Sarah Palin: A Gidget for God's Truth
http://www.truthout.org/article/sarah-palin-a-gidget-gods-truth
"The Constitution established the United States of America as a
Christian nation," declared John McCain back in September 2007. With
his vice-presidential pick of Governor Sarah Palin, he has found a
winsome soul mate who is even more of a Christian nationalist, eager
to use government to impose her religious views on the rest of us.
Palin's stance on abortion illustrates her approach. As she
proudly declares, she sees the Bible as literally true, which leads
her to believe that aborting a fetus is murder. That position
contradicts our long history of common and statutory law. She then
goes on to conclude that government should severely punish anyone who
has an abortion or performs one, even in the case of rape or incest.
She also opposes stem cell research.
McCain hears God less extremely, but the Republican platform
echoes Palin, and if she ever became president, she would feel
completely justified in making her religious belief a litmus test for
appointees to the Supreme Court.
Her attitude toward gays and lesbians is similar, though observers
in both the gay press and corporate media have misrepresented the
firmness of her convictions. The confusion stems from a legal suit
that some same-sex couples filed in 1999, arguing that Alaska had no
right to deny domestic partners of state employees the same health and
pension benefits that the state gave to married spouses. The case made
its way to Alaska's Supreme Court, which ruled in 2005 that the state
could not discriminate against the domestic partners.
In the political firestorm that followed, the Alaska legislature
passed a bill forbidding state officials to pay the benefits. Alaska's
attorney general then declared the bill unconstitutional, and the
newly inaugurated Governor Palin felt legally obliged to veto it. But,
she loudly proclaimed her opposition to spousal benefits for domestic
partners and signed a separate bill calling for a state referendum,
which she said would lay the groundwork for overturning the state
Supreme Court ruling.
She also declared her long-time opposition to same-sex marriage, a
position she had displayed as early as 1998 when she enthusiastically
backed a constitutional amendment to ban the practice in Alaska.
"I believe that honoring the family structure is that important,"
she told the Anchorage Daily News in 2006. She was "not out to judge
anyone and has good friends who are gay." But, she explained, her
opposition grew out of her strong religious views.
Palin's religious convictions, and her willingness to use the
power of government to force them on others, has won strong backing
from far-right groups, such as James Dobson's Focus on the Family, the
Family Research Council, Phyllis Schlafly's Eagle Forum, and the
Council for National Policy, the normally secretive network of right-
wing preachers, political operatives, and fat cats who have been a
major force in the Republican Party ever since they backed Ronald
Reagan for president.
These overlapping groups view homosexual acts as "an abomination"
and have led the fight against what Dr. Dobson calls "the radical
Homosexual agenda." Focus on the Family will soon bring to Anchorage a
conference on "curing homosexuality" through the power of prayer, an
event that Palin's hometown church in Wasilla is actively promoting.
In the same vein, Palin has opposed extending hate crime laws to
protect gays and lesbians, called for teaching creationism in public
schools, and - as mayor of Wasilla - looked into banning books from
the public library because they contained inappropriate language.
She described the building of a $30 billion natural gas pipeline
in Alaska as "God's will," which she would work to carry out as
governor.
She supports the presence of US troops in Iraq as a "task that is
from God."
And she has told colleagues that Christ will return within her
lifetime, which raises questions about what sort of Armageddon she has
in mind.
However absurd one finds all this, Palin's religious convictions
should normally remain her own private concern. But her eagerness to
use public office to enforce and implement what she believes makes her
beliefs a matter of enormous public importance.
If you don't believe me, just listen to the enormous support Palin
is receiving from Dr. Dobson, "End Time" author Tim La Haye, and
others on the Christian right. Dobson once swore he would never vote
for John McCain. He now calls McCain's choice of Palin "outstanding"
and is promising his enthusiastic support.
Sarah Palin is their gal, and if she is elected vice president,
these warriors of God could find themselves only a heartbeat away from
their long-held goal of turning America into an ultra-rightwing
Christian nation.
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