Sen. John McCain is announcing that he has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential Running Mate. Gov. Palin is now the second female vice-presidential candidate to represent one of the major parties.
Social conservatives are pleased with this selection, as am I. Gov. Palin is pro-life in both practice and policy. There are also some reports that she served as a member of Feminists for Life which played a significant role in Supreme Court litigation involving the issue of abortion. Reports are also beginning to surface that Gov. Palin was active in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes when she was in school.
One of the most interesting aspects of this selection is the issue of experience. This will be particularly interesting in light of some of the criticism directed towards Sen. Obama's level of experience. It will be worth watching how this plays out in the next several days.
One thing is for sure in this selection, and that is that John McCain did an analysis of where the base of the Republican Party is. Even a maverick has to analyze the base of his political support. Within the context of the Republican Party, the pro-life issue has been non-negotiable. The selection of Gov. Sarah Palin as a Vice Presidential Running Mate confirms Sen. McCain's understanding of this. This also makes sense in light of the fact that Sen. McCain himself has a strong pro-life voting record.
I mentioned in a previous post that a sharp contrast on Supreme Court nominees will now be in play. Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden both voted against Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito when they were nominated to serve on the Supreme Court of the
Next week is the Republican Convention, and I expect the country will get to know Gov. Palin in a more personal way. We do know that she is the mother of five children, having her most recent son born in April of this year. It's already been reported that Gov. Palin refused to let the results of her prenatal genetic testing of her son, Trig, change her decision to have the baby. Trig was diagnosed with Down Syndrome. She's quoted as saying of her son: "I'm looking at him right now, and I see perfection. Yeah, he has an extra chromosome. I keep thinking, in our world, what is normal and what is perfect?" And when she and her husband were told the news, here was her response: "We've both been very vocal about being pro-life," Palin said. "We understand that every innocent life has wonderful potential." (cited here)
Barry, now here's the real controversy: Gov. Palin signed a proclamation which declared October 21-27th as "Christian Heritage Week" in
WHEREAS, the celebration of Christian Heritage Week, October 21-27, 2007, reminds Alaskans of the role Christianity has played in our rich heritage. Many truly great men and women of
WHEREAS, the Preamble to the Constitution of the State of
WHEREAS, Benjamin Franklin, at the Constitutional Convention stated, "It is impossible to build an empire without our Father's aid. I believe the sacred writings which say that, Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it (Psalm 127:1)."
WHEREAS, George Washington enunciated, "animated alone by the pure spirit of Christianity, and conducting ourselves as the faithful subjects of our free government, we may enjoy every temporal and spiritual felicity."
WHEREAS, Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote, "Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed the conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?"
WHEREAS, James Madison, father of the
WHEREAS, Patrick Henry quoted Proverbs 14:34 for our nation, "Righteousness alone can exalt a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people."
WHEREAS, George Mason, in his Virginia Declaration of Rights, forerunner to our United States Bill of Rights, affirmed, "That it is the mutual duty of all to practice Christian forebearance, love and charity towards each other."
NOW, THEREFORE, I, Sarah Palin, Governor of the State of
This should certainly spark controversy from your end, Barry, so maybe we're the first to break it. I think it's constitutional to have a proclamation like this; I expect you to disagree. Let's go at it!
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Let's call our Christian leaders who put politics ahead of Jesus into accountability. For months we have heard attacks against Barack Obama calling him anything from the anti-christ, to a radical Muslim, to a black militant, to an elitist. Yet within hours of Sarah Palin's announcement as the vice-president pick for John McCain, James Dobson and others praised the pick with rousing endorsements.
Yet if we were to take the same microscope to Palin as with Obama, we would find a completely different story.
1. In the past 2 months, she has stated in an interview that she doesn't know what the VP does.
2. She appeared with Director of Stevens PAC to support him last summer.
3. She supported the "Bridge to Nowhere" legislation before she stated she opposed it in her initial vice president speech.
4. She and her husband were members of the extremist Alaskan Independent Party advocating for the secession of Alaska from the United States.
5. She needed to obtain a passport to visit troops, suggesting almost no foreign travel.
6. She has stated that "Under God" should be kept in the Pledge of Allegiance because of the founding fathers despite the fact that the statement was added in 1948.
7. She is involved in an investigation where she is accused of firing the head of police in her state over a family vendetta.
8. She has stated in interviews that the Iraq war was for oil and hadn't given it much thought despite son's enlistment.
9. She belongs to Assemblies of God church, which Dr. Dobson and others have previously spoken out against.
10. The McCain campaign has issued a statement that as a parent, it is not her fault that her teenage daughter is pregnant.
11. Palin's statement about her daughter's pregnancy states that the couple intend to marry, but the "alleged" father of the child only found out about the pregnancy this weekend through the press release and has made no statement of his intent to marry the daughter.
This list is not intended to attack any of the personal decisions of Sarah Palin. It does not address other rumors that cannot be backed up by any of Palin's or McCain's statements actions. Sarah Palin may or may not be a worthy vice president pick. But for the “Christian” leadership to come out so quickly and get behind her without any information on her exposes their blind faith in men and the Republican party.
Its time to call out our so called Christian leadership that has aligned itself with the Republican party over Jesus. If you can't speak for Jesus when it comes to politics, please stay out of the arena and focus on the "family."
While I appreciate Governor Palin's proclamation of Christian Heritage Week, the proclamation leaves unspoken Alaska's own Orthodox Christian roots. The earlier settlers from Russia where Orthodox Christians and, until the start of the Federal government's Americanization programs of the native peoples, many of the native peoples in Alaska were also members of the Orthodox Church. It is one of the saddest moments in American religious history that the US government financed a campaign to rob native Alaskan people not only of their language and culture, but also their Orthodox Christian faith in the service of making them more "American."
I find some of the whereas clauses, especially those quoting such strict separationists as Jefferson and Madison, annoyingly taken out of context.
Many believed that religion was necessary to a successful republic, including individual believers/citizens regularly taking part in the ceremonies and rituals of their faith.
This does not mean they all wanted OFFICIAL recognition of specific religious paths. I surely don't understand how references to "God" are (on a neutral level) relevant to such an official support to honoring Christianity!
I'm dubious of some national day of prayer or such, but at least there the breadth of beliefs covered are obvious, if not all of them. Here "God" is implied to equal "Christ" and people like Franklin and Jefferson, who truly doubted (at best for the latter, see Jefferson's Bible) that connection used to help things is honestly offensive.
The comment about the state's orthodox history is also rather telling.
I'd consider voting Republican if McCain was Palin's V.P.
I am glad Gov. Palin has strong values and that she is not afraid to show them in her political life to compliment her personal life. I recognize this nation is made up of people who believe in many different religions, and that is okay. Nonetheless, the US was founded on Judeo-Christian values and still is an overwhelmingly predominant Christian country. Therefore, Christian Heritage Week is appropriate both on a state and national level.
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