God's Will According to Sarah Palin
The Republicans have been on defense this week over all the stories that are coming out of Alaska about Sarah Palin. I'm not even going to mention the issue with her 17 year-old daughter because I truly believe that is a family matter that should be left alone. However, there are other matters such as the "troopergate" story (she's currently under investigation from the Alaska state legislature for misuse of her power as governor), her ties to indicted Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, her flip-flop on the "bridge to nowhere," her membership in the radical fringe group the Alaska Independence Party, and her utter lack of qualifications to be a "heartbeat away from the presidency," etc. There are even stories now out about her time as mayor before she became governor.
All that aside, one of the most troubling revelations came late this afternoon. It surfaced in a video of her giving a speech to the graduating students at her former church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. You can hear the speech in its entirety here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/02/palins-church-may-have-sh_n_123205.html
The most troubling thing in the video, is the comment she maked about half-way into the speech:
"Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God. That's what we have to make sure we're praying for. That there is a plan and that it is God's plan."
I have serious reservations about someone who has such a twisted theological understanding about the war in Iraq. To say the war was necessary (President Bush's argument) is one thing. To say it is a "task from God" is something that is really, really scary! Wonder if she has ever heard of Jesus' words: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God."
posted by Glenn Jonas at 8:48 PM
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13 Comments:
YES i like the way you talk
i totaly agree with you on that
4:45 PM
So is it bad to pray that the mission "our national leaders are sending [our military men and women]" out on "is a task from God." As opposed to a) a war for oil [which is obviously wasn't, else we wouldn't be paying nearly $4.00/gal for gas], b) a vendetta [which I'm not convinced that didn't have a part in it] or c) an ill-conceived, ill-planned, and, until the firing of Rumsfield and the implementation of the surge, ill-executed conflict?
Her prayer makes perfect sense, especially given the context in which it was delivered. I wouldn't have worded it like that, but that doesn't diminish the fact that it makes sense in context.
5:54 PM
i agree with jr on this
3:31 PM
Dear "JR",
I believe you have overlooked several of the founding principles of our nations in making this comment. First of all, the actions of this country are voted on by a divine council and therefore the tasks of God. Our country acts out of a democratic electoral process which in no way "consults" God to make it's decisions. Yes, a christian argument for "God's hand" in these decisions could be made. However, to say that waging a war in part to supplement a dictatorial regimen with our "superior" democratic system is the divine will of God only undermines the culturally contingent political systems of foriegn governments. The US government did not wage war with Iraq, or anyone else on the behalf of God and it is completely unethical to declare a religious motivation for this war, such as a task from God. It may be argued that freeing an embondaged people from a tyrannical dictator is an act of love, and therefore the task of God. But, this argument could just as easily be that of any culturally aware atheist as well. The theological relationship between God and love does not presuppose that love is intrisically restricted to acts of/for God. In other words, simply saying that God is love, does not mean that love cannot reside in other factions apart from Godself. Palin was extremely unprofessional and unconstitutional in attributing the motives of this war and its advocates to the will and blessing of God.
9:25 PM
camel, your sophistry is duly noted.
As for Palin's comments, it is pretty clear that, in context, she is not referring to the war in general (which, by all accounts, by the time she made these statements was well under way) but to the fact that troops are continually being sent into the theater of war. The insinuation is that hopefully the sending out of these troops is for some higher purpose than the reasons I listed above. Anytime a national leader makes as big a blunder as that of President Bush, the best any of us can do is to pray that somehow (in spite of said leader) God's will is accomplished in it.
I think the "God's will" latent here is that the war be ended as quickly and judiciously as possible.
12:50 AM
I would say that someone could easily view this as a task of God. In the Bible, God quite often used armies to accomplish his plans. Especially if one has a pre-destination point of view then everything that happens is the "will of God". Just because Palin said this doesn't make her unprofessional, how can expressing your beliefs make you unprofessional when our Government's Constitution specifically gives us that right?
I don't personally agree with this view, and yes it would be a contributing factor in my unwillingness to vote for her. This however does not mean that I would say that she was wrong for expressing her views. Just because she has a different theological viewpoint from me does not make her "unprofessional" it just makes her different, and differences are what makes this country what it is today. As far as calling it unconstitutional I would have to yet again disagree, our country's constitution was created to include the ability to express your religious beliefs, which is what she was doing. She never said that the reason we went to war was explicitly for God, but she said that it was a task of God. In the Bible God used other nations to accomplish His will for the Israelites, and it wasn't because God told them to, He just used the plans of the other nations to work towards His plans for His people.
1:33 PM
I think it's a dangerous step to compare the Scripture references you seem to be alluding to (OT stories?) to modern day politics and especially warfare.
I don't have a problem with what Palin said (though I'd have stated it differently), but it's dangerous to go from talking about "the will of God" to comparing it to those biblical stories...and I think well outside the bounds of the context of her statement.
1:52 PM
Thanks everyone for the comments. I'll just add this. Whenever someone uses the words "God's will" and "war" in the same paragraph I get really nervous. Sounds eerily similar to the idea of "crusade." And, all you have to do is read a little bit of Middle Ages history to know how evil and destructive that era was.
4:49 PM
I was really just referring to carawaycamel's comment about Palin being unprofessional and unconstitutional. I, in no way, am defending her point of view, I am simply defending her right to have it. As Voltaire said, "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it."
10:12 PM
LOL...I figured that was what you were referring to. I was agreeing that doing that is a dangerous jump and incredibly poor exegesis...and I don't think that was the direction of the prayer.
11:05 PM
Guys, she was simply saying that it is our responsibility to make sure that the war is part of God's plan, she didn't say it was.
TAP
2:56 PM
See, I have a slightly different take, though I agree with your queasiness about the statement. I think if we look at what she and other church leaders at Wasilla AoG mean by God's will or God's plan, I don't think they are saying that the war is God's will. I think, rather, they are saying that by the prayers of the righteous, they can make their will into God's will. Or, that their prayers activate the war into being God's already established plan.
It's twisted, and I think more disturbing than saying the war was simply a "task from God." It's essentially saying that almost anything can be molded into God's will by the, dare I say, name-it-claim-it prayers of the people.
1:08 PM
A person of faith simply adds to political reasoning and strategy also his or her question to God, if what they do is pleasing to him.
If you believe in God, you believe that he can give you insights when you pray to him. So this is in an attempt to do more than just to rely on your own mind.
This does not in any way mean that people of faith are always hearing God or do God's will, if they don't like what they hear.
You can't turn something into something, just because you are praying about it. Everybody will be judged according to his or her deeds.
But you have to understand that people of faith sometimes try to do the right thing by asking for guidance of God. And that's in all faiths around the world.
I know many people are cynical about faith and think it is old-fashioned, but if it is the truth it can never be out-of-touch. And each and every person has to determine this for him or herself.
TAP
2:50 PM
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