Church hosts alternative to Perry prayer rally

HOUSTON (ABP) — A Baptist church will serve as host site to an
ecumenical event formed in response to “The Response”—the prayer rally
Gov. Rick Perry initiated at Houston's Reliant Stadium.

Americans United for Separation of Church & State and the American
Civil Liberties Union of Texas are sponsoring the “Family, Faith and
Freedom” celebration from 7 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 5 at Mount Ararat Baptist
Church, 5801 W. Montgomery Rd., in Houston.

“This event unites us in our conviction that government should have no
favorite theology and that it must always strive to ensure that all
citizens -- Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and
others -- are full and equal partners in the public square,” said Barry
Lynn, executive director of Americans United and a featured speaker at
the gathering.

William Lawson, founding pastor of Wheeler Avenue Baptist Church in Houston, also will speak at the event.

“Family, Faith and Freedom” is scheduled on the eve of the high-profile
prayer rally at Reliant Stadium to provide an alternative expression of
faith, to call citizens to action for the common good and to reaffirm
the importance of church-state separation, organizers insist.

According to its website, theresponseusa.com, the Aug. 6 Reliant Stadium
event is “a nondenominational, apolitical Christian prayer meeting”
that adopted the statement of faith of the American Family Association, a
sponsoring organization.

“As a nation, we must come together and call upon Jesus to guide us
through unprecedented struggles, and thank him for the blessings of
freedom we so richly enjoy,” Perry states on the website in an
invitation to the rally.

While organizers of the stadium rally insist their event is
nonpolitical, Perry -- who has not announced his candidacy but has been
exploring the possibility of running for president -- initiated it and
invited other governors to join in the distinctively Christian prayer
meeting.

“Americans of many faiths, and of no faith, love their country and want
to see it prosper. Government promotion of an exclusive Christian event
implies that certain types of people care more about the well-being of
our country than others, and also implies that Christianity is the only
way to approach the challenges that our society faces,” said Terri
Burke, executive director of the Texas ACLU. “We don’t see it that way
and thought somebody ought to host an event that welcomes all faiths and
traditions.”