Houston Democrats

KHOU has the report about the new Texas Restoration Project on its website along with a video clip of the interview with Reverend Laurence White who is spearheading the effort.

Reverend Laurence White is out to play a pivotal role in deciding who will be our next governor. He is fired up over the removal of the bible that used to sit in front of the Harris County Courthouse, and believes that government is forcing religion out of our lives.

Maybe he should be paying more attention to what the Lege gets up to during its legislative session. To me it sounds like, government is trying to force religion into many aspects of our private lives, an area that should be one's personal decision.

Reverend White, a longtime conservative activist was with Perry when Perry signed the abortion bill into law at Calvary Cathedral in Fort Worth. He is pastor of Our Saviour Lutheran Church, a Lutheran church in Northwest Houston. Referring to the Texas Restoration Project, White says, "It's new in Texas, we've never done anything like it before."

However, such a project is no stranger in Ohio.

Jon Taylor, a staunch Republican and a politics professor at the University of St. Thomas praised the Ohio Restoration Project:

Were it not for the Restoration Project in Ohio, Bush would probably not have won Ohio ... It worked there. He says the Restoration Project has the ability to turn out thousands of conservative Christian voters.

And here's what Taylor says about White:

He could not only turn out to be the Governor's best friend but kingmaker, absolutely.

Kathy Miller speaking for the Texas Freedom Network:

By any standard, to even the casual observer, this looks like far more than simply voter registration and education. It really looks like part of Governor Perry's re-election campaign.

In response to any such seperation of church and state allegations, White says:

I have never endorsed a candidate, I never will. This is not about candidates, it's not about partisan politics. It's about biblical issues.

Right, of course. However, he does acknowledge that Perry has met with the Texas Restoration Project that included a whole flock of ministers. White says that he initially started trying to get 50 ministers and ended up with 800 responses.

The following comes from Dallas Morning News:

About 500 ministers gathered last month in Austin for a closed-door session in which Mr. Perry, top members of his administration and influential religious figures touted the involvement of churches in political affairs. Mr. Perry is expected to attend future gatherings as well.

Organizers, while reluctant to describe their effort in any detail, say the project is nonpartisan and not aimed at helping any specific candidate. Critics say it appears to be part of Mr. Perry's re-election campaign.

White claims that his group is only talking about voter registration in chruches and about pastors teaching their congregations about Christains' responsibility to participate in "the democracy that God has given us."

Perry appears to be casting himself as the "conservative" candidate, if he can actually be called conservative. The idea is to lock in the evangelical vote to stave off a potential challenge from Kay Bailey Hutchison. There are also rumors now that Comptroller Carol Keeton Strayhorn will announce her candidacy for governor sometime this week.

Perry's office says that it agrees with the objective of the Texas Restoration Project. I guess it's hard to disagree with a group that is out to reelect you, but it certainly shows that Perry has lost all moral responsibility and integrity when it comes to how one wins the governorship.

Check out the Ohio Restoration Project's objectives and plan on their website. If churches really follow through with these kinds of activities, it sounds like some of them are going to need to lose their tax exempt status because they are openly engaging in politics and preaching support of particular candidates from the pulpit.

Read what Reverend Laurence White said in an interview in 2000.

Democrats are not out with the sole objective to undermine religion, and there are Christians who do not support the policies of groups like the Texas Restoration Project.

One of these groups is the Christian Alliance.

Here are some of their main issues:

Pursuing Economic Justice

Responsible Environmental Stewardship

Equality for Gays and Lesbians

Effective Prevention vs. Criminalizing Abortion

Seeking Peace, Not War

Health Care for All Americans

We may not all agree on religion, but here are some areas where religion serves to provide common ground. The Christian Alliance is actually trying to promote real Christian values, not those that the GOP claims to support, which can hardly be called Christian.