Palin's Prayer Warriors

The October 23 Denver Daily News published a story about Sarah Palin's views on God and the election. I found a rough transcript of her interview with James Dobson, on which the news story was based.

Dobson said he and others have been praying for "God's intervention"; that "God's perfect will will be done in November the fourth." I.e., they think God has the ability to sway the election in favor of McCain-Palin, and they are asking God to do so. (The mechanism by which God would supposedly do this is unclear; apparently he would "touch people's hearts" or some such -- possess them -- in the voting booths.)

Palin replied:

Well, it is that intercession that is so needed and so greatly appreciated. And I can feel it too, Dr. Dobson. I can feel the power or prayer and that strength is provided through our prayer warriors across this nation and I so appreciate it. [Dobson says, " Well, you hear that everywhere you do, don't you?] I do, and that is what allows us to continue to be inspired and strengthened. And it's just a great reminder also when we hear along the rope lines that people are interceding for us and praying for us; it's our reminder to do the same, to put this all in God's hands, to seek his perfect will for this nation and to, of course, seek his wisdom and guidance in putting this nation back on the right track.

If McCain is elected, Palin will be a heartbeat away from the most powerful political office in the world. If she becomes president, she will think that God placed her in that position and that her duty is to impose God's "perfect will" on the nation.

Meanwhile, as Myrhaf reviews, Rush Limbaugh has called on those who reject faith-based politics to leave the Republican Party. Read the transcript.

There can be no doubt -- because leading Republicans have gone out of their way to remind us -- that the Republican Party is the party of the religious right. Palin's comments have prompted me to again think seriously about voting for Obama (rather than nobody).

If Palin does become president, several things might mitigate her damage. She would (probably) face a Democratic Congress, which would (probably) block the worst possible Supreme Court nominees. She is inept, so she might flub the job so badly that she'd be enormously unpopular. And, regardless of her performance, the American people might revolt against her overt and overriding faith-based politics. I don't think I need to outline the worst-case scenario.

AP Details Palin's Tax-Funded Church Tours

I actually meant to place this post here, but now that it's been up I'll leave it. The upshot is that Sarah Palin used tax funds as governor to attend religious events and used her political offices to work against abortion rights and support faith-based welfare. Read the article from the Associated Press for more.

Sarah Palin and the Witch Hunter

A few days ago, I reviewed the connection between Sarah Palin and Pastor Thomas Muthee, who made a name for himself by running a "witch" out of a Kenyan town.

Now it is clear that, when Palin praised Muthee in June, 2008, she already knew that Muthee took seriously the alleged evils of "witchcraft." As an Associated Press story points out (and see also the related video linked by the same Rocky Mountain News page) in May, 2005, Muthee prayed over Palin, asking God to grant her political success and to protect her from "every form of witchcraft."

Aside from indicating the sorts of people Palin thanks for her political success, the story has at least two other interesting angles.

First, notice how some right wingers are invoking cultural relativism to defend Palin. For example, "Mike846" writes in the comments beneath the story as presented by the Rocky: "You can bet if a witch doctor in Africa had blessed Obama in some tribal ceremony during his visit there, it would have been hailed as a display of his 'tolerance and understanding' of cultural differences in the world." So, by comparison, apparently we're supposed to think well of a man who drove a woman for her home because of her alleged witchcraft, because of the man's quaint "cultural differences." Wow.

Second, Palin's ties to religious crazies may neutralize McCain's attack on Jeremiah Wright. I had assumed that McCain, or his supporters, would start running Wright-Obama ads right before the election. I figured this would have been an effective strategy. But now that doesn't seem like such an effective line of attack.

I keep changing my mind about who's more likely to win the election. I'm not voting for either, and the prospect of either man winning frightens me. However, it seems increasingly likely to me that, as I've argued, Palin will scare away the freedom-minded independents and secular Republicans McCain needs to win the Interior West.

"A Spirit of Witchcraft"

I guess that since Sarah Palin is supposed to be the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan, it's appropriate that she's turning into a Teflon Vice-President. It seems that, no matter how kooky her background becomes, the conservatives will rally to her cause. Part of the problem is that some of the stuff is so bizarre it's hard to take seriously; it seems like an elaborate practical joke.

Keith Olbermann reviews Palin's comments about Pastor Thomas Muthee.

Hannah Strange reports for The Times:

The pastor whose prayer Sarah Palin says helped her to become governor of Alaska founded his ministry with a witchhunt against a Kenyan woman who he accused of causing car accidents through demonic spells.

At a speech at the Wasilla Assembly of God on June 8 this year, Mrs Palin described how Thomas Muthee had laid his hands on her when he visited the church as a guest preacher in late 2005, prior to her successful gubernatorial bid. ...

An African evangelist, Pastor Muthee has given guest sermons at the Wasilla Assembly of God on at least 10 occasions in his role as the founder of the Word of Faith Church, also known as the Prayer Cave. ...

"We prayed, we fasted, the Lord showed us a spirit of witchcraft resting over the place," Pastor Muthee says. ...

According to the Christian Science Monitor, six months of fervent prayer and research identified the source of the witchcraft as a local woman called Mama Jane, who ran a "divination" centre called the Emmanuel Clinic. ...

The "witch" eventually was run out of town.

Here's what the Christian Science Monitor has to say about Muthee:

In 1988, [Kenyan pastor Thomas Muthee] and his wife, Margaret, were "called by God to Kiambu," a notorious, violence-ridden suburb of Nairobi and a "ministry graveyard" for churches for years. They began six months of fervent prayer and research.

Pondering the message of Eph.6:12 ("For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world..."), they prayed to identify the source of Kiambu's spiritual oppression, Mr. Muthee says. Their answer: the spirit of witchcraft.

This election is increasingly a contest of the crazies. Certainly this is the most frightening election of my lifetime.

"A Task That Is From God"

Fox News points out that Sarah Palin did not claim that "Saddam Hussein helped Al Qaeda plan the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon," as The Washington Post reported. Fox also points out that Palin did not call the Iraq war a "holy war," as ABC News implied.

However, here's what Palin did say, as Fox reports:

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 that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan.

The McCain camp objected to ABC News's treatment of the quote:

"Governor Palin's full statement was VERY different" from the way Gibson characterized it," read a statement circulated by McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds.

"Gibson cut the quote -- where she was clearly asking for the church TO PRAY THAT IT IS a task from God, not asserting that it is a task from God.

"Palin's statement is an incredibly humble statement, a statement that this campaign stands by 100 percent, and a sentiment that any religious American will share," Bounds wrote.

Yet here it is Bounds who is performing the spin. The difference between saying that the Iraq war is "a task that is from God" and saying that we should pray that it is "a task that is from God" is pretty trivial. Palin clearly says that the war should be "God's plan." This gives a religious motivation to foreign policy, which should be grounded solely in the national defense of the United States.

Moreover, as I've pointed out, at the same event Palin also said she thought it was "God's will" that she help build an energy pipeline, and she added that political reform "doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with God."

Palin clearly made the case that politics must be fundamentally based on religion.