Forrest Wilder on His Texas Observer Article, "Rick Perry's Army of God." (Democracy Now!)

DemocracyNow.org - Republican Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is expected to announce his entry into the 2012 presidential race. Perry will make the announcement at a conference in South Carolina organized by Erick Erickson's RedState.com. Early backers of Perry's presidential run have heralded him as being behind the so-called Texas economic miracle, however many have questioned Perry's economic claims in Texas. Questions have also arisen over Perry's close ties to the radical-wing of the Christian evangelical movement. Last Saturday, Perry helped organize and spoke at a controversial seven-hour Christian prayer rally in Houston titled, "The Response: A Call to Prayer for a Nation in Crisis." While the prayer session drew 30,000 participants and received national press, little attention was paid to the Christian evangelicals Perry worked with to organize the event. The Texas Observer has just published an explosive article titled, "Rick Perry's Army of God." It exposes how a group of radical Christians and self-proclaimed prophets from a little-known movement known as New Apostolic Reformation have been quietly pushing for Perry's presidential bid. Democracy Now! interviews The Texas Observer's reporter, Forrest Wilder.

For the complete transcript, to download the podcast, or for more information about Democracy Now!, visit http://www.democracynow.org/2011/8/12...

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• Category

  News & Politics

[emmaaum22]

Thank You fo this excellent and fair assessment of this brerwing danger. This is a perfect example of how religion gives unstable minds ammunition to insert themselves into public and political dialogue, where they'd otherwise have no place (other than ranting from a street corner). It also points out the danger in our society of allowing a "free pass" for advocates of deranged ideas, only because they package their ideas as being sanctioned by a deity and hnted at in iron age writings.

[Joey Andres]

these people are fucking dangerous

[karinkdf]

There's nothing Christian about this dominionist "Christian" cult. They try to justify every abuse of human rights imaginable by claiming the bible condones their brutalization of others whether physically, mentally, economically or politically.

Most of tehm should be in jail, let alone allowed to dictate public policy or meddle in elections.

[tankwfw]

What's ironic about this is that people criticize Romney about being a Mormon. The people in this group are loonier than any LDS member I've ever met.

[tankwfw]

I love how American Christians see themselves as the new chosen people. A country only 235 years old is the new holy land for a religion that is 2,000 years old?

Trololol

[trailerparkprince]

What baffles me is the little amount of press coverage this is actually getting. I originally found out about this New Apostolic Reformation and Rick Perry's connection to them through an NPR piece linked at Sam Harris' blog (NOT cable news). I can't believe this nonsense is flying under the radar! These beliefs are absolutely INSANE, and society should marginalize these people. Where are you media? We don't have to tolerate all ideas veiled in religion... most of them are very DANGEROUS.

[Milli Denney]

EXACTLY! And sorry for shouting. It's pretty scary, to hear all these nutjobs.

[Milli Denney]

We SHOULD NOT! I only trust the Dixie Chicks. they're from TX but they're ok :D

[MadSmokerBBQ]

It's actually not in the constitution.

[oddt0psy]

Rick Perry is a fraud

[rcguy69]

This is a mirror image of Islamic fundamentalism.