 "Photo: Craig Bland")
Politics, above all other social institutions, has an inherent duty to remain secular. This is why Gov. Rick Perry's signing of two controversial bills Sunday in a Dallas-area church is a gross breach of fiduciary responsibility.
One of the bills that is now law requires parental consent for women under the age of 18 seeking an abortion. The other is a resolution to change the Texas Constitution banning gay marriage and will be put before voters this fall.
Supporters praise the event at the Calvary Christian Academy in Fort Worth as a conservative victory. Critics counter it is offensive and inappropriate because the event sends the wrong message about the church's involvement. Perry didn't sign the bills in the church's sanctuary but instead in its adjoining school gymnasium.
The very words "abortion" and "gay marriage" are so politically charged they automatically divide most people into two different schools of thought. Superficially, Perry's move further polarizes both sides and unnecessarily alienates supporters of abortion and gay marriage.
If the governor signed the bills at the Capitol or Governor's Mansion with little fanfare instead of a church in a public demonstration, abortion and gay marriage would blend into the patchwork of other controversial topics that politicians care about but will not dare publicly comment on.
The morality of abortion consent and gay marriage is not the central issue here. Holding a political event with blatant religious overtones is asking for trouble and creates more annoying ethical questions on topics already bogged down with ethics.
On a deeper and much more troubling level, Sunday's shotgun bill signing has more dubious connotations.
Christian ideology may have played a significant role in the drafting and passage of the bills thus sending a state-sponsored message, "If you're against the bills, you're not on God's side - he hates abortion and gay marriage." Perry is playing directly to his support-base of conservative Christians to strengthen a reelection bid.
According to the Dallas Morning News, Perry invited thousands of "pro-family Christian friends" via e-mail to be at Calvary Cathedral's school gym, which his political team had planned to film for a campaign commercial.
Independent of motive, the signing mixes religion with political wrangling in an offensive way. Equally offensive is the defense of the event by some of Perry's staff.
"Frankly, all this criticism is just more attacks on people of faith, because there are those who don't want people of faith to have any voice in politics or in government," said Perry spokesman Robert Black in a Friday Fort Worth Star-Telegram article.
The fact that the two bills passed the Legislature are concrete proof that "people of faith" have a voice in politics. Using a church as a pulpit to push conservative Christian ideals is an attack on people with faith in government free from religious influence.
Instead of reminding Texans how religious pressure played a strong role in passing the legislation, Perry should have employed common sense and resisted temptation to make the event a public relations bonanza for his next gubernatorial bid.
It's sad enough if the bills were passed to pander to conservative Christians, but making a public mockery of the separation of church and state just adds insult to injury.
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