God and Sarah Palin

I post this with some trepidation because I don't want to offend anyone, especially my sweet Debbie, but also my new friend and neighbor, Roderick Barnes, who is the pastor of his church, and one of the smartest people I've met in a long time. However, when Roderick told me that one of his close friends is an atheist with whom he takes long walks and enjoys long conversations, I realized that he is an unusually tolerant person with an intellectually curious mind. Based on our past conversations, I think this post might provide the material for more insightful discussions in the near future.

Most of us act out of our dominant mental models of the world. Some of us aren't even aware of those mental models, but they drive our behavior and decisions. Once we understand the model, the behavior makes more sense. For example, Bush's decision to invade Iraq didn't make a lot of sense to a lot of people until we discovered that he believed God told him to do it. 

For those of us who look for more than patriotic slogans or confirmation of our own beliefs, our brutal, invasive political process allows us to get as close as we can to the mental models that drive the behavior and decisions of people who might be the most powerful people on earth. This attached article, along with a video of Sarah Palin speaking to her church, the Wasilla Assembly of God in June of this year, gave me a peek at the mental models that drive her behavior and decisions. For some, this video will only confirm that McCain made the right choice. Others, like me, will no doubt be troubled by it.

Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial World View

Here are a few things about this story that trouble me. Incidentally, I'm open to listen to any reasons why this shouldn't trouble me. First, I'm really tired of people bringing God into the death and destruction that we've unleashed on the Middle East. When someone believes that they are carrying out God's will, how do you have any reasonable discussion with a person like that. How do you deal with someone who believes that killing other people's children is God's will? How do you tolerate people who ask God to bless the killing of babies? If that seems like an outrageous statement, look up the statistics on how many innocent children we've killed in Iraq and listen to how many times Republicans and Democrats end their speech with "God Bless America." I wish Reverend Wright had said "God Help America" instead of "God Damn America." All he was saying is that we shouldn't be asking God to bless the killing of babies.

Here's what Sarah Palin had to say about God's involvement in world affairs:

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."

As we've seen with Bush, once a person believes that God has spoken to them, all discussion ends, everyone else is wrong, and that person will even resort to breaking the law and bending the constitution to carry out what he thinks is "God's Will." I want someone running this country who listens to reason more than God. 

Of course, even a cursory reading of the Bible reveals that war is something that God has been involved in for a long time, but you probably didn't know that he's involved in piplines. Here's what Palin had to say about that:

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.

Now, I can understand praying for wisdom, insight, guidance, etc. But, I've never understood praying for something specific . . . like a pipeline. Somebody explain this to me. If God created everything, and a pipeline was the right thing to do, why doesn't God just go ahead and do it. Why does God wait for us to ask for it. And, what about the Caribou, whose quality of life will be diminished when the pipeline runs through their living room? I'm assuming that they can't ask God NOT to build the pipeline. So they have no representation here? Or the person whose land is taken by eminent domain. What happens if they're praying for the pipeline NOT to be built? In prayer, is it majority rules? Somebody explain these things to me. I'm really willing to listen.

And finally, Palin's pastor has joined the ranks of Jeremiah Wright, John Hagee, Rod Parsley, Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson with these outlandish comments:

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."

That's a new one for me. I always thought Jesus was into loving your enemies and turning the other cheek. 

Months after hinting at possible damnation for Kerry supporters, Kalnins bristled at the treatment President Bush was receiving over the federal government's handling of Hurricane Katrina. "I hate criticisms towards the President," he said, "because it's like criticisms towards the pastor -- it's almost like, it's not going to get you anywhere, you know, except for hell. That's what it'll get you."

How will we cope with people who believe we're going to Hell if you criticize them? 

I hope you take the time to read the entire article and watch the video. I've paraphrased for you if you don't want to read it. I also hope that I get lots of comments on this post because these are real questions that I have, and I would welcome some reasoned responses that might help me understand what's going on here.

Finally, since I've raised lots of religious questions here, it might be worthwhile mentioning that I'm going back to school tomorrow night to finish my degree. I will graduate in May of next year. One of the courses that I'm taking is The Religious Quest. I hope Roderick is still speaking to me because I'm sure I'll have lots of questions for him.