In her new book Sarah Palin writes that one summer at Bible Camp she "put my life in my creator's hands and trust Him as I sought my life's path." For Palin, this grand divine plan was "a natural progression." She writes. And later, "I don't believe in coincidences."

Which leads me to ask:

What does she believe is God's plan for her? Does she have any free will or is everything preordained. Can she see something coming and change her mind despite God's plans for her?

Did God plan for her to become Governor of Alaska. If so, did God plan for her to step down. Did God plan for her to run for Vice President? If so why did she and McCain lose?

Did God plan for her to have a child with Down's Syndrome? If so why did she consider an abortion? Did God plan for her to have a huge wardrobe? Then why did she apologize for it?

Did God plan for her to do the Katie Couric and Charlie Gibson interviews and be humiliated by them. Did God plan for her to allow herself to be forced, against her will to do those interviews? If so then why complain?
Did God plan for her daughter Bristol to get pregnant while she was a teenager? Why was she then not thrilled. Did God plan for Bristol to get engaged and then break up, only to be left a single mother, dropping out of school?

Did God plan for Levi Johnson to be the father of her grandchild? Did God plan for Levi Johnson, who she now calls Ricky Hollywood, to pose nude for Playgirl and go into "porn" as she told Oprah. If so, why does she find it heartbreaking?

I find it all very confusing. 

Certainly Palin could say that God planned for her to publish a book that would be a huge, bestseller, go on Oprah, and make an enormous amount of money. Why would God choose her? Why would God look at the suffering around the world of so many millions and say, Sarah, I'm going to give you all of this. 

Perhaps God wants more out of Sarah Palin.
You would think that God would ask of her to live her life as an example to others of a compassionate loving, caring person. One of the most powerful examples of God's love in the Bible is that of forgiveness. Turning the other cheek. 

But Palin's book is a screed against everyone who ever done her wrong.
She is angry at the campaign staffer for "forcing her to do things she didn't want to do", she is angry at the media for asking her questions she couldn't answer. She is angry at the father of her grandson for being a foolish teenager. She has used this book and all of her Christian charity to do nothing but settle scores. She names names and calls 'em like she see 'em. And she doesn't see 'em the way God might. They are all of his children.

Obama's Council on Faith Based Partnerships has fallen off the map - and we need them back.   Nothing exemplifies the sad lack of contribution of this much hailed diverse group of religious leaders than the current impasse on Health Care with the Stupak Abortion amendment. 

Even before President Obama took office he was assembling a team of religious leaders from a wide range of backgrounds to advise him as he proposed to tackle difficult issues such as poverty reduction, health care, war and other moral questions of governance.  Many of us were excited about the prospect of Obama's Faith Council which included such theologically and politically diverse names as Father Snyder of Catholic Charities, Rabbi Saperstein of the Reform Action Committee, Dr. Frank Page former President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and Dr. Sharon Watkins, General Minister of the Disciples of Christ. 

Unlike in the past, Obama's Faith Council was allotted no money to dispense so it was relieved of the political nightmare of accusations of favoritism and could focus on policy questions.  The promise of this group lay in its diversity.  The idea being that if this group could come to some consensus on the important moral issues of the day that it would help inform President Obama's administration to enact policy that reflected, by proxy, the religious wisdom of the vast majority of the American population.

Unfortunately, after a much-publicized announcement and launch, the group has basically been silent.   Apparently the Council is working on a "report" to give to the President sometime next year on the various areas they have been assigned to investigate.  This seems like a classic blow off - "Yes, faith leaders, why don't you go write a report.  I look forward to glancing at it." 

The issues that need moral guidance are on the table now!  By its silence, the President's Council on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships is acquiescing to its own irrelevancy.    Most Americans and policy makers have assuredly forgotten the council exists - but not those of us who really believed in the possibilities of the group.

The 'Urgency of Now' includes finding a way to a health care bill, address questions of unemployment and foreclosures, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, torture and even balancing gay marriage with freedom of religion.   The time will never be more urgent for the Council's moral voice on these questions.  

Immediately after it became known that the shooter at Fort Hood was South Asian and had a Muslim sounding name the condemnations came in from every major Islamic organization in America. In my inbox I got emails from Daisy Khan and Feisal Rauf, Eboo Patel, Shahed Amanullah and others expressing, on behalf of their religion, their sorrow and grief for the victims and the families of those who were killed and wounded. These Muslims felt the need to urgently and publically disassociated themselves from any violence that is in any way connected to Islam, and ask for calm in the face of this renewed suspicion among some quarters that Islam is the reason for this violent act. It reminds me of African Americans who cringe when they hear reports of a crime done by another African American fearing that the incident will reflect upon them because they share the same racial background. More recently, Asian Americans, especially of Korean decent, experienced a similar inclination to disassociate their own race with the shooter at Virginia Tech. And even more recently, Jews felt somehow implicated as a race and/or religion in the crimes of the swindler Bernie Madoff. It is in recognition of my own privilege as a white Christian male in America that I do not feel any need to disassociate myself from the many heinous things that white Christian men do because I already don't associate myself with them and neither does the rest of society. We who are White, Christian and Male (WCMs) should ask ourselves this basic question: When we heard about the Oklahoma bomber, Columbine, or the shooter at the Holocaust museum - all horrible crimes committed by WCMs did we think to ourselves - 'oh, this will reflect badly on me?' The answer is no. Why? Because still in this country, White, Male, Christians are considered normative and therefore the range of WCM behavior, from very good to very bad, simply represents the wide range of human behavior. I know I have nothing in common with Timothy McVeigh and so does the rest of American society. Unfortunately, people of other races and religions in America do not have the benefit of recognition that there are very good people and very bad people among them. Instead, the actions of one person of a minority group reflects upon the reputation and sense of security and worth of the entire group. This has to stop. It is not fair for a young Muslim student in Seattle to bear the burden of association or responsibility for the shooting in Texas. The two have nothing to do with one another. Of course we need to investigate the factors, including religious ones, that may have gone into this horrible shooter incident at Fort Hood, just as we needed to look into the influences on Timothy McVeigh in Oklahoma or Von Brunn at the Holocaust Museum. But this event no more reflects on the whole of Islam or South Asians than McVeigh or Von Brunn reflects on White, Christian Males. It is time to extend the privilege of disassociation from evil outliers to all races and religions in America.