Which Palin will be the VP anyway?

Sep 03

Posted by: Meta4Life in: Current Events, Politics, Religious Fundamentalism

The Newsweek/Washington Post’s On Faith website featured and excellent essay by Professor Susan Brooks Thistlewaite of the Chicago Theological Seminary on some of the more pertinent questions that the press (both mainstream and Internet) should be asking about Senator John McCain’s potential running mate.

In “Palin: Is She Subject to Her Husband?” she begins with a quote every Christian Fundamentalist will recognize:

“Wives be subject to your husbands, as unto the Lord.”

Ephesians, 5:22

It puts a fine point on one of the most serious issues about Sarah Palin’s nomination: Who is going to be the final authority in the Vice President’s office? Sarah, or her husband Todd (currently employed at British Petroleum, no less)? The VP of this country takes an oath to serve and protect the Constitution of this country — does that oath come before or after the one she swore to obey her husband?

This is at issue because Gov. Palin is a self-professed born-again Christian and a member of the largest Pentecostal denomination in the United States (Assemblies of God, if you’re interested). Her hard core conservative religious beliefs are astonishingly primitive even for most fundamentalists, including the bible as the literal, last word of God on any and every subject. Given the Ephesians quote above, it’s reasonable to ask: Just who are we electing Vice President, anyway?

The “evangelical base” who are reported to be so “energized” by Palin’s nomination as vice-president need to ante up here. Do they believe in the literal word of scripture or not? And if they believe in the literal word of scripture, then they need to demand that the we vet not only Sarah Palin, but more importantly, her husband, Todd Palin.

Professor Thistlewaite brings up more excellent and pointed questions in her essay. While we here at Metaphors For Life aren’t succumbing to the “dominionist conspiracy theories” about Ms. Palin, we surely have a variety of reason to be concerned about her nomination and acceptance for the second slot on the Republican ticket at this very evening’s convention.