from breadwithcircus.com

The Republicans have chosen Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be their candidate for Vice President. There has been a lot of sound and fury in the media about the pregnancy, or potential cover-up of the pregnancy of her daughter. I don’t care about that at all, it is irrelevant to Palin’s qualifications to serve as Vice President. People should stop focusing on it because there is a much more significant issue at stake.

What we must consider is the world-view and psychological makeup of Sarah Palin. Local corruption scandals aside, (I assume that EVERY candidate is corrupt) it doesn’t bother me that Palin is into guns and oil, and against abortion; these things are standard GOP stuff. What concerns me about Palin is her church.

If John McCain wins or steals the election, he would be the oldest President in US history. McCain’s health is a real consideration. The man has had cancer before. If he were to die while in office (this has happened to 8 of 42 presidents, or about 20% ) Sarah Palin would be Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful military in the history of the planet. She could press the red button.

Why is this a problem? From reading the website of her church, the Wasilla Assembly of God, it appears that Palin’s religion is one that eagerly anticipates doomsday, the battle of Armagaeddon, the rapture, and all the rest of the death-cult fantasies that Evangelical Christianity and Radical Islam share. If Palin believes what her church professes,
we may be in some serious trouble.

Here is the “What We Believe” statement of Palin’s church. It lists the “16 Fundamental Truths of the Assemblies of God.” It says “These are non-negotiable tenets of faith that all Assemblies of God churches adhere to. This list is derived from the official Statement of Fundamental Truths.” I recommend copying it before it is taken down.

Among the greatest hits from that list,

“WE BELIEVE…The Initial Physical Evidence of the Baptism in the Holy Spirit is Speaking in Tongues, as experienced on the Day of Pentecost and referenced throughout Acts and the Epistles.”

“WE BELIEVE…in The Blessed Hope. When Jesus Raptures His Church Prior to His Return to Earth (the second coming). At this future moment in time all believers who have died will rise from their graves and will meet the Lord in the air, and Christians who are alive will be caught up with them, to be with the Lord forever.”

“WE BELIEVE…A Final Judgment Will Take Place for those who have rejected Christ. They will be judged for their sin and consigned to eternal punishment in a punishing lake of fire.”

“WE BELIEVE…and look forward to the perfect New Heavens and a New Earth that Christ is preparing for all people, of all time, who have accepted Him. We will live and dwell with Him there forever following His millennial reign on Earth.”

To summarize, they believe in rolling around on the floor and babbling “divinely inspired” gibberish. They believe that they will one day, perhaps soon, be beamed up to heaven just before the onset of a great world war. They believe that this “Armagaeddon” will result in the slaughter of billions. They believe that those killed in this “judgment” will suffer an eternity of torture at the hands of their vengeful god who, ironically, also promises an eternity in some sort of perfect heaven, following a thousand years of Theocratic rule by someone they call “Christ”.

The real question is, does Sarah Palin believe this too? If she does, then the USA could have a Commander-in-Chief who looked forward to, and perhaps even actively sought a nuclear war. This thinking can only be labeled as psychopathic. Put a psychopath in power and we could see a self-fulfilling prophecy, doomsday could come because Palin could bring it on.

This is truly scary. For all of his talk, I was never fully convinced that George W Bush really believed his religious dogma. It always seemed a little too much like the ramblings of a reformed drunk trying to show everyone that he had made good. If there’s anything that Christians like, going all the way back to Saul/Paul, it’s the flawed soul, born again and transformed into goodness. It is plausible that Palin actually does buy into the religious insanity. She was raised in the church, and spoke to the congregation there as recently as June of this year, where she made a speech describing the war in Iraq as “a task from god.”

The press corps seemed all too interested in Barack Obama’s wacky church during the Democratic primary. They set the precedent then; a candidate’s religious background requires scrutiny, and asking the candidate about some of the more eccentric beliefs of their church is not off limits. I’ll close this post by suggesting a few questions that we might
want to see Sarah Palin answer before the election.

First, Does she believe in her church’s “16 Fundamental Truths”?

If she does, then the following questions MUST be considered.

Does she think that people of other faiths and denominations will go to hell?

Does she speak in tongues?

Does she expect to be raptured?

Does she look forward to the battle of Armagaeddon and the other end-times scenes described in the Book of Revelation?

These are all fair questions. We have a right to know about the convictions of the person who may one day have the nuclear trigger at her finger. Now is the time for the press to step up.