Rick Perry appeared at Liberty University on September 14 to talk his God-loving self up. During this talk, he discussed the ways in which he feels his god has communicated with him. It’s really quite Pagan when you get down to it – God isn’t actually speaking to him per se – not like he does the NAR’s apostles – but instead he sends him signs.

Again, this is very old-school Pagan. Ancient polytheists were very aware of omens and signs – the flight of birds, an eclipse, a meteor, and so forth. These were all taken very seriously, and not as meteorological or astronomical events, but as signs from the heavens directed at humans.

Nowadays, of course – well, okay, not in Texas – we have scientific explanations for these things and we generally take them as they should be taken, as naturally occurring phenomena. We live with them every day and we don’t think much about them. A normal person might grab an umbrella.

But Rick Perry insists on seeing in the weather messages from his god. For example, he talks about how he came to say where he was rather than becoming an airline pilot. It is all because of a rainstorm.