Just when secular America thought it was safe to come out and play, Sarah Palin has appeared at the pulpit with a "literal" interpretation of the bible in hand and the pestilent wrath of her God alongside. Most voters know by now that Palin is a born again Christian and actively supports the core policies that are near and dear to the evangelical wing of the GOP. But what should really give voters pause is the specific religious doctrine of Pentecostal literalism that Palin believes in. This fringe Christianity is diabolically dangerous, and Sarah Palin is all in.
The Pentecostal church which Sarah Palin was a member of for thirty years believes in being "baptized in the Holy Spirit" and in speaking in tongues, prophesy and faith healing. They also teach dispensation, a religious doctrine that emphatically nurtures man's dominion over the earth and the end of times. The likelihood that this dogma would influence her environmental and foreign policy decisions is substantial.
Nancy Hardesty, a professor of religion at Clemson University in South Carolina offers this on Palin’s beliefs in a Chicago Tribune article,
"When she talks about using up our non-renewable resources, drilling on the North Slope and building the pipeline, it's almost with glee because in a sense it doesn't matter. All her brand of Christians may be gone before those things run out. It tends to lessen a long-term view."
And the Reverend Tim McGraw, Palin's pastor when she was the mayor of Wasilla said,
"Believers look to Israel for signs of the coming end times and where they are in God's plan. That would undoubtedly influence Palin's approach to foreign policy."
Janet Kincaid, who has worked with Sarah Palin for more than a decade in Alaska said this in the New York Times,
"The churches that Sarah has attended all believe in a literal translation of the Bible," Ms. Kincaid said. "Her principal ethical and moral beliefs stem from this."
Predictably, the McCain campaign when pressed on these issues bailed.
"We're not going to get into discussing her religion."
Of course they’re not, for even a superficial look at Palin’s religious journey in the Pentecostal faith and belief system would reveal how extreme she is and how she not only walks hand in hand with the evangelical wing of the Republican party, but takes it even further while the likes of James Dobson and Pat Robertson drool in tongues while fawning over her.
In a Time Magazine interview on August 14th, Palin said,
"I knew early on that the smartest thing for me to do was to work hard, do the best that I can, make wise decisions based on good information in front of me. And then put my life, get myself on a path that could be dedicated to God and ask Him what I should next. That will be the position I will be in as long as I'm on earth — that is, seeking the right path that God would have laid out for me".
This part of that statement alone should be enough to disqualify Palin from holding the office of Vice-President, if not legally, than morally. " . . . dedicated to God and ask Him what I should do next?" One can only cringe in abject terror imagining Palin as President embroiled in a potentially lethal confrontation on her knees in the Oval Office asking God what she should do. There is enough evidence out there that should make all rational Americans fear this.
According to the Associated Press, in the summer of 2008, Palin addressed the graduating class of commission students at her former Pentecostal church, The Wasilla Assembly of God. While talking about Iraq Palin said,
"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 U.S. soldiers out on a task that is from God. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan."
Margaret Poloma, a Pentacostal Christian at the University of Akron, who has written several books on Pentecostalism said this in an interview with Barbara Bradley Haggerty of NPR when asked if the above statement by Palin might lead some to believe that Palin believes this is a holy war, or that Pentecostals think this is a holy war.
"I would think it's fair to say. Yes. Most Pentecostals believe Islam is a false religion. Many times you hear it referred to as a kind of diabolical religion, and that comes from the idea of Christianity being the true religion, but also their support for Israel, because they contend that Israel represents God's chosen people and you dare not touch them."
It is this arrogant evangelical belief that America’s will is God’s will that has dominated American foreign policy the last eight years. It has led us perilously close to the abyss of hell and a McCain - Palin administration is sure to follow suit.
And Palin's beliefs are certainly not limited to foreign policy. She asked the same audience to pray for a $30 billion national gas pipeline she wanted built, saying,
"I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that."
Watch video of Palin speaking at her church here
. . . and here.
McCain may not be as vocal in his evangelicalism as Palin, but rest assured that his policies reflect the same radical beliefs. One can only hope that America's undecided voters get this message before election day. The trick for the Obama campaign will be how to figure out how to frame this issue and educate voters as to Palin's extremism, without giving ammunition to the right-wing smear machine that Democrats are anti-religion which is categorically not true.