So, where are we America? What messages are we sending our young people? What happened to family values? What has changed to our values since our forefathers were running this country? Christian leaders are we turning our heads because the party says they have Christian values. Christianity is a life style not a statement. How can one run the country when one cannot run his/her own household. Governor Palin take care of your family as God meant for you to do.

What I’m having trouble understanding is why people such as Southern Baptist Convention public policy chief Richard Land feels this is a “This is the pro-life choice. …” Why doesn’t he realize this is a CHOICE. She is choosing to have her child and that’s wonderful, but it’s still a choice. Thankfully, it is still a choice, not a requirement.

Wow! As a Christian, I appreciate the fact that she is not aborting her baby. But why, 5 months later is she talking about marrying the father.
The irony is, I think, had it been one of Biden’s kids, some of these leaders of the right would be pointing fingers about what a bad example, instead of rallying around in support of her. The hypocrisy exhibited by us, Christians, can be astounding!
I appreciate the first commenter above for her sincerity in the way most Christians would see this situation.

Fact is, Mrs Palin is a lousy mother. So caught up in her fancy Governor job, she has neglected the children she is so eager to breed.
Pro life sometimes just means careless.
Why at age 44, was Ms. Palin not using adequate contraception in order to prevent a baby – a DOWNS syndrome baby at that- and in order to have time with the children she already has.
Then, whose choice was it? Bristol’s or Ms. Palin’s to keep the child?
Whose choice is it that she marry.
Frankly, despite all the drivel about we are all sinners, I am not!
I would never have disappointed my parents that way – I tried to live to their highest ideals -
If this were a black teenager from a poor family, you would have looked at her with scorn – words like “slut” would have been traveling through your hypocritical heads.
I am sorry for Bristol and the rest of Ms. Palin’s kids. Here is a woman who cares so little for her children that within a few hours of having them – 48 max – she is back at work. She travels hours on a plane after her water broke to have her special needs baby in an obscure Community Clinic in Alaska, bypassing great hospitals in Texas, where her water broke!! What judgement!? What a careless Maverick! What if she did not have a nanny? Grandparents? Would she have been so eager to be pro-life?
What example is the VP’s family setting for mine? That my daughter can be a slut and get away with it because she is a white Republican?
I am appalled and distressed by the exposure of the dirty underbelly of the Palin family.
Finally, if a VP family should produce a gay son, will you all be so happy to FORGIVE, and claim that we are ALL sinners? WHat would he have to do to put it right? Cut off his penis??

Post my previous comment if you dare…the GODOMETER has that SINNER MCCAIN, that nasty, foul mouthed adulterous whited sepulchre of a man at a 7, Obama at an 8.
Yet one has lived a life of revelling in sin, the other has tried to be as abstemious and austere in lifestyle as possible since attaining adulthood.
YET your sleazy god prefers MCCain? Well, he did prefer that thief Jacob who robbed his brother Esau, so ….

Fiona–
God-o-Meter doesn’t “prefer” either candidate. Just because a candidate receives a high God-o-Meter score doesn’t mean that God-o-Meter prefers him or her. Just means GOM deigns them more theocrat than secularist. Whether that’s preferable or not is in the eye of the beholder.

Fiona writes:

Fact is, Mrs Palin is a lousy mother. So caught up in her fancy Governor job, she has neglected the children she is so eager to breed.

Pro life sometimes just means careless.
God-o-Meter has noticed that the staunchly anti-feminst line of the pro-family movement is increasintly coming into conflict with the fact that many of the movement’s new leaders are women who are the beneficiaries–and, on some level, practiioners–of feminism. The Palin case is the perfect example. The professionally ambitious Palin is now sewing doubts about how attentive she’s been toward her family. Is that likely to turn off some traditionalists, or have they quietly absorbed to tenets of feminism so thoroughly as to be totally forgiving of Palin’s family foibles?

I am a traditionalist AND very conservative in my outlook. However, I believe that the so-called right wing is missing the point.
The point is to abstain from sexual behavior until you are MARRIED. The point is living a life of sacrifice- giving up the “world” to follow CHRIST. This means for the unmarried, celibacy. This means for the gay man or woman “celibacy”. This means for the married person who now looks longingly outside “restraint” and “faithfulness” It means YIELDING NOT to temptation, “for YIELDING is SIN”
The Sarah Palin story is one of lack of restraint. Careless sexual life resulting in late, possibly tragic pregnancy. Inappropriate decisions at delivery time. Not thinking, unheeding. Daughter gets pregnant, no problem. Acceptance of, with all on her plate, the VP slot. Again, inappropriate decision making- SELF, SELF, SELF. No thought of family – fob them off on the old folk..
HOWEVER, you don’t accept the VP post with this story in the making. WHY? Because CHRISTIANS are supposed to promote appropriate sexual behavior. Muslims do, Hindus do. No Muslim or Hindu parent would inflict such a broken family on a nation…not ONE. In fact, Christians often decry the extremes to which these families go to avoid the shame of moral failure.
Christians have bought into two terrible lies:
One: that sex is all- even old Christians are buying Viagra as if their sex life is all that defines them. Have sex, just don’t get pregnant. Sex is the most important thing. It is inconceivable to go without sex, even when you are still a child or if your colostomy bag is breaking… This is the secular view and most Christians have bought into it. Hence Bristol Palin. No, “What would Jesus say?” moments.
Two: That money is a sign of God’s grace. So, it’s work, work, work. Poor people are NOTHING! Rights are nothing! Power and the ability to make decisions for others is everything!
So again I ask, if Ms. Palin is so REAL…with all the flaws…what then is wrong with Barack Obama? Is he not FORGIVEN too? Does GOD discriminate?

As a christian I am surprised that we want to sweep this under the rug. Are our values of a mother being there for her children and raising her children suddenly get thrown out the window for the sake of politics.
And what is our message to our daughters and sons? No one is saying that it is not ok to have sex outside of marriage. We must be careful to bring balance to this message.

Every moment, God gives us the opportunity to remind ourselves and others to “Judge Not, lets he be judged”. Yet the Right persistently ABUSES this fundamental Godly principle.
Today they’re commending Bristol for keeping her baby (and I think she deserves accolades). But shouldn’t the same people condemning abortion be condemning the immorality of fornication?
God’s way is marriage first, then pregnancy – not the other way around. And Abortion = Fornication = Sin. Period!
In 1 Corinthians 6:9, God puts fornication in the same category as stealing and homosexuality.
GOD-O-METER should stop giving McCain any points on this and require Christians to live up to the standards (God’s standards) that they claim to be champions of. STOP THIS HIPOCRISY!

The McCain camp can spin this and Christian leaders can pledge their firm support all they want, but this is playing out differently with average evangelical voters in my community.
John McCain, an adulterer, who divorced his wife under brutal circunstances, just picked a Christian conservative running mate who’s under investigation for corruption and whose teenage, unmarried daughter has been committing fornication on her watch. That’s not a model for evangelicals.

I agree with many of these posts. It’s not our responsibility or right to judge others mistakes or punish them as we see fit, and I commend Bristol for trying to make the most of the situation that she’s in. HOWEVER… In the Bible, Paul reminds us to appoint our church leadership from people who are good examples, live upright lives, and lead their families by example. How much more so is our responsibility to do the same for the leadership of our country, inasmuch as it depends on us? With a handicapped child and a pregnant daughter at home, what would make someone think that they should be out on the campaign trail and possibly leading a country instead of being at home? Because it’s the opportunity of a lifetime? Sure, if the thing that you hold dear is power.

Give me a break…does the mere existence of a child qualify for respect for life. This is a mother of 5 children, one with special needs, and one that is expecting. Wouldn’t any self respecting parent expect to need and want to be present in the lives of their child during these extremely sensitive times? Dare I say…wouldn’t a mother want to be there for her children?
Am I too understand that a parent who has to either pay for others to care for or have a house husband to care for a child qualifies as a good parent.
Hello Houston, wouldn’t someone with conservative values agree with a parent needing to be there for their children?
Doesn’t anyone see that she is simply a gimmeck, however talented she may be? What this proves to me is that strategy comes long before integrity…Ahhhh…The Republican Way

Diamond writes:

Today they’re commending Bristol for keeping her baby (and I think she deserves accolades). But shouldn’t the same people condemning abortion be condemning the immorality of fornication?
God’s way is marriage first, then pregnancy – not the other way around. And Abortion = Fornication = Sin. Period!

Interesting point. The way God-o-Meter understand it, from a conservative Christian perspective, it’s all about transformation and redemption. If a homosexual disavows his/her homosexuality to live as a straight person, he or she is forgiven, even celebrated. They’ve been transformed through Christ.
If a a woman who has sought an abortion repents and joins the pro-life movement, she’s forgiven, even celebrated. She’s been tranformed and redeemed.
If a single woman gets pregnant and decides to forego abortion and to marry the father, she’s forgiven, even celebrated. Her decision to carry the baby is redemptive. That’s a bit of a twist, since the homosexual or the woman seeking the abortion must actually change their behavior (and as Diamond notes, none of Bristol’s defenders in the Christian Right are condemning her behavior, sex before marriage). But the pregnant woman’s decision to carry the baby takes the place of the redemptive act, ie “converting” to a straight lifestyle or joining the pro-life movement.
In this way, conservative Christians call their actions consistent. If God-o-Meter has that wrong, let me know.

I totally agree with Diamond: “John McCain, an adulterer, who divorced his wife under brutal circunstances, just picked a Christian conservative running mate who’s under investigation for corruption and whose teenage, unmarried daughter has been committing fornication on her watch. That’s not a model for evangelicals.”
If Obama’s or Biden’s backgrounds looked like this, the Christian Right would be attacking them relentlessly! Apparently, evangelical leaders are only forgiving and accepting of the failings of those who share their political views. Everyone else is fair game. What hypocrisy!

Amen to all of the above!

Ah, and this is the root of the problem in any election: hypocrisy. This election is not about reason and issues, it’s about who wins. Each side is guilty of hypocrisy. One side overemphasizes its religiousness — the left really doesn’t believe in federal funding of religious programs, but courts religious voters by overemphasizing it in an attempt to win. One side uses its religiosity only when it serves them — the right really doesn’t believe Sarah Palin or her daughter have acted as role models in this situation, but it is stuck with this candidate and feels it must defend her at all costs in a desperate attempt to win. Thus, voters should vote on real issues — based on the records of the candidates — not political strategy that emphasizes non-issues.

But does she really have a choice? She is 17 and getting married-would she make that choice if her mother wasn’t a candidate for VP? What about the family value of adoption? At least this family has the means to raise another child, which realistically is what will happen-unlike thousands of other families who face raising another child in poverty in an environment where the “pro-life” administration has cut social programs providing support to women and children. So make that prolife choice-but then you’re on your own. I pray that Bristol will be able to continue her education, otherwise like many other young women in her position, she is doomed to a life of poverty-unless the young man in question turns out to be able to support a family-unlikely if he is also a teen. We haven’t heard about how old he is-was she 16 when impregnated? There are young men out there in some states labeled as sex offenders for having sex with 16 year old girls. I weep for this poor girl having her life exposed on a national stage.

One thing that came to mind after McCain chose Palin, given her lack of experience, was George W. Bush’s appointment of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court a few years ago. Miers was also short on experience–she’d never been a judge–and conservatives rebelled, even though some evangelicals were wildly enthusiastic about her at first because of her evangelical background. The reason they gave for opposing Miers was her lack of experience, given a ready supply of uber-experienced candidates for the bench. But the real reason was that it was impossible to pin down Miers’s ideology. Would she really vote to overturn Roe? Would she protect the Defense of Marriage Act? The right didn’t have enough evidence to trust her because she lacked a judicial track record.
Palin doesn’t have much experience, either: tenure as a small town mayor and not quite two years as govenor. But the difference between her and Miers is that the Christian Right feels that it really knows her, because of her Pentecostal faith backgroound but also because of her history as a culture warrior.
So the real issue for the Christian Right is not experience, even though they said that when it came to Harriet Miers. It’s trustworthiness. The movement didn’t trust Miers. It trusts Palin. But is there really such a firm basis for that trust? Or is born largely of McCain’s having set the bar so low among religious conservatives?

The phenomenon of the rapid spread within the United States since the 1980′s of evangelical Pentecostalism is a political phenomenon which has become so influential that the two elections of George W. Bush as well as countless races for Senate or Congress often depend on the backing or lack of it from the organized Religious Right.
The spawning of some Christian Right sects also creates an ideology to drive the shock troops willing to literally ‘die for Christ’ in places such as Iraq or Afghanistan, Iran or elsewhere that the Pentagon needs their services. That ideology has been used to build a fanatical activist base within the Republican Party which backs a right-wing domestic agenda and a military foreign policy that sees Islam or other suitable opponents of the US power elite as Satanism incarnate. How does Sarah Palin fit into this?
more info
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/165864-The-Most-Dangerous-Cult-in-the-World-Sarah-Palin-s-links-to-the-Christian-Right

I’m disgusted with the evangelicals of our country for supporting this. It shows they are more of a political movement that a Christian movement. The hypocrisy of this is astonishing and almost demonic. I’m a strong Christian but I can’t believe they stand behind this VP pick. Where is the family and moral values? If this was from the democratic party, they would be pointing fingers everywhere.
It’s really odd that many people associate republicans with morals and values. How’s it so? Starting an unjust war based on lies, greed, corruption? Are these Christ like values? Right wing evangelicals are looking more and more like Pharisees. The people Jesus detests.