The governor of Texas, Rick Perry, has invited every United States governor, including Pennsylvania's governor Tom Corbett, to attend an evangelical Christian prayer rally. In a video promoting the event, Perry invites people to ask for “God's forgiveness, wisdom, and provision for our state and nation” and says that “There is hope for America. It lies in Heaven and we will find it on our knees.” Pennsylvania's governor, Tom Corbett, has not said whether he is going to attend the prayer event. After several media requests, calls to the governor's office, an e-mail that was sent last month, and requests to have phone interviews specifically for this article, a “yes” or “no” response was not given regarding whether Corbett will attend the prayer rally.
Recently, the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) has called Perry's actions unconstitutional and has filed a lawsuit in Houston. The FFRF notes that the website for the prayer event is linked directly from the governor's website, the event gives “official [governmental] recognition to a devotional event,” “has no secular rationale” and gives “the appearance that the government prefers evangelical Christian religious beliefs over other religious beliefs and non-beliefs.” The FFRF also says that they were denied advertising space on billboards in the Houston area because of their criticism of the prayer event. Dan Barker, co-organizer of the FFRF, says, “Gov. Perry's distasteful use of his civil office to plan and dictate a religious course of action to 'all citizens' is deeply offensive to many citizens, as well as to our secular form of government.”
Governor Corbett has received tremendous criticism since the beginning of his term as governor from democrats and republicans alike mainly because of his environmental policies (or lack thereof), his failure to impose severance taxes on the gas drilling industry, his alleged ties with the gas drilling industry, his education cuts and tax cuts for the rich. Perhaps amidst ongoing controversy surrounding other issues, Corbett does not want to declare whether or not he will attend Perry's event and risk a decline in approval rating. Interestingly enough, an answer of yes or no to whether he will attend the event may both be answers that would yield negative results, so silence may be the best political decision.
If Corbett says that he does not wish to attend the event, many Christians may rebuke Corbett. If Corbett says that he will attend the event, some 'moderate' and 'liberal' Christians, people of other religions, and people who have no religious affiliation will rebuke Corbett. Silence, though, as is currently the case, can also lower Corbett's approval rating because many can interpret silence as a 'no answer' or cowardice. Supporters of separation of church and state should hope for Corbett or any other governer to repudiate Perry, the prayer event, and announce that political officials should not be endorsing prayer events, but such actions might constitute political suicide. As of July 15, only two other governors, Sam Brownback of Kansas and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana have accepted Perry's invitation.
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