The NYT Gets Sarah’s Faith
September 6, 2008
Certain people have been waiting for months for the New York Times to do an in-depth story on Barack Obama’s church. I’m not one of those people who buys into the OMG Barack Obama is a MUUUUUUUSSSSLLLLIIIM thing — its barking up the wrong tree and spending time on an issue that could best be spent somewhere else — but I am still curious about the dynamics of both Trinity United Church of Christ and St. Sabinas. Maybe that’s legitimate, maybe not, but if you’re going to do an indepth exploration of Sarah Palin’s faith and Sarah Palin’s church, it seems only fair that you’d give the Obama familiy parish equal time…right?
Hah..Hahahahahaha. Just kidding. I know when I’m at a disadvantage.
Shortly after taking office as governor in 2006, Sarah Palin sent an e-mail message to Paul E. Riley, her former pastor in the Assembly of God Church, which her family began attending when she was a youth. She needed spiritual advice in how to do her new job, said Mr. Riley, who is 78 and retired from the church…
He wrote back that she should read again from the Old Testament the story of Esther, a beauty queen who became a real one, gaining the king’s ear to avert the slaughter of the Jews and vanquish their enemies. When Esther is called to serve, God grants her a strength she never knew she had.
Mr. Riley said he thought Ms. Palin had lived out the advice as governor, and would now do so again as the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee.
Oh NOES!!! She takes inspiration from a biblical story about one of the greatest queens in history (Esther wasn’t, by the way, just a “beauty queen” who “gained the king’s ear” — she single-handedly saved the Jewish population living in Persia by uncovering and warning the king of a plot to massacre them. Because of Esther, the Jewish people had control of Persia for almost 2500 years). She believes in the power of prayer, like millions of Americans, and despite apparently believing in a literal translation of the Bible — according to once source unrelated to and only loosely affiliated with Sarah Palin that the NYT dug up out of Wasilla, Alaska, who also apparently does not attend the same church as Palin — has never insisted that creationism become a part of Alaska’s science curriculum (Obama, on the other hand, has written repeatedly that faith inspires his life, although he does make some platitudes about “separation,” only to come back to the whole “inspiration” thing, which makes me wonder how one can turn God on and off at will).
Fear-mongering! Didn’t you know that as soon as people who believe in God get into the White House, they begin formulating a plot to turn America into a Christian Theocracy and install James Dobson at the head? Seriously, NYT, if George W. Bush didn’t do it, you have no rational fear of a Theocracy ever being instituted. Same goes with the police state, by the way, although FISA and the Patriot Act pretty well freak me out.
But back to the article. I guess letting the NYT expend their frustration by digging into Palin’s personal life isn’t so bad when they come up for air with an answer to a smear sure to come. Apparently, Palin and her family had more good sense than a Presidential candidate we happen to know and love.
One of the musical directors at the church, Adele Morgan, who has known Ms. Palin since the third grade, said the Palins moved to the nondenominational Wasilla Bible Church in 2002, in part because its ministry is less “extreme†than Pentecostal churches like the Assemblies of God, which practice speaking in tongues and miraculous healings.
So, let me get this straight. At some point, Sarah Palin and her family realized that their church was getting a bit out of hand which would do, probably, two things: one, make them uncomfortable and challenge their faith, and two, look bad on the dossier when Mrs. Palin finally made the national scene (if I want to be cynical). So what did they do? They picked up and left their church and went to a new church.
Huh…well, that seems like a pretty smart thing to do. I wonder why Barack didn’t think of that.
Posted in Uncategorized
September 6th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Rev. Wright’s church is not a Unitarian - or even a Universalist - church. It is a United Church of Christ church — UCC congregations are usually listed as “Mainline Protetant” and are as staid and proper as the “frozen chosen” of John McCain’s childhood Episcopalian Church - or even the Methodists.
After the Senator married Cindy, she convinced him to join a Baptist congregation. He soon became a much more fun loving person.
Some history from the SF Chronicle:
http://tinyurl.com/6gqc8m
I am, of course, an adherent of the Fundamentalist Branch of Unitarian (not Universalist) (is there a possible)theology.
Craig,
AKA Brother Sharp Knife of Benevolent Reason
September 7th, 2008 at 2:09 am
So Sarah Palin goes to church. This is big news how?
September 7th, 2008 at 5:52 am
That’s easy: because it wouldn’t occur to Barack Obama that it’s a problem to be a member of a church whose pastor regularly damns America and consistently preaches nutty conspiracy theories about how whitey is keeping him down. And as you can see, from the reaction of the mainstream press, Barack Obama was right: he’s quasi-black, so his pastor’s fruitcake views are off limits and/or irrelevant.
September 8th, 2008 at 5:07 am
You have edited your original post - without noting the edit. I am unable to enjoy the same privilege concerning my response.
Without context my comment is nonsensical.
Thanks.
P.S. I do agree with your post, I wasn’t just looking for Unitarian hit jobs.
September 8th, 2008 at 6:02 am
I’ll make it up to you by writing an intense and lengthy screed about Unitarians. How does that sound?
September 8th, 2008 at 6:09 am
Just to set the record straight, there are two types of Episcopalians - high church and low church. It’s only the high church Episcopalians that are referred to as the “frozen chosen”. They’re also the ones who like to have even more smells and bells than the RCC. Maybe 10-15% of Episcopal parishes are high church, and the number is falling. If you’re wondering how I know this, I seem to be this blog’s resident Episcopalian commenter - low church, I can assure you.
The mind boggles at the concept of a Unitarian hit job.
regards,