Location of Bill-Signing Is Seen as Grounds for Protest in Texas

Advocates of the separation of church and state are protesting Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s plans to hold a bill-signing ceremony on the grounds of a conservative evangelical church. One bill restricts abortion; a second calls for a ban on same-sex marriage.

The event is scheduled for today at a Christian school run by Calvary Cathedral International, one of the largest churches in Fort Worth. The church’s founder and pastor, Bob Nichols, is to attend, as are national leaders of the religious conservative movement, including Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, sent Perry a letter Thursday asking him “in the strongest terms possible” to change the venue. In an interview, Lynn, who is a United Church of Christ minister, called the event a “grotesque misuse of religion for a clear partisan political advantage.”

Perry spokeswoman Kathy Walt said the ceremony would take place not in the Calvary church but in the Calvary Christian Academy gymnasium next door.

“The critics are generally those who object to people of faith participating in government or in the electoral process,” Walt said. “There are a number of critics who would object to this bill-signing whether it were in a private school, a public school or a Wal-Mart parking lot, because they are opposed to pro-life and pro-family legislative issues.”

Lynn said that if the event was held as billed, he would ask the Internal Revenue Service to investigate whether the church’s tax-exempt status should be lifted because churches are supposed to avoid partisan politics.

Calvary’s business administrator, Charlie Prior, said the church’s tax status would not be affected because the event was being held at the school, not the sanctuary. He declined further comment.

The first bill Perry plans to sign requires parents’ written permission before minors can receive an abortion.

The second would amend the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage and civil unions and is subject to voter approval in the fall.

Texas law defines marriage as being between one man and one woman, but Perry said Tuesday that the additional measure would affirm “the sacred institution of marriage.”

Perry’s signature of that bill is merely ceremonial; proposed constitutional amendments are sent directly to voters by the Legislature and do not require the governor’s involvement.

Perry is up for reelection next year and could face fierce competition from fellow Republicans in the primary. He has been governor since George W. Bush left office in December 2000 for the White House.

Critics said they were troubled that local GOP leaders had encouraged him to film the ceremony and use the footage in his campaign.

Perry e-mailed supporters asking that the church be filled for the event with “pro-family Christian friends.”

“It appears that Gov. Perry believes he was only elected to serve conservative Christians,” said Kathy Miller, president of the Texas Freedom Network, an Austin nonprofit group that tries to fight the influence of religious conservatives in government.

“Texans thought he was supposed to be governor for everybody,” Miller said. “Elected officials should perform their official duties in the public square and leave the pulpit to the clergy.”

The governor’s office said the event would not be filmed.

But Tarrant County GOP Chairwoman Pat Carlson said Perry should reconsider that decision. Fort Worth is in Tarrant County.

“This is a wonderful victory for conservatives,” Carlson said. “If it was me, and I was going to run for governor, I’d sure be filming it. I just don’t understand what all the controversy is about.”