FreThink

Three months before she was thrust into the national political spotlight, Gov. Sarah Palin was asked to handle a much smaller task: addressing the graduating class of commission students at her one-time church, Wasilla Assembly of God.

Her speech in June provides as much insight into her policy leanings as anything uncovered since she was asked to be John McCain’s running mate.

Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord.

“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,” she exhorted the congregants. “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.”

Religion, however, was not strictly a thread in Palin’s foreign policy. It was part of her energy proposals as well. Just prior to discussing Iraq, Alaska’s governor asked the audience to pray for another matter — a $30 billion national gas pipeline project that she wanted built in the state. “I think God’s will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that,” she said.

Palin’s address, much of which was spent reflecting on the work of the church in which she grew up and was baptized, underscores the notion that her world view is deeply impacted by religion. In turn, her remarks raise important questions: mainly, what is Palin’s faith and how exactly has it influenced her policies?

The church runs a number of ministries providing help to poor neighborhoods, care for children in need, and general community services. But Pastor Kalnins has also preached that critics of President Bush will be banished to hell; questioned whether people who voted for Sen. John Kerry in 2004 would be accepted to heaven; charged that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and war in Iraq were part of a war “contending for your faith;” and said that Jesus “operated from that position of war mode.” (Source: huffingtonpost)

Those further toward the extreme ends of both Islam and Christianity sound so similar I suspect you could alter just a few references and their rhetoric would work for both. Once theology gets misapplied to government the results are the same regardless of culture or god. I see no reason to suppose a Christan theocracy in America would be much different than the theocracies in the Middle East. Especially since the loudest voices in the U.S. right now belong to the fundamentalists. A whole lot of Christians are going to suffer under a theocracy here, more than the number of non-believers. Fundamentalists are hard-corps, “you’re either with us or against us”, paranoid, humorless, Bible literalists. They don’t like Mormons, they abhor liberal Christians, they don’t consider Catholics to be Christians.

I hope all the non-fundie Christians have really considered what sort of country they’re conspiring to bring about. The fundies play dirty, they are tougher than Episcopalians. They don’t care what it will mean to world peace to make future wars religious wars. Fundies like war and really hate the fundies on the other side. If we allow ourselves to become religious imperialists, the only result will be greater violence, never-ending conflict and constant fear of retaliation.

Religion has no place in a secular government. We must never allow religion to become a motivation for war, for the same reason we should never allow emotion to motivate war.