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Christianity Today, November, 2008 |

Misunderstanding Sarah

Media reaction to Gov. Palin shows ignorance of evangelicalism.

A Christianity Today editorial | posted 10/28/2008 03:56PM

The Vice Presidential nomination of Sarah Palin stunned the American public, especially the mainstream media. For weeks, the focus of Palin puzzlement shifted daily, from her support for aerial wolf hunting ...

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Chris

Posted: November 07, 2008 11:37 PM

CT this article is nothing but a total wash. Anyone in their right mind knows Sarah Palin wasn't ready to be V.P....thank God they did not get in office. Furthermore, if Sarah Palin would have been Michelle Obama you and the Republicans would have gave her hell. Also, education isn't everything, but it is sure helpful in certain occupations. She didn't even know that Africa was a continent or anything about Russia; except that see can see it. Lastly, she is supposed to be a christian and the campaign that her and John McCain ran was nothing Christlike, actually, it was more in line with a Spirit of Division and Hatred. Please don't get me wrong, I voted Republican in the last 4 elections, however, this time I chose to follow my conviction and I am glad I did....Go Obama! God chose you and He is going to use you mightly to bring healing to our nation.

OS	Posted: November 05, 2008 8:08 PM

It is a sad day in the American Evangelical Community. Sad not because MCCain-Palin lost. Sad because Luke 16 especially verse 8 hangs as a fitting conclusion to the shameful position of the evangelical leaders. How can we have tried to hard to defend the indefensible. Even the ungodly could see that Palin was unqualified and her choice nothing but patronizing and pandering. It was never about her faith or sex. She was simply unqualified and McCain a poor manager applying for a job that requires good managers.

sync	Posted: November 05, 2008 7:52 PM

my point of view is different. palin seem to be a classic case of playing the sympathy card. the question was pro-life. i believe god is both pro-choice and pro-life, because both are victims of circumstances. but a bigger issue was this.... there is a war going on out there and many non-american civilians and children are being killed, tortured and imprisoned unjustly. this elections are about setting these captives free! pro-life must include supporting these innocent people's right to live not just the right of irresponsible mothers to play the sympathy card, make excuses or worse, encourages teenagers to get pregnant, opt out of school, live on dole and demand that food to be on the table. God is building a people of power, people who help themselves, workplace ministers - whether they are black, white, young old, even muslims. we dont choose christians. god does.

HeadsUp!

Posted: November 05, 2008 5:20 PM

Gr8 article. I agree w/ the general point, that males & females r equal & both can excel in whatever endeavor according to one’s talents & interests, but when it comes to home, for instance, there r archetypical roles each should fulfill. However, I, personally, supported Obama, cause, imo, his calm & self-assured personality would make for a better president of the United States of America. P.S. (quote) "..God saves people from their slavery to sin and uses them to restore others. Indeed, those of us who never did anything particularly shocking sometimes have trouble fitting in" was pretty uplifting & inspiring!

Dawn	Posted: November 04, 2008 11:39 PM

This article seems quite out of date and if I hadn't checked the date, I would have thought it was written in the 1950's. You state that it is ok for Sarah Palin to be v.p. of this great country but she would not be welcome in your pulpits or seminaries. A woman medical doctor can run and administrate hospitals overseas but dare she come home and speak in a Baptist pulpit. I have been a Christian my entire life, went to a Christian University and have been in various forms of lay ministry. I am so weary of the old battle of men running the family while"strong" women have their jobs. Get over yourselves. Women have the right to be pastors, presidents and partners in their homes. This mindset is not working with young men and women who are unchurched and older friends of mine have stated that had they known this gender inequality was so prominent in churhes they would not have become Christians. Let's exist cooperatively with each other and let the young ones see who we are in Christ.

Al Muir

Posted: November 04, 2008 1:57 PM


By their fruits we shall know them. Well, Im not sure where that leaves Sarah Palin. Across this side of the pond she looks like a nasty piece of work that tells whoppers of porkies about her opponents.

John	Posted: November 04, 2008 9:56 AM


This is article is a stretch. Pentecostals and evangelicals? The two are not considered the same by many circles.. thus should not be defended in the same way. Besides, CT has done a bad job jumping to the "religious right" to defend Palin.

Gentlelamb

Posted: November 03, 2008 5:33 PM

It's morally and naturally becomes a big issue because they judged others the same way. Was the prostitute any more righteous than the Pharisees? No, it's just that the Pharisees had a self righteous aura of condenming all others whilst not any better and may be worst. There is a principle here in that the same way you judged, it is the same manner you will be judged. However, in a Christian sense, Palin of course is forgiven. www.psa91.com Singapore

george

Posted: November 01, 2008 3:00 PM

You totally missed the point in order to make your argument! The people of God should be about accepting sinners. That was Jesus' model. Gender is a no brainer! What shocked many of us was Sarah's lack of "grace" and poor reflection of God's character. If you are going to use religion to your personal advantage, make use it in dealing with your opponents. It's Sarah Palin's type of Evangelicalism that makes secular people to want to run away from church and Christianity. She belongs in a boxing match better than using church to her advantage! I am glad the grace of God covers her daughter!-

Hal	Posted: October 31, 2008 3:29 PM

What's not to understand? Palin is a member of a weird, pseudo Christian cult called Pentecostalism. She believes stupid things that not too long ago were considered by most Christians to be pagan mumbo jumbo and her strange religion makes her a dangerous choice for VP. What's not to understand? And yes- there is a contradiction between her lifestyle and her faith? Who's taking care of her 5 children while this ambitious woman strives to advance her career? Todd? Is it appropriate for a man to be the primary care-giver to children, especially babies? Does Sarah fedex breast milk to Alaska while she's out gallivanting through the lower 48? Maybe if she focused more on her family than on her ambition, her daughter wouldn't have gotten knocked up.

Lewis

Posted: October 31, 2008 1:43 PM


This article is a bit confusing. It is sprinkled with unsupported opinion, and drifts from subject to subject by referencing tired and, hopefully, soon to be wornout political phraseology. CT should declare a moratorium on using "liberal" as a pejorative and referring to the, "evangelical base of the Republican party."

JustSomeKingdomDude

Posted: October 30, 2008 9:55 PM


My own observations have shown Mrs Palin to be anything but a good example of Christian leadership. She holds vendettas, abuses her powers, and, by recent accounts, trusts no one except herself. Her quest for power seems unchecked by the humility expected of a public servant, and required of a disciple of Christ. Perhaps the confusion is the disconnect between the Message and the messenger.

maxine

Posted: October 30, 2008 12:21 PM


In response to Premodern; you might want to check out http://politifact.com/truth-o-meter/rulings/false/ What's the justification? We can justify anything if we try hard enough.

maxine

Posted: October 30, 2008 12:20 PM

When candidates, or article commenters, claim to associate themselves with Christ by taking the name of Christian, then the words, actions, and everyday life of those persons should reflect the life that Christ lived. This campaign has divided Christians to the point where we really don't have very nice things to say about candidates or each other. I shudder to think of how non-Christians view Christianity if they base their view on our comments. God is bigger than this election. The Bible has more to say about money, justice and actions that perpetuate the disparity between rich and poor than it does about gay marriage. Isn't spreading the wealth around and working to lessen the gap between rich and poor more biblical than greed and trying to make sure that what I have remains mine? Some may call this socialism--I call it living as Christ taught us to live.

Anonymous

Posted: October 30, 2008 10:03 AM


I completely agree with this article, the mainstream media are just so thirsty for the blood of the rightous, all so they can feel better about themselves. I think it is so sad that more people can't get the truth, or just think it is too good to be true. If it were the prescious hillary clinton, they would be SO excited!

Mary Lou T

Posted: October 30, 2008 9:27 AM

This article doesn't make a bit of sense. I do agree that her daughter being PG does not disqualify her as almost every family has had that happen at one time or another and not always due to bad parenting. However, the woman has 5 children, one of them down syndrome baby. A down syndrome child needs a lot of very early childhood training in order to allow them to reach their potential. A mother running for office cannot do that. After what I went through from the Christian community because I had to work outside the home (and I limited my family to 1 child so I could give him the necessary attention when I was home) now it is hunky-dory with the religious community for her work with 5??? So her husband is a house husband. Well he has 2 jobs. Come on! This is beside the things in her background and her willingness to tell the same lies over and over and act like "I'm so cute" while telling them. Find someone besides Deborah to compare her to church.

S.	Posted: October 29, 2008 8:14 PM

(Response Part 1) I find the comment that Sarah Palin's child having a baby is "a non-issue" to (mostly white conservative) Evangelicals because they "specialize in troubled lives" highly disingenuous. If this were really so, it would also be true that had Barack Obama's child been pregnant (or if he had an extramarital affair as McCain "allegedly" had), these Christians would have made no references to Obama being "immoral" or said something to the effect of him "lacking the ability to properly raise his child." Regardless of whether many of these Evangelicals want to admit it, Obama is also a Christian based on Romans 10: 9-10. I know I'm about to get way too deep for the non-biblical, prejudicial criteria that these Christians have used to evaluate Obama's faith, but once a person has said they are saved based on biblical criteria, the Word says that God is the ultimate judge (see part 2)

S.	Posted: October 29, 2008 8:06 PM

(response part 2) The only thing we can do is evaluate someone’s commitment to Christ based on whether he or she has fruit (Galatians 5: 16-26). If these Christians can reinvent the criteria for being a Christian for Obama (e.g., using abortion as a litmus test and playing up unfounded rumors that he is a Muslim), Christianity Today can still honestly say these same Christians would have glossed over Obama having a pregnant child (or an extramarital affair) in the same way they did for Palin (and McCain)? In light of these attacks this election season, explaining their response to Bristol Palin’s pregnancy without addressing partisanship is inaccurate.

Jim	Posted: October 29, 2008 7:49 PM

I have yet to see a politician I felt was qualified to run on the issue of his/her own faith. It's better left out of the equation. We are about to elect someone to run the country, not the Kingdom, although individually we should cast our votes only after prayer and careful consideration. Christians seem to be expecting each other to vote on the most "Christian" candidates which leaves little or no room for debate according to some people. We have such high expectations of each other as Christians that no one can measure up. And, consider this: even if we were to finally agree on the abortion issue or the homosexual issue, we now have turned up the "women in leadership" issue. We seem to be always ready and able to find something we can disagree on.

A Hermit

Posted: October 29, 2008 5:58 PM

Jesus did not come to establish a worldly kingdom of material wealth based on military power, neither Israel nor the USA . Jesus was neither 'liberal' nor 'conservative'. A Christian is a follower of Christ, Christ in all things, Christ sovereign over all. A 'Conservative' Christian is an idolater who places conservative idol-ology over Christ's kingdom. A 'Liberal' Christian is an idolater who places liberal idol-ology over Christ. Sarah Palin believes that 'God wanted us in Iraq'- a war that has been condemned by most Christian leaders. Sarah Palin believes that creation is simply there to provide for man's greed- no need to care for it. Satah Palin believes that her children don't need her at home while she is a full time politician. That isn't 'family values'. That isn't 'Christian'.

Ed Cyzewski

Posted: October 29, 2008 2:15 PM

I don't think you can talk about the misunderstanding of Palin without mentioning the sensationalism about her churches, especially the Wasilla Assembly of God. The Huffington Post and a number of larger media outlets completely misconstrued these churches, opting for the least charitable presentation when reporting on them. As far as women in secular leadership vs. ministry goes, I understand that well-meaning Christians don't allow women to lead, but I have no doubt that such a view is inconsistent. With Deborah ruling Israel as a judge and Huldah serving as a prophet to the royal court, God has demonstrated that women are capable of religious and secular leadership. Paul may have restricted women at one point, but at another point God has no problem with women in leadership. These are the kinds of issues we need to be talking about.

susan

Posted: October 29, 2008 12:43 PM

I think that we place too many people on high pedestals...even those we think are 'qualified' to be President of the USA. NO ONE is really qualified in my opinion; past, present, and future. A person is constantly "becoming" and God raises up whom he will raise up to serve His ultimate plan. We in this country think we are experts (much like the elitists, progressives, and so called news people and political insiders). We all have jumped in. We are so busy thinking we know better. (Anyway, Sarah Palin and many other women are more than able, so we really DO need to end the sexism in both the conservative world and the liberal world.) Not only that, why don't we concentrate on WHO GOD IS, and on the simple basic right to life issue, take a stand? In the long run, our country will fall because of the holocaust of abortion. This will be the true silent killer of us all. Turn from this evil. May God have mercy on our nation. This is a the basic justice issue of all. Laus Deos

Brenda

Posted: October 29, 2008 12:09 PM

It was probably best for me to read the article and spare myself the comments. I'm so discouraged by the body of Christ these days, which is probably why I don't bother going to church very often. I totally agree with Gary - who would want to be in such a position of leadership these days? To Christians, one wouldn't be 'Christian enough' (by the way, on any given day, NONE OF US DO), and the secularists would always have a heyday. As for me, this year I'm voting against one candidate more than I am voting for one. I don't like that, but it is what it is.

Chase Masterson

Posted: October 29, 2008 12:07 PM

CT, please don't smokescreen the issues by trying to put the focus on Palin's gender. WHAT ABOUT the per diem falsities, the cruel wolf-hunting, illegally firing her ex-brother-in-law's boss (for which she was convicted in the Alaska court) and her obvious bad parenting (not only of her pregnant teenage daughter, but of her criminally-convicted son?) What about Palin's obvious lack of ability to lead a family or a state uprightly, much less a country? What about Palin's un-Christian attacks on Obama -- would Jesus say those things? Can you address her obvious inability to give intelligent answers to Katie Couric's most simple questions? Being pro-life or having a Christian label doesn't mean that Palin is qualified to be VP -- much less president if 78-year old McCain can't continue. I'm a Jesus-loving, born-again Christian, and I am stunned by the Christian community's willingness to put their heads in the sand regarding these obvious warning signs about Sarah Palin.

Frankie

Posted: October 29, 2008 12:07 PM

It's sad when conservatives criticize or label people as liberals. It's like some televangelists who pick & choose scriptures from the Bible for their own flesh. By the Word of God, a sin is a sin. What is a conservative? You talk about your beliefs in right to life, yet how many unborn babies are being killed daily? The Conservatives in government are doing nothing about it except complaining, so what's the difference? Sarah Palin tells lies & we know it, but are the evangalicals calling her on that? The Bible says, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." Senator Obama has been called a socialist for wanting to tax businesses and people who make over $250,000, to help the ones who make less, & with the economy like it is, that will include a lot of people who once were there. Read 2Corin. 8:13,14 and my prayer is that you will be convicted on what the Word of God is really saying here about supplying those with lack that you will be supplied as well.

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