I’ll admit, after Rick Perry managed to forget one of the three departments he’d abolish as president during a televised debate, I wrote off his candidacy as a lost cause. But something happened last Tuesday that has since made me reconsider my opinion.
Perry’s campaign released an ad. Not just any ad, but an ad that renewed my faith in him as the candidate who will end President Obama’s war on religion.
In it, the illustrious governor points out the absurdity of allowing them gays to serve openly in the military while requiring students to hide their faith in the classroom. I didn’t question his portrayal of public schools because I know Perry is a God-fearing man, and consequently he does not believe in lying (Proverbs 19:9).
Perry’s ad is spot-on. Clearly, homosexuality and Christianity are antithetical, and the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was designed to undermine the latter. Those who thought it was actually an attempt to make life more bearable for closeted soldiers and give open homosexuals equal rights are fooling themselves.
By Thursday night, Perry’s ad had a discouraging number of dislikes on YouTube — more than Rebecca Black’s music video for her song “Friday.” But this was to be expected. The Bible said that Christians would be victimized and, unsurprisingly, it was right (2 Timothy 3:12).
Perry clearly understands what the Bible meant. Today, Christians suffer in silence as western civilization continues its slow but sure decline into godless Islam. They can hardly leave their homes without being mocked and derided. I predict that soon enough, Christians will be forced to meet in private like they did under the Roman Empire before Constantine.
Under another term of Obama, this will almost certainly happen. In the spirit of self-preservation, Christians must unite behind a Republican candidate who will not only stem the centuries-old tide of Christian persecution, but push back hard. By now, that candidate should be obvious.
Together, we can make Gov. Rick Perry America’s first openly Christian president.
Steven Zoeller is a journalism sophomore.
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mythman 5 months, 2 weeks ago
I'm pretty sure this is sarcasm. I think.
durrrr 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Stephen Colbert would be proud.
will7618 5 months, 2 weeks ago
I'm aware that this is an example of "Poe's law" but
"Clearly, homosexuality and Christianity are antithetical"
This is technically true, not homosexuality (attraction to the same gender) in and of itself but LGBT rights movement. A religion whose many tenets include self denial and sexual prudence compared to a movement that pushes for public acceptance of diverse sexual and gender expression.
wxwatcher 5 months, 2 weeks ago
1) There is no war on religion in this country, and certainly not fronted by the President. Unless maybe you worship Islam, and then special interest groups will work to ban Sharia law and other related things because of it. Oh and then we will war with any country who professes Islam. 2) Please, Perry would not be the first "openly" Christian President! 3) This country may have been founded on some of the ideals associated with Christianity (or just the Golden Rule if you prefer), but honestly, it is a country with the freedom of and from religion. However you like it to be, not shoving a particular flavor down anyone's throat. 4) If anything we're headed down the same road as the Roman Empire because of our love of greed and excess. Shock! Both generally frowned upon in Christianity, professed by a majority in this country. Somehow I doubt the minority is causing such a great downfall in that case.
Prof227 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Is this intended to be satirical?
HopelessPlace 5 months, 2 weeks ago
I really feel sorry for you. Fortunately, your opinion doesn't represent Christians. Also, Islam is a monotheist faith and Muslims believe in only one god. So, it's not respectful of you to say something like "godless Islam". If you want other people to respect your religion, respect theirs. By the way, you shouldn't believe what everyone says. Not because he said he will do what he said then he will do it. He is saying that to get votes and gain popularity. Fortunately, Americans don't agree with his ideas. My advise to you is to read and go meet people who have different opinion of yours and be respectful to them even if you disagree with them. Wish you the best in your life.
Kyle_W 5 months, 2 weeks ago
I don't support Rick Perry. Not because he quietly hints and dodges around the fact that it seems like he thinks being gay is wrong, but because he is trying to grasp at the "Faith" vote as a last ditch effort to save his candidacy, and does so in a way that doesn't actually try to explain any of the details of his faith or how they influence any potential policies he might have. Also saying Obama is waging a war on faith based on the DADT reversal is mere propaganda, and his comment about how there's something wrong with our country when "gays can serve openly in our military but our kids can't celebrate Christmas or pray in school" is stupid because gays should never have been banned from the military (we've lost a ton of money dismissing heavily trained soldiers and a lot of man-power in the past, even worse during times of war when we needed it), whereas kids are not told by the government that they cannot celebrate Christmas, and indeed moments of silence exist in public schools should they want to pray.
Also, the body that repealed DADT was not the same one that traditionally has decided matters of holiday celebration within schools, which I'm sure Perry would love for you to believe is fueled by the Democratic Party, and more specifically Obama.
http://www.thewordout.net/pages/page.asp?page_id=56656
I sincerely hope (and believe)that you are trying to troll the entire OU community, but at that same point condemn the Daily for letting such action take place. DADT's repeal was not about undermining Christianity, declining participation in church does not indicate the masses converting to Islam, and saying Perry does not believe in lying based on a verse from Proverbs that he might not even know is naive. Also Perry would not be the first openly Christian president.
Again, hope you're trolling. Cheers.
zizotex 5 months, 2 weeks ago
You want to end the "war on religion" with a war against gays? Or against any other values that are against christianity? I am a christian (not from the us) and I believe in christian values. And I also believe that supressing one human or one group of humans is against gods will. Why do we have to do that? After death everybody gets what he deserves and it's not our decision to make it's gods. By praying hatred you get hatred. And nobody forbids you to pray. Just because nobody is forced to pray in a group against his will every morning doesn't mean anybody forbids you to. I'm really shocked that you call yourself a christian and promote supression just because you think you are supressed (and even thats true, you solve this by supressing back?) Your article lacks lots of explanations ("Those who thought it was actually an attempt to make life more bearable for closeted soldiers and give open homosexuals equal rights are fooling themselves." - explain that please "Christians suffer in silence as western civilization continues its slow but sure decline into godless Islam. They can hardly leave their homes without being mocked and derided. I predict that soon enough, Christians will be forced to meet in private like they did under the Roman Empire before Constantine." A little more info please and a decline into godless Islam? oh please...) nevertheless I respect you, because I live christian values and everybody is entitled to his own oppinions as short sighted as they may be.
Good Day
kagou 5 months, 2 weeks ago
The first openly Christian president....really? I think you should reconsider that assessment. GW Bush called on his "faith" quite often while he was in office. Perry is touting it now because it's trendy.
Christians suffer in silence? Uhm...where? Last I checked Christianity was alive in well with the majority of Americans still identifying as Christians. The removal of prayer from public schools was at the hands of the US Supreme Court who ruled it was unconstitutional because it was considered government sponsorship of religion. If you want your kids to learn to pray, send them to church or the private school of your choice.
If the repeal of DADT was "designed to undermine the latter (Christianity)", then DADT and DOMA were designed to LIMIT the rights of gays and lesbians to be who they are. Personally, I don't think the repeal of DADT was intended to jab a thumb in the eye of Christianity so much as restore rights to homosexuals who are apparently perfectly good enough to risk their lives for our country, but weren't free to love whomever they chose while in the military.
Christians have plenty of places to meet...they are called churches. Most faiths practice theirs in a church, mosque, synagogue, etc. with other people of their faiths. Some Christians seem to think they need to be able to make an impromptu church wherever they see fit, including our public schools. I refuse to allow my tax dollars to pay for that. I already subsidize religious organizations by virtue of their tax exempt status.
knunnelee 5 months, 2 weeks ago
What is ironic is the fact that Christians like Zoeller, who call Muslims "God-less," who have a very narrow world-view, and who refuse to look beyond their faith at the true complexities of the world, are the reason why so many non-Christians are quick to condemn them. Zoeller's article is nothing more that a rant fueled by bigotry. We need religion out of government. All religion. This is not a theocracy and the few values of democracy that we have left in our system will only be destroyed if we continue to allow the metaphors of religion to control our government policy.
Kyle_W 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Also, Islamic God = Christian God
Definitely not a godless religion.
Captian_Obvious 5 months, 2 weeks ago
This is a satirical piece, anyone offended by this or think this is serious, please re-read the piece and understand the futility of your potential statement.
melmo 5 months, 2 weeks ago
There needs to be a sarcasm font. Too many students skipped that class in high school apparently.
Logan 5 months, 2 weeks ago
Mr. Zoeller,
Your fun, funny satire was not lost on me. Quite enjoyable, and I smiled all the way through.
I am, however, rather shocked and amazed at how seriously you have been taken by your readers. Your playful nature should have been quite obvious if for no other reason than your last sentence: "Together, we can make Gov. Rick Perry America’s first openly Christian president." I do suppose it's a comment on how much people are actually paying attention to what's happening in their government or the world around them if they think you're being serious with this statement. After all, the previous 8 years was driven by a man who was openly and loudly Christian. His renewed faith in Jesus Christ was one of the only ways he could get people to forget about his past history of alcohol and cocaine abuse. Our current president is a Christian. One of the big to-dos during the Kennedy Presidency was that he was our first Catholic president. Catholicism, by the way, is a religion that believes in Jesus Christ. Hence, it is Christian, as are those who follow this religion. In fact, if you have been paying attention, you would know that ALL American presidents have had a alliance with the Christian faith. "Almost all of the presidents can be characterized as Christian, at least by formal membership. ...No president thus far has been ...an adherent of any other specifically non-Christian religion." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiou...) Again, you would know that if you're paying attention.
If you were paying attention, you would know there are 1,600 television and radio networks broadcasting Christian messages in the US. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religiou...).
With so much air time and so many outlets speaking in favor of Christian values, it might make you wonder who is actually "victimizing" the Christians.
But that's only if you're paying attention.
kagou 5 months, 2 weeks ago
It didn't come across as playful satire until I went back and read the other pieces he has written. If other people didn't actually write (and believe) the same things, the satire would have been easier to see at first glance. :(
Logan 5 months, 1 week ago
kagou,
I find it shocking that anyone could believe that Rick Perry has the possibility of becoming "America's first openly Christian president". Obama has said he was Christian. There was a scandal involving Obama's former Christian preacher. George W. Bush said he was a Christian A LOT. With those two people, we've now covered the past 11 years of our history. If people were actually listening to their presidents, they would know this singular statement was wrong, which might lead them to believe that the piece was satirical in nature.
If we aren't listening to our presidents or paying attention to what is acutally happening in the world, who are we listening to and paying attention to? And how dare we become impassioned by our ignorant views?