It’s been over two years since Sarah Palin first stepped on the stage at the 2008 Republican convention and captivated the nation. And I have to confess, for some time I’ve disliked her immensely. Yes, I know I’m not alone, but since I make a point not to dislike someone merely because they have a different world view, I’ve thought long and hard about why Palin stirs up such intense emotions in me. Is it her anti-intellectual bent? Her fiery rhetoric? Her opposition to any and everything associated with Obama?
I cannot respect willful ignorance, and while the embrace of it not only harms the individual concerned, but society as a whole, it is scarcely a reason to hate. Many public figures have said far stupider things than Palin has, and I certainly do not despise them for it. As for her rhetoric, Palin is not the only politician to suggest the president has unsavory ties to terrorists and does not love America, or that health care reform would subject the elderly and disabled to death panels, or that there is a red, real America and a blue, fraudulent one. She is not the only one who’s used violent imagery to target opponents, or denied her political enemies credit for good intentions because they disagree with her about how to advance the country or best serve the interests of its people. No, she is not alone in all this, so again I had to ask myself, why reserve all of my ire for Sarah Palin alone?
After much thought I realized that I dislike Palin not because of her politics, but because of the obscene worship she inspires from people who should know better, namely fellow Christians. Sarah Palin’s relationship with many in the Christian community is unlike that of other right-wing stalwarts like Huckabee, Michelle Bachman, and Jim DeMint. Her followers see her not just as a charismatic and highly effective politician, but as a modern day savior sent by heaven to usher in a new spiritual movement to reconcile America back to God. I am repulsed by Palin not because she is both a political and personal fraud, but because she is a spiritual one.
What I find especially astounding is that any Christian who is familiar with the bible and the character of Jesus could be so easily fooled. Even a casual observer of her ferocious responses to criticism and attack, her provocative language, her eagerness to throw stones rather than give grace, should see that she is not following in the footsteps of Christ. Palin talks a great deal about God and her faith in her speeches and books, but Christians are admonished to judge men’s hearts by their fruit, not their words. I challenge any Christian who is an avid Palin fan to show me which fruits of the spirit she exhibits, even occasionally–love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Sarah Palin has masterfully manipulated the body of Christ for personal and political gain. The only time the bible records Jesus lashing out in anger was when he physically threw the money-changers out of the temple, telling them they’d turned the house of God into a den of thieves by deceiving the devout to make money. Jesus didn’t strike out against prostitutes, tax-collectors and unbelievers, but against religious men who distorted doctrine and the nature of God to profit and elevate themselves.
Recently I again had to take another step back and reassess my feelings about her. Yes, Palin seeks personal glory and adoration, but whose fault is it really that she has been so readily placed on the pedestal she seeks? I was reminded of the children of Israel who chose to worship a golden calf rather than the God who had so miraculously lead them out of Egypt. Why would they do this? What was so compelling about this inanimate figure that it would inspire praise and awe? The answer, of course, is nothing. The calf was an object of worship not because of any innate quality it possessed, but because it was a symbol of the peoples’ own greatness, after all it was made from melted treasures out of their own homes, they had fashioned it with their own hands, and so this glittering, golden idol was whatever they wanted it to be.
The calf was really an idealized reflection of themselves, a symbol of their self-love and self-adoration. Talk to anyone who is devoted to Palin, ask them why, and one of the things they will all tell you is, “because she’s just like me”. At some point Palin will be exposed and she will fall from grace, as all idols inevitably do, but I’ve come to realize that her true character is immaterial. Since Sarah Palin the brand, the national phenomenon, is merely the creation of those who have longed to exalt an idol made in their own image, without self-reflection and contrition they will only raise up another like her to take her place.
