Defending Governor Palin's Church/Religion

The intensely personal attacks on Governor Palin now include attacks on her faith. Some misunderstand her faith, others as Slate did in a recent article, outright attack it. No expert myself on faith or religion, I asked my brother Greg who belongs to a church very similar to that of Governor Palin to clarify what it is and isn’t to be a fundamentalist Christian. Also, following his write up is a part of a write up from Mary McCurry a Roman Catholic who is deeply troubled by the manner in which Governor Palin’s faith has been attacked.

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Greg Morrison - MN
First of all, the author [from the Slate article] incorrectly correlates the term “fundamentalist” with the term “extremist”. To be a fundamentalist, simply means to believe in certain fundamentals. The fundamentals of Sarah Palin’s church can be found clearly on their website. They are few and fairly straightforward. They believe…

1. ...the Bible is the inspired and only infallible and authoritative Word of God.
2. ...Jesus Christ is the only Divine Son of God.
3. ...man is inherently sinful and in need of the grace of God.
4 ...salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, apart from works.
5. ...the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues is given to believers who ask for it.
6. ...in Miracles of Divine healing in response to the prayer of faith.
7. ...in the imminent return of Jesus for all Christians.

While individuals (even Christians) can argue as to whether or not this is a partial, complete, or extended list of fundamentals, the fact is that most Christian faiths believe in some if not all of the above tenets…

…most of the above statements of faith are very much within the “mainstream” of Christianity. Consequently while someone may be a Christian fundamentalist that in no way by itself means that they are by default an “extremist”.

Second, many of the freedoms we enjoy today are possible due to beliefs that are found in the Bible. God over and over again in scripture communicates to man that he has a choice to make (ex: Deut 30:19 I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live.) This particular scripture is an example of the choice that God gives us. To paraphrase this passage, God is essentially saying the following. I’m calling everyone to say that I am giving you the freedom to make a choice. Here are your options; Life and Blessing or Death and Cursing. You choose. By the way I’d choose life if I were you. It is much better.

Are there some individuals who have perverted the truth? Of course. As in any segment of society there are those who do not take the time to learn and understand the truth…

…That being said, I have seen nothing so far that would suggest that Sarah Palin or her Church believe anything outside of the above basic fundamentals.

…It should be understood that to a person of Christian faith (even of the fundamentalist nature) science and God are not incongruous. After all from our perspective, God created both faith and science. Some of the theory’s that lead in our scientific circles may in fact be closer than many might think. For example the Big Bang Theory explains how the Universe came to be from virtual nothingness. To a fundamentalist Christian this is not a new revelation. After all, In the beginning…God said, Let there be light, and (BANG) there was light (Gen 1:1&3).

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Mary McCurry - CA

…First, there is the wide dissemination of verifiably false stories of her claiming that the Iraq war and the Alaska pipeline are God's tasks. Then that she dared to pray in a Church of all places. I watched and listened to the YouTube clip 4 times where she was in her Church and offering support for her son and all our troops going to war. She prayed that God has a plan and that we be part of it. In other words by praying she was NOT stating what God's plan is, but asking God's guidance and strength that we rightly discern His Will and be empowered and protected to carry that out. That is even a step in the 12 Step programs. This is the same kind of praying that goes on in thousands of Churches of many different traditions.

Attacks on her Pentecostal faith and practices like speaking in tongues or rolling on the floor, etc -- It is not enough to just say that she doesn't do that - that's not the point. The point is that whether she does or doesn't millions of intelligent, educated and faith filled people do and there is nothing insane about that. Charismatic Catholics speak in tongues. Many Protestant groups do as well whether labeled Pentecostal or not. Sts Paul and Peter spoke in tongues along with the rest of the crowd at Pentecost. To attack this practice as making anyone unfit for public office is an attack on all religious practice or beliefs.

Defending Governor Palin's Church and Religion

The ‘Please Do Something’ Congress

The remarkable side story to this year’s presidential election is how useless this Congress has become. Representative Dr. Michael Burgess of Texas estimates the actual days that the Congress will be in session before the November election is between 10-20 days. Senator Mitch McConnell is disturbed by the number of circuit court judge vacancies there are because Congress refuses to hold confirmation hearings. Dr. Burgess believes the only piece of legislation that may be addressed before this election is the Columbia Free Trade agreement, as the Dems don’t want to see the first possible piece of legislation to go before an Obama presidency to be a free trade agreement, as Senator Obama position on free trade has been muddled.

Differences in positions are part of the deal in Congress, but refusal to work or hold hearings is irresponsible. Speaker Pelosi has refused to hear the House energy bill, which has support with both conservatives and moderates as it takes a ‘do everything’ approach to help produce more energy, reducing gas and oil prices. As Dr. Burgess stated the Democratic leadership does not want to see any new laws passed that might make the Bush administration look good. Therefore, they stick the American people for their own political gain. Last session was known as the ‘Do nothing’ Congress, but as Dr. Burgess pointed out this has been the least effective Congress in recent history, and has taken on the moniker of the ‘Please do something’ Congress.

The 'Please Do Something' Congress

Republican Nominee John McCain

John McCain Town Hall Meeting - Time

From small 50-100 person town hall meetings in New Hampshire to accepting the Republican nomination center stage at the 18,000 seat Xcel Center makes for quite a story. Yet Senator McCain's life is full of compelling stories.

You know, I’ve been called a maverick; someone who marches to the beat of his own drum. Sometimes it’s meant as a compliment and sometimes it’s not. What it really means is I understand who I work for. I don’t work for a party. I don’t work for a special interest. I don’t work for myself. I work for you.

I’ve fought corruption, and it didn’t matter if the culprits were Democrats or Republicans. They violated their public trust, and had to be held accountable. I’ve fought big spenders in both parties, who waste your money on things you neither need nor want, while you struggle to buy groceries, fill your gas tank and make your mortgage payment. I’ve fought to get million dollar checks out of our elections. I’ve fought lobbyists who stole from Indian tribes. I fought crooked deals in the Pentagon. I fought tobacco companies and trial lawyers, drug companies and union bosses.

I fought for the right strategy and more troops in Iraq, when it wasn’t a popular thing to do. And when the pundits said my campaign was finished, I said I’d rather lose an election than see my country lose a war.

Thanks to the leadership of a brilliant general, David Petraeus, and the brave men and women he has the honor to command, that strategy succeeded and rescued us from a defeat that would have demoralized our military, risked a wider war and threatened the security of all Americans.

I don’t mind a good fight. For reasons known only to God, I’ve had quite a few tough ones in my life. But I learned an important lesson along the way. In the end, it matters less that you can fight. What you fight for is the real test.

Day 2 at the Convention - “Viva John McCain”

Tuesday's schedule was dedicated to theme of service, while also showing an inclusive spirit. The most touching moment of the night came with a long standing ovation for the sister and fellow Navy Seal's in the unit of deceased Seal Michael Monsoor. He was the first Navy Seal to die in Iraq and was awarded the Medal of Honor for his bravery and courageous actions during battle.

Another nice moment was the warm welcome for President H.W. Bush and Barbara Bush. The night included talks from Captain Leslie Smith who lost her foot because of a blood clot that almost cost her her life. Tommy Epinoza who started his address saying, "Good evening, my name is Tom Espinoza ... I'm CATHOLIC ... HISPANIC ... and a DEMOCRAT ... and I'm proud to call John McCain my friend." He talked about Senator McCain's service in the community, and how service is a way of life for Senator McCain and his family. He ended his talk stating, "Viva John McCain!" Wes Gullet with his daughter Nicki at his side talked about how Cindy McCain brought back two babies from Bangladesh both of whom were in desperate need of medical care. The McCain's adopted one of those babies, their daughter Bridgette; and the Gullet family adopted the other baby their daughter Nicki.

The featured speakers President Bush via video (with intro from Mrs. Bush on site), Fred Thompson, and Joe Lieberman made for a solid and interesting night. President Bush did a nice job discussing Senator McCain's military service. Also, he noted how Senator McCain's strong support for the surge and how important that was, as some in congress wanted to cut off funding for the troops. He repeated Senator McCain's statement that he would rather lose a campaign than lose a war, as Senator McCain's support for the surge clearly jeopardized his chances of winning the primaries.

Senators Thompson and Lieberman made for an interesting contrast. While Thompson presented the biography of Senator McCain, he also gave a sort of classic Republican talk. On the other hand, Senator Lieberman talked about his friendship with Senator McCain; how respected he is on both sides of the isle, and how he is clearly not the typical Republican, and is clearly his own man.

Several excellent videos have been shown at the convention. This one takes a historical look at service.

Fred Thompson Quotes

Thanks to <a href="http://www.redstate.com">RedState</a> and <a href="http://www.googl.com">Google</a> bloggers had a blogger's brunch with Fred Thomspon. Here are some highlights.

Fred Thompson on the primary campaign. “What did you learn from your campaign? Well, the main thing I learned is never under estimate John McCain.”

Regarding foreign policy, “It isn’t the time to turn to the keys over to a fourteen year old in heavy traffic.”

Regarding Governor Palin “She’s the kind of public servant that we all say that we want. Someone who is an outsider not inside the beltway. The first thing every candidate does is try to convince everyone that they are not from inside the beltway. That’s what we want; someone who will stand up to authority right, someone that will work on a bipartisan basis will work with either side but will stand up to either side including members of their own party, but somebody who is successful who will take on the powers that be but will beat them. Well guess what that’s what you got. We know somebody else like that they’re running at the top of the ticket.”

Can you give your assessment of the media? (paraphrased)
“Well, it’s been generally poor up till now, and now it is abysmal.”

<a href="http://purplepeoplevote.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/mcpal.jpg"><img src="http://purplepeoplevote.wordpress.com/files/2008/09/mcpal.jpg" alt="" title="mcpal" width="450" height="377" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-546" /></a>

Monday at the Convention

Day one at the convention was nicely done. Party business was taken care of and the day wrapped up with an address from Mrs. Bush then Mrs. McCain about giving to gulf coast charities. A video played on all the Republican Gulf Coast governors addressing the hurricane, and thanking people for their prayers and contributions.

The set up for the convention is impressive. The presentation is more classic than flashy. There are sections for delegates, for radio, for tv networks, along with a variety of other media subgroups. A huge hat tip to security in both planning and execution. There were protests, some peaceful, some no so much, and security made things run smoothly. Frankly, anyone involved with the convention planning deserves some recognition, as the scale of the event, and the range of participants is emmense. While there was no earth-shattering events on day one, it certainly was interesting to see.

ALABAMA

Governor's Emergency Relief Fund

www.servealabama.gov


(877) 273 - 5018

FLORIDA

Florida Disaster Fund

www.FloridaDisasterFund.org

(850) 410-0696

LOUISIANA


Hurricane Gustav Relief and Recovery Fund



www.braf.org


(877) 387-6126







Aidmatrix Foundation

www.aidmatrixnetwork.org


(866) 881-8882

MISSISSIPPI

Mississippi Hurricane Recovery Fund

www.mississippirelief.com

TEXAS

Texas Responds

www.texasresponds.org

(512) 473-2140

To donate by phone:

The Aidmatrix Foundation at (866) 881-8882

RNC Raises Money for Gulf State Relief - Scales Back First Day Activities

Senator McCain and the RNC have decided to scale back Monday's convention activities, and focus on fund raising efforts for charities in the Gulf States due to Hurricane Gustav. They have consulted with the Gulf State Governors about what charities to support. Governor Bobby Jindal recommended Aid Matrix. Comfort packages will be assembled and sent to the affected region with the help of FedEx and Target. A charter plane returned affected delegates back to the region, and will return them to Minnesota circumstances permitting. The RNC is taking a wait and see approach to the convention scheduling. As they learn more about the effects of Hurricane Gustav they will be able to confirm more of their convention plans.

Today's schedule consists of basic convention business. Laura Bush will introduce a video to the delegates, and Cindy McCain will also briefly address the delegates. Governor Palin will be in town, but has no public schedule. Speeches by President Bush, and Vice President Cheney have been canceled as they deal with the effects of the hurricane.

RNC Raises Money for Gulf State Relief - Scales Back First Day Activities