The Fruit of the Spirit?

"And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love - and they'll know we are Christians by our love." - One of the first songs I remember singing at Mass when I was a kid. 

I wonder if this song ever made it into the hymn book Sarah Palin grew up singing out of as she was growing up in that small Alaskan town. I wonder if her pastor is embarrassed. I know that, as a Christian, I was mortified on Wednesday night. And things didn't improve much yesterday as her partner on this ticket took the stage. 

John McCain managed to avoid looking too smug or sounding sarcastic and, for the most part, kept his rhetoric to the usual mud-slinging level we expect in our presidential campaigns and which we heard from Denver last week - actually, I thought he came across pretty darn well - but he didn't scold his running mate who took the stage before him this week. And he should have. 

Instead, he told us that he thinks she's awesome. In fact, it's hard not to think that Sarah Palin's willingness to go for the jugular on anybody who stands in her way is THE reason he added her to the ticket. This is a woman who campaigned against her mother-in-law, who sought to follow Sarah into the mayoral office in Wasalia, because her mother-in-law wasn't quite "pro-life" enough. Talk about cold. I'm thinking that's all the folks who vetted her needed to hear. This was no impulsive choice showcasing McCain's "maverick" side. He needs a woman like this. McCain's people know he's going to have a hard time beating up on the first African-American nominee for president in U.S. history. If a hockey mom from a small town, with a life story - right down to the pregnant teenager daughter - that makes her seem just like "one of us," can't beat up on Obama...nobody can.

And Sarah Palin delivered. She came to St. Paul "wielding a stiletto and a smile," said one report. She is, in her own words, a pitbull with lipstick. She belittled Obama, throwing down one scathingly sarcastic line after another, without regard for the facts (check out this AP report), attacking his personal character and his motivations with even more bloodlust than she took on his policies (i.e., "there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers..."), ridiculing him for his work as a "community organizer" (?!?!?), ripping into him like he was a piece of raw meat tossed into her cage at the end of a day-long fast. For goodness sake, she tore into him for being willing to TALK to our enemies ("...he wants to meet them...!") and wanting to make sure that when we arrest people we READ THEM THEIR RIGHTS.

Can you imagine the blisteringly nasty things she would have had to say to Jesus when he started up with that whole love your enemies thing? Or maybe that passage wasn't in her hymnal, either.

To his credit, I guess Obama brushed it all off yesterday: "I've been called worse things on the basketball court."

Frankly, I can't say I blame the McCain campaign for adding this woman to the ticket. Their job is to get their boss elected. And the only way that's going to happen is if they can tap into the fear we feel and, as they've done for the past eight years, refocus it in hatred and anger. They need somebody who, as Utah Governor Jon Huntsman said, is ready, able, and willing to "raise a little hell."  

But there are two gynormous problems with this:

First off, in spite of the fact that the Bush-speechwriter who crafted her debut on Wednesday night didn't think to mention it, Sarah Palin has just beat out Rick Warren for "most-famous-Christian-in-the-country." And, last I checked, Christians are supposed to be casting out demons --- not raising them --- and certainly not appearing to be possessed by them. I don't remember "biting sarcasm" or "self-righteous ridicule" or "bald-faced lying" listed among the fruits of the Spirit, do you? In my neighborhood, where people already suspect that Christian = mean-spirited, close-minded, science-hating, gay-bashing, blood-thirsting, planet-destroying, book-banning, wall-building, saber-rattling hypocrite...Sarah Palin just made their case. She might be good for the GOP ticket this year. But she sucks for the church.

Second, she would suck for our country. For eight years we've been led by a wanna-be-cowboy who shoots first and asks questions later and won't even listen to the answers then. The last thing we need is a real cowgirl who is, by all accounts, an even better shot. Right now we're watching Russia quoting us back to ourselves as they invade another country because, oh I don't know, that other country might possibly one day get up the nerve and gather up enough weapons to attack them. McCain's pick of Sarah Palin, a woman who never even stepped foot out of the U.S. until last year and who knows basically NOTHING about the rest of the world and said not ONE single nice thing about anybody outside our borders on Wednesday night, is a big old McCain "Yippee Ay Yay!" for the Bush-approach to --- well, pretty much anybody who pisses us off.

Is this really what we want??? Do we really want to live in a nation that is mocked by our own Statue of Liberty as she stands silently in our harbor, reminding us that once upon a time we welcomed the world's refugees and all those looking for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Aren't we finally tired of reports that our government is wire-tapping our own citizens and torturing our prisoners and sending our sons & daughters to die in a war that almost no one in America thinks we should be fighting? Isn't it time to say: Stop. Please. There Has To Be Another Way.

Or are we OK with living in a nation where the rule of law = the rule of those with the biggest sticks? Are we OK with continuing to elect leaders who are so good at making us afraid and suspicious of one another, so mean and nasty to those with whom they disagree, and so obviously proud of themselves when they "take down" an opponent that THIS is bound to happen: 

This is a picture of what happens when Americans make heros out of pitbulls. 

The lipstick isn't fooling anybody, Sarah. And the fact that you don't even want it to makes you all that much scarier.

John, you should be ashamed.

Barack, I hope you plan to do more than just try to ignore it.

And, Church, if you're cheering for this woman, how can you justify it?? 

If you're not, how can you be silent?

John McCain managed to avoid looking too smug or sounding sarcastic and, for the most part, kept his rhetoric to the usual mud-slinging level we expect in our presidential campaigns and which we heard from Denver last week - actually, I thought he came across pretty darn well - but he didn't scold his running mate who took the stage before him this week. And he should have. 

Instead, he told us that he thinks she's awesome. In fact, it's hard not to think that Sarah Palin's willingness to go for the jugular on anybody who stands in her way is THE reason he added her to the ticket. This is a woman who campaigned against her mother-in-law, who sought to follow Sarah into the mayoral office in Wasalia, because her mother-in-law wasn't quite "pro-life" enough. Talk about cold. I'm thinking that's all the folks who vetted her needed to hear. This was no impulsive choice showcasing McCain's "maverick" side. He needs a woman like this. McCain's people know he's going to have a hard time beating up on the first African-American nominee for president in U.S. history. If a hockey mom from a small town, with a life story - right down to the pregnant teenager daughter - that makes her seem just like "one of us," can't beat up on Obama...nobody can.

And Sarah Palin delivered. She came to St. Paul "wielding a stiletto and a smile," said one report. She is, in her own words, a pitbull with lipstick. She belittled Obama, throwing down one scathingly sarcastic line after another, without regard for the facts (check out this AP report), attacking his personal character and his motivations with even more bloodlust than she took on his policies (i.e., "there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers..."), ridiculing him for his work as a "community organizer" (?!?!?), ripping into him like he was a piece of raw meat tossed into her cage at the end of a day-long fast. For goodness sake, she tore into him for being willing to TALK to our enemies ("...he wants to meet them...!") and wanting to make sure that when we arrest people we READ THEM THEIR RIGHTS.

Can you imagine the blisteringly nasty things she would have had to say to Jesus when he started up with that whole love your enemies thing? Or maybe that passage wasn't in her hymnal, either.

To his credit, I guess Obama brushed it all off yesterday: "I've been called worse things on the basketball court."

Frankly, I can't say I blame the McCain campaign for adding this woman to the ticket. Their job is to get their boss elected. And the only way that's going to happen is if they can tap into the fear we feel and, as they've done for the past eight years, refocus it in hatred and anger. They need somebody who, as Utah Governor Jon Huntsman said, is ready, able, and willing to "raise a little hell."  

But there are two gynormous problems with this:

First off, in spite of the fact that the Bush-speechwriter who crafted her debut on Wednesday night didn't think to mention it, Sarah Palin has just beat out Rick Warren for "most-famous-Christian-in-the-country." And, last I checked, Christians are supposed to be casting out demons --- not raising them --- and certainly not appearing to be possessed by them. I don't remember "biting sarcasm" or "self-righteous ridicule" or "bald-faced lying" listed among the fruits of the Spirit, do you? In my neighborhood, where people already suspect that Christian = mean-spirited, close-minded, science-hating, gay-bashing, blood-thirsting, planet-destroying, book-banning, wall-building, saber-rattling hypocrite...Sarah Palin just made their case. She might be good for the GOP ticket this year. But she sucks for the church.

Second, she would suck for our country. For eight years we've been led by a wanna-be-cowboy who shoots first and asks questions later and won't even listen to the answers then. The last thing we need is a real cowgirl who is, by all accounts, an even better shot. Right now we're watching Russia quoting us back to ourselves as they invade another country because, oh I don't know, that other country might possibly one day get up the nerve and gather up enough weapons to attack them. McCain's pick of Sarah Palin, a woman who never even stepped foot out of the U.S. until last year and who knows basically NOTHING about the rest of the world and said not ONE single nice thing about anybody outside our borders on Wednesday night, is a big old McCain "Yippee Ay Yay!" for the Bush-approach to --- well, pretty much anybody who pisses us off.

Is this really what we want??? Do we really want to live in a nation that is mocked by our own Statue of Liberty as she stands silently in our harbor, reminding us that once upon a time we welcomed the world's refugees and all those looking for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness? Aren't we finally tired of reports that our government is wire-tapping our own citizens and torturing our prisoners and sending our sons & daughters to die in a war that almost no one in America thinks we should be fighting? Isn't it time to say: Stop. Please. There Has To Be Another Way.

Or are we OK with living in a nation where the rule of law = the rule of those with the biggest sticks? Are we OK with continuing to elect leaders who are so good at making us afraid and suspicious of one another, so mean and nasty to those with whom they disagree, and so obviously proud of themselves when they "take down" an opponent that THIS is bound to happen: 

This is a picture of what happens when Americans make heros out of pitbulls. 

The lipstick isn't fooling anybody, Sarah. And the fact that you don't even want it to makes you all that much scarier.

John, you should be ashamed.

Barack, I hope you plan to do more than just try to ignore it.

And, Church, if you're cheering for this woman, how can you justify it?? 

If you're not, how can you be silent?

Comments

[Choralgirl]

Amen, Sister. YUCK, all the way around.

[Jennifer]

Great post! John McCutcheon's song "Not in My Name" came to mind as I was reading this. And, at least in my conservative neck of the woods, a surprising number of people are expressing their outrage by volunteering for the other guy.

[Stacy]

Thank you, Kelly, for articulating everything I was thinking! Her sarcasm, bitterness and lying was outrageous! Thank you for putting the words to 'paper' that so many Christian leaders are thinking.

Blessings...

[Bob]

Well said, Kelly. You can ditto this for the speeches by Mitt, Rudy and Mike... I especially love how they flipped off anyone trying to make a difference in their community. MLK was a "community organizer" too, and accomplished a lot more than many presidents and governors.

KELLY'S RESPONSE:

Thanks for the note, Bob. You're so right. Jim Wallis - a guy I have very mixed feelings about - has a really great post about just this over at www.beliefnet.com today. Check it out.

[Jon Christenson]

You drip with the same sarcasm that you condemn in others. Matthew 7:3 might be an appropriate devotional reading.

Will you criticize Obama for first mocking Palin's service as the elected mayor of Wasilla?

Sarah Palin knows " basically NOTHING about the rest of the world?" And you know this through talking with your fellow sister in Christ? Is this an informed opinion? Or are you just mocking her?

The Religious Left and the Religious Right both divide Christians, as evidenced here. So sad....

KELLY'S RESPONSE:

Thanks for weighing in, Jon, but I disagree. I readily admit that the rhetoric in Denver was typically partisan and characterized by "mud-slinging." This is the way presidential politics happens in the U.S. - it always has. We have come to expect it. I'm not giving the Dems a pass.

But what Sarah Palin did - in the palm of her Bush/McCain speechwriter's hand - was way off the chart. It was spiteful, petty, and mean. If that's how the GOP wants to be represented, that's up to them. But she has been introduced to the country as a Christian superhero. Shame on her for letting that happen and, having allowed it, shame on her behaving so badly.

I'm sorry you heard sarcasm in my voice. I don't feel sarcastic. I feel sad.

[Kelly Fryer]

I already responded to Jon's comment above but want to further address his point that I'm mocking Palin (which I think I'm not) about her knowledge of world affairs. Writing in the NY Times last week, Gloria Steinhem, who like me was not an Obama supporter until she was, said:

"Palin has been honest about what she doesn't know. When asked last month about the vice presidency, she said, "I still can't answer that question until someone answers for me: What is it exactly that the VP does every day?" When asked about Iraq, she said, "I haven't really focused much on the war in Iraq.""

It isn't mockery to say that a woman who's never left the country, doesn't have a single foreign policy position on record, and willingly admits to paying no attention to a war that has claimed the lives of thousands of American soldiers and countless innocent Iraqis --- and which has left our nation WEAKER in almost every way --- is clueless about the rest of the world. That is just a point of fact.

Beyond that, though, Steinhem's commentary is worth a read...especially for any former Hillary supporters out there. Here's the link to the article: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-steinem4-2008sep04,0,7915118.story

[Jon Christenson]

Qouting and referencing Gloria Steinhem while calling for civility and Christian charity seems a bit odd to me. Steinhem has not exactly followed the 8th commandment in commenting on Evangelical Christians or women who might disagree with her.

Also, since we're at it, it is quite an exegetical leap to go from Jesus words (about praying for and blessing your enemies) to a strategy about how best to achieve diplomatic goals on a national level. Every nation talks with their enemies. You well know that Palin's critique (as was Clinton's and Biden's before her) was not about talking with one's enemies, but whether there should be any preconditions set on those talks. That is a policy difference (Obama's stance may indeed be a better way), not a denial of the authority of Jesus' words.

Anyway, blessngs to you. (I see the link to Daily Kos on the left, which was slanderous in the extreme in their attacks on Palin and her family. I look forward to your critique of them in a future blog.)

Jon

KELLY'S RESPONSE:

Thanks for the ongoing conversation, Jon. If you're a regular reader you know that I don't hesitate to take on either the right or the left. In fact, overall I'd say I am more of a bother to the left. At least that's what my friends on the left tell me. :)

Peace to you, too.

[PS]

A basic summary of my thoughts is, "What can you expect from the people who brought us Bush?"

More importantly, I'd like to know if she just "read" the speech or if she really believes what she wrote. Is she just a puppet or is she out of touch with what others say is reality? 8 more years of black vs white, ie no shades of grey, scares me.