I started this post in the morning, and then later in the day, I watched the podcast of Rachel Maddow’s show from last night. She goes into Perry’s prayer rally and the whole host of crazy characters participating. But this section is from the Right Wing Watch post. (Bolded emphasis is mine)
One self-described ‘Apostle’ who has signed on as an official endorser to Perry’s The Response prayer rally is John Benefiel of the , a group affiliated with the New Apostolic Reformation with ties to other The Response endorsers including Cindy Jacobs, C. Peter Wagner and Jay Swallow. In a sermon last August, Benefiel argued that America is under a curse from God because the country possesses monuments to pagan idols and that Americans needs to renounce those idols if not destroy them. Benefiel claims that the Statue of Liberty is in fact a “demonic idol” because it represents a “false goddess.”
The current morality battle between the Far Right and the progressives issues such as women’s rights and LGBT rights, isn’t really about these individual issues. I’ve written about this before. It is far bigger than that. Those seeking a conservative conversion to a Christian Theocracy are intent upon a total transformation of our country and everything our country is about. Much like an Orwellian view- Freedom, Liberty, Hope, and Opportunity will mean very different things if people like Benefiel have their way.