Wednesday, September 17, 2008

The Media And Messianic Politics

I browse a lot of the international press websites. There is often information there we do not get in the U.S. as well as a perspective on us that we usually don't have of ourselves. Such is the reason for this post.

I'm hoping this will be one of, if not the, last post I do on Sarah Palin. However, with all the hyperbole regarding Obama's former pastor, Reverend Wright, I find it interesting to learn Ms. Palin also has a rather controversial minister behind her.

First I would like to lay out some speculation. The obvious is, the sooner we quit obsessing over Ms. Palin, the sooner she will go away. John McCain is the Presidential candidate.

Considering how little regard McCain has for the office of Vice President, I do not see Ms. Palin being given much to do after the election. McCain wants it too much to "share" it with his V.P. I would guess he harbors some chauvinistic tendencies that also contribute to this assumption. Therefore, I assume, he is "using" her strictly for political expedience rather than for what she brings to the ticket. He needs the Christian Conservatives and the women who will fall for this ploy.


That being said, the following headline caught my attention on the London Times online site: Palin linked electoral success to prayer of Kenyan witchhunter . The first paragraph reads : "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."

That should be enough to give you the gist of the story. One can never be sure how much is true but it is worthy of a read and especially a look at the video that is referred to.

I admit I do not relate to the thigh slapping, rapture inspiring rhetoric of a lot of religions. I am more the type who appreciates a greater power by watching the squadrons of geese looking for wintering grounds this time of year. Or my fence line of awesome sunflowers, as big as dinner plates, in full bloom. I left behind the idea, long ago, that faith and doom and gloom are compatible.

Neither is "faith" and political expediency. McCain left behind his Episcopalian faith to become a Baptist. There is nothing wrong with this but I do look at the timing and question why.

Ms. Palin is very open about her faith, but it is important to know what it is that faith espouses. Watch and listen to the video clip. Form your own opinion.

I'm personally very uncomfortable with what I saw and heard. I'm also very uncomfortable with the fact I had to visit a London paper's link to learn of it.

4 comments:

Sylvia K said...

I'm headed to the video clip right now. You and I feel the same way about religion -- as we seem to feel the same way about a number of things. I too, hope to get some more insightful glances by reading pieces from other countries. Thanks for the heads up on this one. Hope your week is going well.

Margie's Musings said...

I too have an unconventional religious experience. I am really a process theologian. I do not believe in a God that "interferes" or pulls strings for anyone. The God in which I believe does not coerce either but persuades us into the right way. I see evidence of God in nature as well.

Linda said...

I've fought so many battles with this kind of religious thinking that you'd think I would have figured it out before now that you cannot educate people that do not want to be educated. There are many people who hand their thinking to the minister when they join a church. It's much easier that way. Just swallow whole whatever is dished out for you. You don't have to do any thinking. The world is black and white. These people have no intellectual curoisity.

Anonymous said...

Why do we think this is getting no attention in the US media, whereas Obama's minister was 24/7?

I think the public needed to hear about Rev. Wright, but I would have felt better had they not taken snippets of his sermons to show over and over again. I had to search online for the entire sermons and once I read it all, what he said wasn't nearly as damning. And it forced Obama to face it head on, which he did with a great deal of grace.

Doesn't the American public deserve the same from Palin?