the Old Testament and the 10 Commandments and all of that stuff) is no longer considered to have been a source of our beliefs.
Reply »
texun says:
I have a hunch: Perry’s UT regents will fall like pins in a bowling alley when they take on two challenges: determining the future use of the Brackenridge tract and trying to bring down the Chancellor of the UT System and the Pres of UT-Austin.
The tract situation has the potential makings of substantial fortunes for developers so there will be a scrap for it. Losers will be vengeful.
The attempt of Perry’s puppets to bring down the academic leaders will ignite a fire storm. The numerous ultrarich Texans, most of whom parted with Perry some time ago, have a huge stake in the academic standing of UT and TAMU. When that fight begins, it will be “nut cuttin” time in Texas and Perry’s puppets won’t know what hit them, nor will he. When the carnage ends, Perry’s political career will be irretrievable. He will never golf at River Oaks CC again.
For better or worse, he can’t conceive of that possibility at the moment, so Gen. Perry and his second lieutenants will head into the fray confident that God is on their side.
Predictions aren’t usually worth much in politics, but I see this one coming.
Reply »
Blue Dogs Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 4:28 pm
Texun, this is why I keep saying Perry will NOT run again in 2014 because he’s a cancer like Terrell Owens or the New Orleans Saints.
Reply »
Dante's Inferno Stoker says:
Perry and UT gold? Did someone just say ‘future Travis County Grand Jury?’
Reply »
Anonymous says:
Paul you should have titled this post “Governor Dumbass Rides Again”
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks says:
good one Paul, now do a post on this:
“Guess what, the cheerleaders in college are the best athletes in college,’’ Biden told them. “You think, I’m joking, they’re almost all gymnasts, the stuff they do on hard wood, it blows my mind.”
makes you proud to be a dem…
Reply »
Anon Reply:
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:54 am
blowhard.
Reply »
Cow Droppings says:
Paul and all his sycophants: on church and state, Perry frequently says the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion, not freedom from religion. Our founders made sure we don’t have a state-sponsored religion. Perry doesn’t quarrel with that. He quarrels with a radical, leftist agenda that tries to scrub from the public square any mention of God. This not extreme, and to say Satan is behind the secularism of America is not extreme to Christians.
Paul, you have become predictable in your pouncing on Perry over every little thing. It is kinda sad.
Reply »
Goldie Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 9:57 am
I still don’t understand. Let’s say I truly want to be free of religion yet I want to pledge my allegiance to my country along with everyone else. In your interpretation of the Constitution, Congress is free to add “under God” to the pledge, and I am free to not speak the words? The phrase was added when I was in grade school so I’ve never known it any other way but I’ve also never had it explained why it’s okay to force it upon Americans who want to pledge allegiance to their country.
Reply »
John Johnson Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 11:10 am
The word “GOD” does not translate to “JESUS CHRIST”. Most of the professed religions in the world worship a spiritual being, or god. I would suggest that the founding fathers believed in a spirtual being more powerful than mortal man and felt guided by this god, so I would suggest that you learn to live with it, Goldie.
As to Patriotone’s comments, below. Remove Christians’ God from the equation. References are only made to “God”.
Reply »
Goldie Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 12:56 pm
I have learned to live with it quite well, John Johnson. There’s no need for you to scream with caps. I’ve never challenged it, criticized it or otherwise spoken out about it. I simply ask again if the founding fathers intended freedom of religion, did they mean only to include those citizens who belong to “most of the professed religions in the world?”
John Johnson Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 9:35 pm
Goldie….caps here not intended to indicate a scream. Sorry if you took it to be so.
Whoa, Nellie! Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 11:50 pm
Plenty of devout Hindus might want to change that wording to “Gods,” and who can blame them? Pledging allegiance to a flag like it’s a divine icon and lumping it in with “God” (and we all know what God is meant) has always smacked of totalitarianism to me.
John Johnson says:
Good point, CD. Have never heard it put that way before. It truly was the founding fathers’ intent to acknowledge God’s presence in the founding and survival of our country. Who can argue that point?
Reply »
WURSPH Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 3:06 pm
Goldie:
If you are serious in asking did the founding fathers intend freedom of religion to apply only to members of “most of the professed religions of the world”, I think you can find your answer in George Washington’s August 1790 letter to the Jewish Congregation in Newport, Rhode Island, and Thomas Jefferson’s May 15, 1804, letter to the Convent of Ursuline Nuns in New Orleans.
Both groups had written the president asking whether they would be free to practice their faiths in the new country, in case of the Newport Jews, or, in the case of the nuns, when New Orleans came under the control of the United States after the Louisiana Purchase.
At the time they wrote their letters, both religious groups had only a few members in the United States. There were only 300 Jews in Newport and they represented the only synagogue in the country at the time. In the case of Roman Catholics, other than those being added by the purchase of the formerly French and Spanish Catholic Louisiana, there were only a small number of what were known as “Tidewater Catholics”– the descendants of the Catholics, including my father’s ancestors, who had founded Maryland in 1634–living around the Chesapeake Bay.
In their responses, both Washington and Jefferson made it clear that all faiths were welcome in the United States and that none had to fear the government in any way.
Washington made his position more than clear when he told the Newport Congregation:
“The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy–a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship.
It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”
The full text of Washington’s letter may be found on the internet at http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=21.
It is unfortunate that no copy of Jefferson’s letter is currently available on the internet.
Reply »
WURSPH Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 3:20 pm
Of course, Washington’s letter also makes it clear that our nation’s toleration applies to ALL RELIGIONS as well as to those with NO RELIGION.
Reply »
WURSPH Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 3:36 pm
To perryphrase Our Beloved Governor:
Oops!
It appears that Jefferson’s letter to the Ursuline Nuns IS available on the internet. By some strange twist, it is being cited by opponents of the Separation of Church and State as demonstrating that Jefferson, who inspired that doctrine and Monroe, who put it in writing in the First Amendment, actually oppose that separation. Weird.
It can be found at:
http://www.churchstatelaw.com/historicalmaterials/images/thomas_jefferson_letter_1804.pdf
As well as on the Wallbuilders home page.
Vernon Reply:
September 25th, 2012 at 9:59 am
Use caution when reading or citing anything from the Wallbuilders site. NPR ran a story that tried to verify many of the factual claims that David Barton, the site’s founder, said to have researched.
Many claims, if not all, were factually incorrect when they read the original documents Barton referenced.
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/08/157754542/the-most-influential-evangelist-youve-never-heard-of
Patriotone says:
Our Constitution has precisely on reference to religion. There shall be no religious test to hold public office. One of our earliest treaties ratified without serious issue by a Senate that included many of our Founding Fathers made it clear that we were a nation in no manner founded upon Christian principles. These were men who remembered that the streets of Europe ran red over doctrinal differences between Protestants, much less Protestants and Catholics or God forbid Muslims! Religion has no place in government. By definition we cannot compromise those principles. Religion belongs in the heart. The heart is an important part of why we may vote for someone, but the religion of the heart shouldn’t be applied to the public square.
Reply »
Anonymous says:
Since we are debating the merits of the constitution and their “intent to acknowledge God’s presence,” why don’t we talk about the founders’ intent to protect slave owners, regulate fugitive slaves, and the ol 3/5′s compromise.
Reply »
jpt51 says:
Forget, ‘buying it in 2-16! We’re not going to buy Perry no matter if he moderates or not in 2014. The good gov should read the handwriting on the wall and gracefully leave, ‘stage right’ when his term ends!
Reply »
Blue Dogs Reply:
September 24th, 2012 at 10:06 am
JPT51, Perry knows his political career is likely finished at this point.
Reply »
WUSRPH says:
I think we can leave the question of the role of religion in our nation’s founding to someone who knows a little bit more about it than Rick Perry, the chair of the committee that drafted the Declaration of Independence, a member of the Constitutional Convention that drafted the Constitution, the 1st Vice President of the United States and the Second President who put it this way:
“The United States of America have exhibited, perhaps, the first example of governments erected on the simple principles of nature. . . . [In] the formation of the American governments . . . it will never be pretended that any persons employed in that service had interviews with the gods, or were in any degree under the influence of heaven. . . . These governments were contrived merely by the use of reason and the senses.”
John Adams
Reply »
Goldie Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Thank you, WUSRPH. That’s really all I’m asking of our elected officials–the use of reason and the senses. I’ve never studied John Adams, but you’ve given me great reason to do so.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks says:
Bob Dylan said it well
“You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody
Read more: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/gotta-serve-somebody#ixzz27E5qFDoR
some serve God and some worship big government.
Reply »
WURSPH says:
And some do neither.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks Reply:
September 22nd, 2012 at 9:49 pm
doesn’t work that way, you acknowledge God or you worship big guv.
Reply »
Arturo Reply:
September 26th, 2012 at 8:21 am
You can do both, or neither. Perry is a fool, theocrat and done, politically. The far right is exposing the GOP for what it is: white, scared, tough,out of touch and soon to lose it’s relevance.
Reply »
WURSPH says:
Speak for yourself….
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks says:
liberals bow down to big gov
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks says:
I can still see the dems voting God out of their party platform…..but they cannot take God out of America.
Reply »
Indiana Pearl Reply:
September 23rd, 2012 at 8:15 pm
And who is “God”? Is he Jehovah, Krishna, Ram, Jesus? That “God” person is a hero with many faces. JBB, you need to read you some Joseph Campbell.
Reply »
Anon Reply:
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:55 am
JB does not read.
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks says:
liberals force their intolerant views of environmentalism, socialism, and big government on Americans while chastising them about religion.
Reply »
Indiana Pearl Reply:
September 23rd, 2012 at 8:11 pm
Who says their views are “intolerant”? Just right-wing folks who disagree.
NOTE: I didn’t say “right-wing whack jobs.”
Reply »
Arturo Reply:
October 1st, 2012 at 10:01 am
But you thought it, and know it….
Reply »
Tom Barry says:
When JBB has no reasoned response to a rational argument, he resorts to the irrational.
Reply »
My Theory says:
My theory, Tom Barry, if he is ever rational or does not post every three hours, he will fail to get his allowance.
Reply »
Goldie Reply:
September 23rd, 2012 at 8:56 pm
My theory, My Theory, is that JBB is really Rick Perry. He’s posting this stuff at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning. With Perry now blaming insomnia for his goofiness and the devil for everything else, I just put two and two together!
Reply »
Willie James Reply:
October 2nd, 2012 at 9:55 am
Funny, this. Both have the same intellectual level and ability to say nothing….
Reply »
Anonymous says:
While yall are all debating God, I’m gonna go reread the Constitution and see if I can find where the Founders state their intent to acknowledge his presence.
Reply »
WURSPH says:
As you probably know, you won’t find it…The word “God”, Christ, Jesus or all of the terms normally used NEVER APPEARS IN THE CONSTITUTION AND ANY OF THE AMENDMENTS. And, as noted above, you can find only two references to “religion” at all…The first is the “no religious qualification” clause and the second is in the 1st Amendment.
A “creator” is referred to in the Declaration of Independence, but there is no mention or even a hint of any divine being in the Constitution.
Reply »
WURSPH says:
To me this clearly suggests that, at a minimum, the Founders believed in that old “render unto” saying in Bible and wanted their govt. to be separate from any religion. That’s also what quite a number of them–including believers–said at the time and shortly thereafter.
Reply »
longleaf says:
There is a clear political opening here to reconstitute the Confederacy with Perry as its President. This take on our founding is VERY popular all across the South, actual history be damned.
I viewed his enthusiasm for A&M joining the SEC as a tipoff that he is moving in this direction politically as well. Watch out for the drones, though, “Beauregard.” You might say they are the Federales’ “Twelfth Man.”
Reply »
Anonymous Reply:
September 24th, 2012 at 10:41 am
After considering your post together with Goldie’s reply to My Theory I think I must remind you both that the first rule of Operation Secession is – Never Talk About Operation Secession!
Reply »
JohnBernardBooks says:
some love to point out there is no reference to God in the constitution while alleging there is a “seperation of church and state clause” in the constitution.
When the FDR liberal SCOTUS ignored established law in 1947 democrats bowed down to big government.
Reply »
Anon Reply:
September 26th, 2012 at 8:22 am
Sir, I love your comments as they make for good redneck comedy!
Reply »
Anonymous says:
I didn’t see any references to God in the Constitution, but I did see three references to slavery.
Reply »
Sparky Polastri says:
I just want to say that reading the comments on this blog are now one million times better since the banishment of Robert Morrow. Thank God!
Reply »
A Reply:
September 26th, 2012 at 8:22 am
Get rid of JBB and the collective intelligence of this blog goes up 10 points.
Reply »
Dante's Inferno Stoker says:
Here, here Sparky!
Reply »
I'm Pavlov. Ring a Bell? says:
Just because the word “God” is not written explicitly in the U.S. Constitution does not mean that He is not intimately intertwined in its text.
SCOTUS:
“Different species of democracy have existed for more than 2,000 years, but democracy as we know it has never existed among the unchurched. A people unschooled about the sovereignty of God, the ten commandments and the ethics of Jesus, could never have evolved the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. There is not one solitary fundamental principle of our democratic policy that did not stem directly from the basic moral concepts as embodied in the Decalog and the ethics of Jesus . . . No one knew this better than the Founding Fathers.”
Reply »
GB Reply:
September 24th, 2012 at 9:34 pm
Pavlov/Bell,
Take that quote out back and shoot it. The case is State ex rel. Tampa, Fla., co. of Jehovah’s Witnesses, North Unit v. City of Tampa, 48 So.2d 78 (1950). The opinion contains not a single cite to case law in support of its decision to overrule a municipal zoning ordinance and permit a church to be erected.
The sentence just before your quote reads, “The school, private, public and college is the offspring of the church.”
Shortly after the ipse dixit you cite, the court explains, with no support but its own estimation, its rationale for displacing municipal traffic ordinances in favor of building a church: “It is a matter of common knowledge that traffic hazards about the church are of unusually rare occurrence, much less rare than they are in the home or out on the highway. For every traffic injury on the highway about the church you can chalk up hundreds of them from slips in the bath room.”
The 1950 Florida Supreme Court — Chief Justice Jesus H. Christ, Presiding (en espiritu).
Reply »
Tom Barry says:
I googled the above “Scotus” quote. It appears to have been from the Florida Supreme Court in 1950, not the U.S. Supreme Court.
Reply »
Indiana Pearl says:
I urge everyone to read “The Godless Constitution” by Kramnick and Moore.
I learned in high school civics class, in Catholic school no less, that the founders wanted no religious control over our new country. They had observed the corruption that occurred in Europe and other countries when the church and the government collide.
While traveling in Korea, I learned that an ancient Korean king eliminated Buddhism as the state religion because the priests were controlling the government. The Koreans learned this 900 years ago. We can learn too.
Reply »
voteindependent says:
why he will not get anywhere if he tries to run for president again
but it is FUNNIER than a Bull at a barre to watch him try
Reply »