Some Christian Voters Negative Reaction to Sarah Palin & John McCain

I saw this post on Daily Kos and I thought it was enlightening and ultimately encouraging.

Critics of Palin outnumber fans on evangelical blog
by silvergirl
Thu Sep 04, 2008 at 11:46:45 PM PDT

On Sunday desmoinesdem wrote a great diary pointing out that plenty of conservative Christian women were unhappy with the Palin pick. It seems these women couldn't identify with superwoman Sarah, and were unhappy with the idea of another Christian woman neglecting her primary ministry, her family. There's consternation in another wing of the Christian vote, too: moderate Christian readers of Jim Wallis's column in Sojourners/Beliefnet.

We probably all know Wallis by now--he's no James Dobson, but he's not our Pastor Dan, either. His column today tries to maintain a principled neutrality in relation to politics by going easy on Sarah Palin. He defends her choice to combine parenting with a VP run, praises her for her energy and clear ability to unite the "three legs of the modern Republican Party -- social conservatives, economic conservatives, and foreign policy hawks," and closes by urging readers to look past personalities, eschew gossip, and focus on the "issues, the records, the leadership, and the facts." Nothing remarkable there.

What really surprised me, though, are the comments from evangelical readers. Follow me over the fold.

* silvergirl's diary :: ::
*

The comments that are critical of Palin outnumber those that defend her by about 4 to 1. Someone notes that comments on this piece are running much higher than usual, so some of these folks have gone there explicitly to comment on this piece, and may not be regular readers. I've tried to filter these out by focusing n the comments that make the case against Palin in explicitly Christian terms. Here's a sampling:

Rationalization by the Christian Rock Stars (tv evangelists) has become epidemic and now everyone wants in on the "cheap grace". The reason that Barack Obama will win this November is that God has had enough of these self centred indulgent "sophists" who rent prophets for gain and despise any one who would offer a "cup of water in Jesus' Name". No reaching for feet washing towels by this crowd they have mastered the tossing of Sunday minutes at Jesus feet in their politically correct Churches.. God Have Mercy On Our Souls.

As a Christian and as a human being who believes in the sanctity of all human life and that it is time to beat the weapons of war created out of our inability to love one another and to understand what God means, as concerns justice, I tremble at the idea of someone who believes that war is blessed by God. Those who attack us also think that their cause is ordained by God. Peace is ordained by the Jesus I know. I am starting, regrettably, to think of people who agree with Sarah Palin on this point as anti Christian and modern day heretics. I cannot imagine wanting to possibly put Palin's finger on the "N" button.

I have long respected McCain even when I didn't agree with him, but I am sickened by this choice. Out of so many qualified, brilliant women in the republican party, he chose a beauty queen hockey-mom soley based on superficial reasons, mainly her pro-life status. When will we realize there were a million abortions the year before roe, and there will be abortions after roe, overturning roe simply returns to the states, and we all saw what happened in South Dakota, but the common denominator among 2/3 or more seeking abortions is poverty or extreme financial crisis? The way to save babies is to help and empower women, not through punitive measures designed to reprove moral turpitude. That's why in the Netherlands where abortion is safe and legal, its rare, but it skyrockets in Brazil, where illegal, but women lack adequate resources and rights. I'm waiting for a real pro-life candidate, that cares about ALL life, all God's creation...Obama's as close as it gets for now.



There are many, many more comments worth reading posted at...

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/5/24645/29868/853/586975

I hate to admit it but the Bush years have left me (an ex-churchgoing Catholic -- 44 years of mass!) thinking Christians tended to be suckers for RW Republican talking points and war cheerleading. Really nice to see some who actually listen to Jesus on that point!

It's so encouraging to me because I spend a lot of time defending Christians to my non-traditional friends. They feel Christians hate them so they hate Christians.

My best friend is deeply, deeply Christian. These comments remind me of him.

I really don't feel there's anything innately asshole-y about the Christian religion, just they way it's been twisted around by the BushCo Politicians, blech!

...and about as far away from the "religious right" as you can imagine. No surprise that they are turned-off by Palin, just as the members of the Episcopal mailing list I subscribe to are generally repulsed by her.

I wish there was proof she's associated with a "Joel's Army" church, but Assembly of God is bad enough. Most churches consider AoG a cult, and absolutely hate Joels Army for their habit of "steeplejacking" other churches (taking over other congregations, essentially, and turning them into AoG/JA churches).

If there was proof she was associated with JA, that needs to be spread around. But her Assembly of God affiliation is bad enough (note: AoG makes Southern Baptists look liberal).

Case in point: Driving home this evening,(red state IN)I saw an Obama yard sign proudly displayed smack dab next to a Christian Radio station yard sign. I thought...this is progress. I drove the rest of the way home with a smile on my face.

One more...My 15 yr old daughter's church youth group is organizing a GOTV for Obama, with 2 vans and a group of fired up first time voters.

Anyway...don't underestimate the "unreachable."

:applause:

I thought that in order to retain tax exempt status, churches are not supposed to promote a candidate.

It's not "church sponsored." That it was even up for discussion in this setting is the point.

Perhaps I should have included a more detailed account, but I wasn't prepared to provide an organizational chart.

Sorry, I didn't mean to offend. I guess I am just hypersensitive about the separation of church and state these days.

:rofl:

Shut your mouth Palin.