Jesus (!) Sarah

Okay, so, I think I'm going to have to stop this blog. You seem I am trying to be kind of funny -- more or less successfully for sure -- as I report what I perceive of this campaign. But if the candidates keep being as funny as Sarah is these days, it is going to be tough for me. I can't keep up. I mean, I'm no Keith Olberman nor Jon Stewart.

Yesterday, some videos of Sarah at church, shot only a few months ago, were released. The messages were pretty clear.

Sarah was saying that the pipeline she wanted built was the work of God, so she was exhorting her co-parishioners to pray for its construction.

She also said that the war in Iraq was a mission from God. She exhorted her co-parishioners to "pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right also for this country that our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God, that's what we have to make sure that we are praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

In an incredible part of the video -- that you have to go see on youtube -- she is talking about her pastor who prayed for her to be elected governor of Alaska, and she explains how bold that pastor was because he was not praying saying "If such is your will, make sure she is elected," he was praying saying "Lord, make her way, and let her do that next step." And Sarah concludes "And that's exactly what happened." By the way, some Republicans criticize Barack Obama because he acts as if he is the Messiah.
Then she gives the mike to a fellow parishioner who calls this a "prophetic declaration." And, without Sarah trying to stop him but on the contrary with Sarah nodding at his side, this guy continues explaining that "there are some things about the natural resources about the state, there are some things that God wants to tap into to be a refuge for the lower 48 [the 48 US states south of Alaska] and I believe Alaska is one of the refuge state in the last days, and hundreds of thousands of people are gonna come to the state to seek refuge and the church has to be ready to minister to them"

So, a bit of explanation here might be necessary for my French pagan friends, not that you don't understand but you are probably saying to yourself what I have been saying to myself "okay, I heard that, I think I understand, but I must be wrong, I must be misunderstanding, that's just too crazy." So, yes, this guy is actually saying that the state of Alaska is going to be a refuge for the true Christians on the day of the Armaggedon, "in the last days," the days of the apocalypse.

Okay, I am a French pagan for sure, but I don't mean any disrespect for any religious belief whatsoever, really...

...

Oh, come on, man, Alaska chosen by God as a refuge for the saved!!??
Okay, I'm not saying anything.

So, granted, it is a religious belief, that's okay, it doesn't hurt anyone, blah blah blah.

However, there is a serious problem in having a Governor claiming that the war in Iraq is a mission from God, and asking her co-parishioners to pray for a political project such as a pipeline. The problem is called Separation of Church and State Endangered. I think Sarah needs to be seriously questioned and asked whether she believes in the separation of church and state, and how her faith is going to influence her actions as a Vice-President.

I find this basic principle of democracy seriously endangered in the US today as never before. The decisions that the Supreme Court has taken in that respect in the recent years have not always been unanimous and making sure that the Supreme Court keeps defending the separation of church and state is one of the stakes of this election. Several Justices are getting very old. The next president might have several opportunities to appoint a new Justice to a Supreme Court which is dangerously leaning towards 18th century ideology.

Many people keep referring to the Founding Fathers as Christians who made sure the freedom of religion would be secured and they take that to mean that it is okay for a vice-presidential candidate to say the kind of things Sarah said to her co-parishioners.
The problem is, the Founding Fathers secured freedom of religion and separation of church and state because they wanted to protect the state from lunatics. Get a load of this, my Republican friends -- if I have any out there -- most of the Founding Fathers were deists. What is a deist? Well, I like Diderot's definition: a deist is someone who has not lived long enough to become an atheist.

Finally, it was also revealed that Sarah once encouraged her co-parishioners to pray away the gay, to pray so that gay people would be converted into straight people. Did I mention 18th century ideology earlier? Sorry, I meant 16th.

The Republicans keep complaining -- in the media -- that the media are too mean to Sarah. Well, I think they are way, way too nice.

As I am writing this, the Washington Post is releasing a poll showing that a majority of women are now supporting the McCain/Palin ticket. I have an eye on the images the TV shows of today's REpublican rally, and apart from the campaign-manufactured McCain/Palin signs, I can see a lot of home-made signs praising Palin: "Palin Power," "Women for Palin," etc., etc.

This is not funny anymore. It is becoming quite scary indeed.