Palin and the Preacher
I would hesitate to jump to conclusions about Sarah Palin’s pastor and what it says about her. For one, we don’t really have any way of knowing what views of his she echoes. For two, I don’t know enough about the evangelical community to know if there is any contextualization of what happened in her church that dissipates the more inflammatory statements (such as the implications that Jewish deaths in Israel represent God’s judgment against us).
But since she is a newcomer on the political scene, with very little experience with the national Jewish community (or Jews in general — something that sharply distinguishes her from Senator Obama), I don’t find it surprising that she might make us a bit nervous, and don’t think it’s unreasonable to request her to engage in some heartfelt gestures to us that extends beyond the “pro-Israel” hyper-belligerence that too often passes for “outreach” from the evangelical community.
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15 Responses to “Palin and the Preacher”
Hahahahaha. It's like we're getting to relive the last year of Obama coverage in a week.
Chris-
Lets see if the coverage extends until the November election or if its quashed. Looks like Palin has her own “Reverend Wright” in the closet!
But the key question: Is there video?
Without tape to loop and post on Youtube, I fear this will go precisely nowhere.
OK, lost here. Are there accusations of anti-Semitism and her preacher? Or other inflammatory comments? Or is this just 'she is an Evangelical, and therefor suspect?'
I've heard pentecostal and evangelical both, but who knows? Either way, the R's opened the door to this line of questioning when they decided it was ok to drag Obama through the coals over his religious associations. They don't have much of a leg to stand on if they complain about Palin being treated with the same scrutiny eh? Personally I don't care what someone's personal religious views are so long as they don't hurt anyone, don't try to fill other peoples heads with nonsense, and don't try to mess with the separation between church and state.
It's just PC-driven anti-religious bigotry and worse, including hysteria and hatred as this stuff “progresses.” We saw much of this drivel and worse with Huckabee, too, don't forget. (The Israel-bashing is partly anti-Religious-Right and simply because anyone supporting Israel gives a certain element yet another excuse for Israel-bashing, period.)
Next will come worse sexism than was directed by many of the same people at Hillary Clinton.
And if today's examples are already (quite) bad, just wait — the race could be closer and even swing in McCain-Palin's favor. Then the hatred and hysteria will explode.
“same scrutiny”
Good for a chuckle
“Then the hatred and hysteria will explode.”
Thanks for the laugh DLS! Always fun to see your unique POV.
“anti-religious bigotry “
Quick! Call the pope!!!!!!
OK. let's be a little fair here JS. No One said squat about Obama's religion until actual speeches and sermons came out that are, by any standard, inflammatory. Not by a preacher of the same religion at a different church, but HIS preacher, at HIS church, and he had been preaching like that for the 20 years Obama attended.
There is is difference between questioning an actual, proven asociation, and yet another smear based on nothing but innuendo.
Again, the left continues to just throw away any moral high ground they tried to pretend they had.
Show me speeches by her pastor, or at her church, or at sermons she attended remotely like Rev. Wright's, and I promise I will call her out just as much as Obama was called out.
Who you associate with, particularly over long time frames, DOES say a lot about you (that is why I keep bringing up Ayers/Obama), and what is good for the goose is good for the gander. And who you select for spiritual guidance (if you are in to that sort of thing) also says a lot. But start from a point of actual statements, not just 'ooh – she is a Evangelical/Pentecostal, and so she must hate Jews'.
Disgusting.
AR: And who you select for spiritual guidance (if you are in to that sort of thing) also says a lot.
I am, and I'd say it's not necessarily so. Or more to the point, it's possible (even probable) to consider someone a spiritual mentor and not agree with everything they say or do. Been there, done that. And frankly, I find the notion that a person can't associate with someone because that someone has said or did something reprehensible in the past is ridiculous. I suspect that most of us understand that when it happens in our personal lives. But for some reason we insist our politicians are different.
Austin,
Did you follow through on the links? The reference is not to her Pentacostal church. It's to a guest – President of Jews for Jesus – who gave a sermon that explicitly praised Palestinian terror attacks against “unsaved Jews” as God's judgment. It wasn't subtle.
And apparently her pastor IS a Jew for Jesus. Yes, he speaks of a “Liberated Wailing Wall.”
As a Jew, I find these people loathsome. Leave us Jews alone! We're not interesting in converting to Christianity or Islam or any other religion. We might attend ecumenical services or non-denominational/Unitarian spiritual associations. But we don't give up our Jewish identity by embracing the central tenants of Christianity or Islam. For 2000 years people have been targeting us for conversion – and if not, persecution. If you're Jewish and you want to be a Christian, convert. Nobody's stopping you. But don't pretend you're some halfway house “Jew for Jesus.”
Yes, we have long memories.
No, didn't follow the link (problem with blogging while working). I certainly know of that group (as my sister-in-law is Jewish, and I spent some formative years in Bergen County, NJ and Miami). I have no use for them, and stick with my original comment from days ago (seems like weeks already), McCain will come to regret the choice of Palin, and soon (paraphrasing myself!)
AR,
Yeah, Jews for Jesus is a bizarre group. I used to run into leafletters getting off the DC Metro. The pamphlets were actually quite hilarious with little cartoons on them. My office mates used to tease me about them, knowing what joke they are.
But I never thought I'd run into a REAL Jew for Jesus, or have the VP's pastor be one. Seriously, this hits home more than having some nutjob snake-handler or grunter like we have on local religious TV in Tennessee or a black liberationist.
I can deal with nutjob preachers. But I don't truck well with the Jews for Jesus. And I certainly like Jews for Jesus celebrating terrorist attacks against Jews.
AR, many people were plenty hasty about judging Wright's (taken out of context) remarks without knowing anything about black liberation theology in general or the kind of world that Wright grew up in. I think they were more interested in jumping the gun than in being accurately informed. Even so, I'll agree to the extent that Wright wasn't very conventional by standards most white churchgoing folks were used to.
Most importantly, I don't believe for a second that Obama has any secret black agenda or harbors any hatred of white people. I think I've been a pretty good judge of character over the last half century, and I see Obama as pretty guile free for a politician… which would make him a welcome change in a president. This brings up a related subject and that is the so-called “Archie Bunker Factor”. I'd love to think this was going to be a minor influence on the election, but I've been around long enough to know how naive that would be. I'd love nothing more than to be proven wrong. OK, I can hear the R's at the convention are working themselves up into a frenzy of anticipation for Sarah Palin's speech, so I'll have to sign off for now..