Knowing God's Will in Politics and Government: Gov. Palin's Bankrupt Theology

A blogger on a newspaper website observed that Gov. Sarah Palin has a gift for composing sentences containing a noun, a verb, and the word "God."

Indeed, her True North points toward knowing God's will in things political, as described in the page one, September 6, New York Times story from Wasilla: "In Palin's Life and Politics, Goal to Follow God's Will," by Kirk Johnson and Kim Severson.


Interviews by the reporters with her former and current pastors, at the Assembly of God church and at the Wasilla Bible Church, respectively, pointed to a firm conclusion: her foundation and source of guidance is the Bible, and with it has come a conviction she is God's servant.

In a recent address at the Assembly of God Church, Ms. Palin encouraged young church leaders to pray that "God's will" be done in bringing about the construction of a big gas pipeline in her state, and suggested her work as governor would be hampered "if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God." She also told the group that her eldest child would soon be deployed by the Army to Iraq, and that they should pray "that our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God, that's what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God's plan." And there's the rub.

The most disturbing aspect of the report from Wasilla is the obvious tendency of Gov. Palin to link desired political outcomes in Alaska and the country to God's will -- for example, praying for the construction of a new gas pipeline; or the suggestion that America's soldiers are on a God-assigned task in Iraq.

The issue is not that Palin (and her evangelical pastors) believe that the Bible provides guidance, or possibly even answers, in making difficult decisions in the public arena. Rather, it is that she seems to be convinced that the answers -- or outcomes in public policy -- she covets are what she gets from prayer and holy writ. There is the tendency also to believe that a divine spirit uniquely directs her actions.

The real danger of religion in politics is not the relationship as such, but the stubborn and immovable mind set that baptizes political interests as authorized by God -- the merits of which interests then become absolute, and therefore immune from rational debate.

There has been more than enough of such heresy in the White House for the last eight years. God will not be mocked.

By the way, what is the qualitative difference between Sarah Palin's expropriation of the will of God and the suggestion by Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson on CBN's 700 Club -- two days after September 11, 2001--that an angry-at-America God was at work in the airplane attacks upon New York and Washington? "God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve," said Falwell. Not acts of man, Governor?

Comments

[JohnnyBoyyy]

AND, therefore, our founding fathers (sorry they were men OK) so wisely understood that there MUST be a SEPARATION of CHURCH and STATE (derived from wording in the First Amendment).

This is OUR Time - This is OUR Moment.

Obama/Biden '08/12!!!

[Zanti]

Separation of church and state means no state church and no requirement for membership in same. It doesn't require candidates or voters to put religion out of their minds and mouths when voting, running for office, or any combination of the two. In other words, the separation principle doesn't apply to the neocon's "God told me to do this" mentality. Such behavior is in bad taste, and it's potentially dangerous, but it's not unconstitutional. Our founding fathers left it up to the people ("the people," in their day, being rich, male landowners) to exercise some judgment when it came to picking their leaders. If the public is okay with "God"-led politics, there's nothing in the Constitution that prevents them from endorsing it. I wish it were otherwise.

In hindsight, maybe our FF's should have specifically forbidden the citing of holy texts when running for office, but maybe they assumed no one would be that brazen. They were wrong.

[jeanrenoir]

Palin's theology is obviously nuts, obviously the classic fascist theology of "God on our side"--the same from Germany to Argentina to Wasilla. But it's irrelevant to point this out, because this is the theology the Religious Right takes for granted, so it's no use attacking it. And it's a theology that thinking Christians realize is blasphemous and absurd, but they're already disgusted by everything about Palin and her ilk.

[Zanti]

"The real danger of religion in politics is not the relationship as such, but the stubborn and immovable mind set that baptizes political interests as authorized by God--the merits of which interests then become absolute, and therefore immune from rational debate."

Fine, but isn't it very possible that people like Bush and Palin are simply born with the sense that they're absolutely correct in (and entitled to) everything, and that they're simply applying that arrogant certainty to a sacred text? Or, better yet, using that text to justify their certainty? They're right, and God seconds them--that's the idea. The very people who claim to put God first are, at best, putting God second. ("Okay, God, scram--I'm done with you.")

Something tells me they'd be the same charming bullies and thieves with or without the Bible.

[darker]

Oh yeah, we need more of these people of "faith" who don't give a rat's ass about
anything but how rich they can get and how many people they can DECEIVE.

NO THANKS.

NO MORE YEARS for FRAT BRAT MONGERS OF NEGATIVISM REPUBLICANS.
They gave us 8 years of DISASTER.
They DESERVE TO LOSE--BIG.

[notb observer]

The funny thing to me is that these bigoted zealots believe that the earth is 5,000 years old. Why is that funny ? Not because it's laughably out of touch with reality, but because they don't even know where the number comes from.
Nowhere in the bible does it state the age of the earth. But most of these bible thumpers have never really read the book they believe in so passionately in the first place. They just accept everything they're told, like little sheep.
The figure relating to the age of the earth was "calculated" by European (English, and others) a few centuries ago, and was based on following the chronology of characters in the old testament. Not only did this require huge assumptions in terms of how long people lived, but it also assumed that the chronology had no gaps. If I recall correctly, one of these charlatans even managed to get the date down to the exact hour and minute.
Complete bollocks !

[nlb]

God must surely hate America then as he has given us George W(ithout a plan or a clue) Bush and Dick Cheney for the last 8 years.