In Defense of the Prayerapalloza

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Since I believe in fair and balanced blogging (ahem), and since I have been very critical of Texas Governor Rick Perry’s fundamentalist pep rally to be held at Houston’s Reliant Stadium tomorrow, I am reprinting here a letter to the editor of The Houston Chronicle defending the event:

Satan deceives

I was totally disgusted by the article “Perry day at Reliant: Piety and politics?” (Page A1, Sunday). The article criticized Gov. Rick Perry for calling a prayer meeting for our nation that will be attended by fundamental Christians. It stated that “Houston’s most prominent ministers” oppose the prayer meeting. It should have stated that Houston’s least prominent ministers oppose the rally. Houston’s most prominent ministers, among them Joel Osteen and Ed Young, are supporting the prayer meeting. If you look up the ministers who are opposing the prayer meeting, you will find that they are pastors of alternative types of churches.

Then you have to ask yourself the question, who would oppose a prayer meeting for our nation? The answer of course is Satan and those who are deceived by him, including atheists, gay pastors, the Democratic Party and the Houston Chronicle. If they were having a big homosexual rights rally or a Muslim prayer meeting at Reliant, I bet the Houston Chronicle would not be attacking it.

The article said the American Family Association opposes gay rights and evolution. Evolution is a myth that was believed before modern science discovered DNA and the complex design of the human cell and the solar system. Recent scientific discoveries prove that the universe and life have a complex design and if there is a design, there has to be a designer. Nothing happens by chance, including life and a complex universe. The one good thing about the article is that it clearly shows that the Houston Chronicle is opposed to fundamental Christians practicing their faith and expressing their beliefs in public.

Bob Hankins, West Columbia

Wow. I am tempted to say that it takes genius to pack that much stupidity into one little letter. The “prominent” ministers he mentions are Joel Osteen and Ed Young. Osteen is the Pastor of the Lakewood Church which has Sunday services for 20,000 in, as I recall, a former basketball arena. Osteen is a proponent of the feel-good “power of positive thinking” version of Christianity. Ed Young is the pastor of the even larger Second Baptist Church, which is so bloated that it has five “campuses,” i.e., five different sanctuaries in various places around town. Pastor Young advertises heavily on local TV, and his ads prominently feature Ed Young and only Ed Young. Clearly, the guy has an ego the Smithsonian could not hold. His commercials should say “The Ed Young show, brought to you by Jesus.”

Mr. Hankins dismisses the pastoral critics of Perry as pastors of “alternative type churches.” Like Methodists? Let’s see: Methodism is an “alternative” form of Christianity while Osteen’s Feelgoodism and Ed Young’s Cult of Ed are not?

Mr. Hankins next informs us that the only opponents of the Day of Prayer event are minions of Satan including “atheists, gay pastors, the Democratic Party and the Houston Chronicle.” Now, atheists, gays, Democrats, and newspaper editors are all clearly bound for hay-ull, but the Anti-Defamation League has also come out strongly against the event also. I guess they are in the clutches of Satan too.


Mr. Hankins bets (hmmmm. Should a good Christian be betting?) that the Chronicle would not object if there were a big Muslim prayer meeting at Reliant Stadium. Well, gee, of course not if it were not initiated and promoted by a prominent, ambitious politician for obviously self-promoting purposes. If a prominent politician had staged a Muslim prayer event, Mr. Hankins and his ilk would be frothing and howling like mad dogs.

And, folks, you heard it here first: The discovery of DNA disproves evolution! Poor Charles Darwin had no idea that life was complex and that is why he came up with that silly theory.

The upshot, Mr. Hankins concludes, is that the Chronicle (damn them lib-rul fish wrappers!) is opposed to fundamental Christians practicing their beliefs. But every Sunday hundreds of thousands of “fundamental” Christians practice their faith in the Houston area, without a word of criticism from the Chronicle. As for making a public display of piety; the Chronicle does not need to criticize that. Jesus already did.