Wednesday’s Godbytes

Texas Governor Rick Perry’s Day of Prayer has seen quite a lot of press lately, with some believing it to be a step towards his entering the 2012 presidential race. CNN’s politicker blog, however, warn that Perry’s rally might not get the response he’s hoping for: “Organizers of the religious gathering, dubbed ‘The Response,’ say […]

Texas Governor Rick Perry’s Day of Prayer has seen quite a lot of press lately, with some believing it to be a step towards his entering the 2012 presidential race.

CNN’s politicker blog, however, warn that Perry’s rally might not get the response he’s hoping for:

“Organizers of the religious gathering, dubbed ‘The Response,’ say only 8,000 people have registered on-line to attend this Saturday’s event at Houston’s Reliant Stadium, a venue with a seating capacity of 71,000.”

Religious Dispatches takes issue with Perry’s alleged infusion of faith and politics, implying that some of America’s Founding Fathers would’ve been against the idea:


“In short, Governor Perry is partnering with an organization that believes that only Christians have the right to freely exercise their religious beliefs. After examining the views of The Response organizers, John Adams’ words bear repeating: ‘Nothing is more dreaded than the National Government meddling with Religion.'”

Meanwhile, folks over at the Washington Post are exchanging words about the Air Force’s cancelation of a training course where instructors insisted “Jesus loves nukes”:

“The Air Force has suspended a training course for nuclear missile launch officers that used Bible passages and religious imagery to teach them about the ethics of war.

A PowerPoint presentation used in the course referenced religious figures including Abraham, John the Baptist and Saint Augustine. The presentation also said that there are “many examples of believers engaged in wars in the Old Testament” and ‘no pacifistic sentiment in mainstream Jewish history.'”

In other news, Matthew Cantirino at the First Things blog wonders what a recent study that found Muslims to be the most optimistic American religious group says about American Christians:

“The Gallup results suggest that many Americans have allowed patriotism to consume their faith rather than complement it, and the comparisons of American Muslims to other citizens of faith causes one to wonder whether U.S. Muslims will eventually come to value patriotism above all else, as well-that they will identify with the nation first and treat their faith simply as an interesting add-on.”

Meanwhile, Thomas Peters at the American Papist asks if a new Facebook’s new “I’m expecting” status update feature exposes an anti-abortion slant on the part of the social media giant:

“Even more exciting was the reason why Facebook added this feature – because parents were already trying to figure out some way to share this type of good news with their friends in an official way.

In other words, this wasn’t a political move by Facebook (though some will try to interpret it that way) – it was rather responding to something their users wants to see added as a feature.”

Finally, the Tweet of the Day comes from a satirical twitter account that claims to be the voice of God, albeit a slightly snarkier version thereof:

@TheTweetOfGod – I have mixed feelings about humanity. But My Son thinks you are to die for.

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