Rick Perry Says That Separation Of Church And State Was Satan’s Idea

Rick Perry thinks he’s knows who’s responsible for keeping religion out of government:

In a conference call with fellow evangelicals earlier this week, Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) shared his thoughts on the origins of the constitutionally mandated separation of church and state. Rather than tracing the idea to the nation’s founders, Perry warned of a more nefarious source: Satan.

“Satan runs across the world with his doubt and with his untruths and what have you and one of the untruths out there that is driven is that people of faith should not be involved in the public arena,” Perry said during the call on Tuesday, organized by the Rev. Rick Scarborough.

Perry said the separation of religious and civic institutions in the U.S. began with a “narrative” that first took root in the 1960s.

“Somehow or another there’s this, ya know, steel wall, this iron curtain or whatever you want to call it between the church and people of faith and this separation of church and state is just false on its face,” the governor said. “We have a biblical responsibility to be involved in the public arena proclaiming God’s truth.”

And here I always thought it was the First Amendment.

Of course, Perry’s comments make this obligatory:

FILED UNDER: Religion, US Politics, , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. legion says:

    That’s funny. I always thought it was the unification of church and state that was the source of so much evil in the world.

  2. grumpy realist says:

    There’s a reason why those of us on the left are so suspicious of those on the right. You really are going to have to rein in your religious crazies.

  3. Mr. Replica says:

    When I first heard/read of this yesterday, my first thought after doing a face-palm, was this.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flBpsyFbEOs

  4. So there, we and the Pakistanis are not so different after all.

  5. Murray says:

    Ironically it would maybe have been preferable in the long term for the GOP that he be the nominee precisely because he would have been a short term disaster.

  6. Chris Berez says:

    “Satan runs across the world with his doubt and with his untruths and what have you and one of the untruths out there that is driven is that people of faith should not be involved in the public arena.”

    That’s strange, I could have sworn Christians were nearly exclusively the ones involved in the public arena.

    Ohhhh wait, he means theocracy but just doesn’t have the balls to say it outright. Yeah, sorry Rick, you can’t do that. Thanks be to Satan. We owe him one big time.

  7. Liberal Capitalist says:

    Hmmm…

    Enlightenment… bad.

    Magical thinking… Good !

    Thanks GOP !

  8. Tony W says:

    “Rick Perry Says That Separation Of Church And State Was Satan’s Idea”

    -FTFY

  9. J-Dub says:

    So he favors Islamic governments? Sounds like he’s endorsing the Brotherhood.

  10. Fiona says:

    Rick Perry–still dumber than a box of rocks.

  11. al-Ameda says:

    @Fiona:

    Rick Perry–still dumber than a box of rocks.

    You have to admit, though, he’s doing his best to work for re-election of the president.

  12. de stijl says:

    “Somehow or another there’s this, ya know, steel wall, this iron curtain or whatever you want to call it between the church and people of faith and this separation of church and state is just false on its face,”

    I would prefer that the people running for the office of the President of the United States be smarter and better informed than your average HVAC subcontractor (no offense) who listens to Rush Limbaugh during lunch. You know, someone who actually knows what Churchill was referring to during his Iron Curtain speech.

    At one point in time, this guy was to odds-on favorite for the nomination.

    Republicans, you have a problem. Your standard bearers have no business being that close to the Presidency. Cain? Trump? Bachmann? Gingrich? Perry? Are you serious? It’s like some kind of sick joke, except it’s true.

    Really, Bachmann??!? WTF? That’s just pathetic and sad.

    At least you had the decency to finally nominate (after plowing through every other possible alternative) someone who has the possibility of being a smidge less than a total train wreck if elected – but Bush 43-level of competence should be the low end outlier, not the standard by which you judge your Presidential candidates.

    Grow up! Clown time is over.

  13. reid says:

    What de stijl said. The mainstream GOP leaders are so far into the extremist weeds that I can’t believe they haven’t lost 90% of the country. That they haven’t is really a sad reflection on us. I can only hope they’ve built their success on a fragile house of cards that will implode soon.