Texas Gov. Rick Perry kicked off his disastrous 2012 presidential campaign with a prayer rally at which Religious Right luminaries anointed him as their candidate, expressing their hope that President Perry would bring fervent conservatism back to the White House and divine favor back to America.
While Perry’s campaign ultimately went down in flames — and many of the leaders who had previously declared that God backed Perry abandoned him for Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum — his “The Response” prayer rally succeeded in bringing a national spotlight to some of the Religious Right’s most extreme elements, including fanatical anti-gay activists and self-declared apostles and prophets.
Now it seems that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal who, like Perry, has been courting Religious Right activists by stressing his commitment to Christian Nationalism, issuing apoplectic warnings about religious persecution in America and diligently undermining the teaching of evolution in Louisiana schools, also plans to use a prayer rally to help launch his likely presidential campaign. And he’s turned to the very same people who organized the Perry event.
Jindal has been working with David Lane, a conservative activist who has been tirelessly organizing pastors in early primary states while also warning that God will allow terrorist attacks to hit the U.S. as punishment for homosexuality and abortion rights, and Doug Stringer to stage “The Response: Louisiana” in January of next year.
In a “heartfelt message” announcing the rally, Jindal calls on the nation to “turn back to God” and “light the spark that starts a spiritual revival that will put these United States of America back in the right path.”
