Top evangelical scholar: Many evangelicals appalled McCain chose Palin (MORON ALert)

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I recently asked John Stackhouse, an influential scholar on faith and politics at evangelical Regent College in Vancouver, what evangelicals are thinking about Sarah Palin. John, an author of many books and frequent contributor to Christianity Today, replied:

"Some evangelicals will support Sarah Palin because they are Republican. Some will identify with her class-wise (against "intellectuals," "snobs," etc.). Some will like her persona. And some will like her because she's prolife," Stackhouse said.

"Some are racists, of course, and that'll be that. But many evangelicals will not support Obama because he is not even moderately pro-life (versus, say, the Clintons) and because he is, indeed, inexperienced versus Senator McCain. Many moderate evangelicals will prefer Obama's politics to McCain's. Some will be turned off by the racism at some GOP events - and upset by Governor Palin's refusal to denounce them. But many, many evangelicals, I expect, are appalled (as I am) that Senator McCain would put the United States and, indeed, the world in the perilous position of having the inexperienced and, it appears, morally and intellectually suspect Governor Palin one heartbeat away from the U.S. presidency. It shows a dreadful lack of judgment--precisely what he is supposed to offer instead of the callow Obama. And for many, that'll be that."

"But many, many evangelicals, I expect, are appalled (as I am) that Senator McCain would put the United States and, indeed, the world in the perilous position of having the inexperienced and, it appears, morally and intellectually suspect Governor Palin one heartbeat away from the U.S. presidency. It shows a dreadful lack of judgment--precisely what he is supposed to offer instead of the callow Obama. And for many, that'll be that."

Me thinks Mr. Stackhouse is not much of an "evangelical", and therefore has little knowledgeable basis for his position;

from: http://crossonmyback.wordpress.com/2007/06/12/is-inclusivism-compassionate/

"John G. Stackhouse Jr. is a professor of theology and culture at Regent College in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. He writes in a recent Christian Vision Project essay that, “it is obvious that one does not have to know about Jesus to adopt this posture that results in salvation.” Doug Wilson’s response to John Stackhouse’s inclusivist essay is excellent. In it, he makes the strong point that:

Ironically, this is why the inclusivist position requires us to start minimizing (in our own imaginations) how screwed up the world actually is. If we believe that millions of Hindus, Muslims, and Buddhists are groping their way to God in the dark, then we have to look out at the world as though it were jammed full of good intentions. And the problem is that it isn’t.

So we don’t proclaim Jesus because we are fixing the problem of “not having heard about Jesus.” We proclaim Jesus because we are addressing the problem of death, genocide, hatred, murder, rape, slave prostitution, senseless war, snarling greed, and as they say on television, much, much more. The problem with the inclusivist position is not that it is eager for the people to be included — every Christian wants that. The problem is that when we define the standard downward like this, at the end of the day we find that we have included much more than the people — we have opened the door to great wickedness as well. This may sound outlandish, but there it is. Tender-hearted accommodation leads to great hardness of heart. And a hardline conservatism at this point, ironically, is tender-hearted.

So when I feel like being compassionate, do I point people to Jesus, or do I pander around their sin? What do you do? What do you believe? Let’s expose the heretic inclusivist within and kill him by the Spirit of Jesus.

PS - Stackhouse’s essay is just another reminder that not every writer (especially on the internet) who has cool graphics, an ultra-hip swagger, and a penchant for nifty God-monikers is telling the truth. Deceivers can take all kinds of forms. Emergent readers beware. http://crossonmyback.wordpress.com/2007/06/12/is-inclusivism-compassionate/

“Needless to say, if she was a left-winger who’d been picked as Obama’s running mate, and had the identical family situation, conservatives would be howling at her irresponsible approach to motherhood.”

When people start doing the double standard thing you know something else is going on. And they need to be called on it. It’s why I prefer Savage or Limbaugh. Palin isn’t like King David, we don’t need her. There are others out there who don’t need to neglect an infant to get the job done. If we did need her that badly something tells me she would be a little more well-spoken and a little less like a cheerleader, and all cheerleaders do is get the home team going, for everyone else, it falls flat.

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