Sarah Palin's evangelical-speak

According to a top strategist in the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain, Sarah Palin believed that the decision to pick her as the Arizona Republican’s running mate was actually made by Almighty God.

Translated into the logic of an Associated Press report, this political theology sounded like this.

“In an interview with the CBS news magazine ‘60 Minutes,’ Steve Schmidt described Palin as ‘very calm — nonplused’ after McCain met with her at his Arizona ranch just before putting her on the Republican ticket. ... Schmidt said he asked Palin about her serenity in the face of becoming ‘one of the most famous people in the world.’ He quoted her as saying, ‘It’s God’s plan.’ “

The Washington Post headline proclaimed, “McCain aide: Palin believed candidacy ‘God’s plan.’ “

After this latest Palin firestorm it’s time to ask: Why can’t journalists learn to understand how ordinary evangelicals talk?

To make matters worse, readers have no chance to understand this private, secondhand quotation because it has been stripped of all context. There is no way to know if this snippet is the entire Palin quote or merely what Schmidt has chosen to share as part of the ongoing fighting between factions inside McCain’s failed campaign.

The big question: Did Palin say her nomination was part of “God’s plan for her life” or did she, as implied, dare to claim that it was part of “God’s plan for America”? Most press reports have implied the latter, linking her faith-based confidence with speculation that she will run for president.

“Palin isn’t a minister or priest. She isn’t a bishop. She is a celebrity,” noted Andrew Sullivan, on his Atlantic Monthly Web site.

“When she says ‘it’s God’s will,’ she is saying, it seems to me, either that her destiny is foretold as a modern-day Esther ... or that it doesn’t matter what decisions she makes in office because God is in charge. So she is either filled with delusions of grandeur and prone to say things that believing Christians keep private out of humility; or she thinks she’s some kind of Messiah figure.”

However, anyone with a working knowledge of evangelical lingo will understand that what Palin probably said was that this stunning door onto the national stage was, win or lose, part of “God’s plan” for her life.

This is the approach that she consistently uses in her memoir, “Going Rogue,” when discussing the twists and turns in her life — from an unexpected chance to climb the political ladder in Alaska to the challenge of an unexpected pregnancy, leading to the birth of a child with special needs.

In other words, Palin believes in a God who is mysteriously working through the choices and events — painful and joyful — that have shaped her life. This is a perfectly ordinary belief among millions of evangelical Protestants and, truth be told, many other believers as well.

It may help to recall that, during the 2008 campaign, Charles Gibson of ABC News struggled to understand another piece of evangelical-speak drawn from Palin remarks about the Iraq War.

The governor told a church audience: “Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending (soldiers) out on a task that is from God. That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.”

However, in his interview with Palin, Gibson said: “You said recently, in your old church, ‘Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.’ Are we fighting a holy war?”

Not exactly. Palin was reminding the worshippers to pray that God had a plan in Iraq and that decisions made by America’s leaders would be consistent with that plan. She was not, as Gibson said, stating that this was a certainty.

Bottom line: It may be time to circulate a basic “How Evangelicals Talk” phrase book that can be used in elite newsrooms, much like the one that journalists needed when then-Gov. Jimmy “born again” Carter first emerged on the national scene.

Terry Mattingly directs the Washington Journalism Center at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities. Contact him at tmattingly@Acccu.org or www.tmatt.net.

The current crop of so-called "journalists," political pundits, and Far Left politicians simply allow us a window into their ignorance and lack of knowledge of the "American mind" (Jefferson) of 1776 and 1787.

Sarah Palin's references to a Higher Power are much more akin to those of George Washington, John Adams, and the other genius Founders of this nation than to politically-correct statements from modern politicians. From the Declaration of Independence to the speeches, letters and writings of Presidents, such documents are replete with references to a Supreme Being, or to the Hand of Divine Providence in the nation's life.

Give us a break! Palin's sense of the role of Divine Providence in her life is in keeping with the thinking of the very men who made it possible for these shallow journalists and political pundits to be free to reveal their ignorance through their words.

Perhaps just a few from the First President might get them started on an intellectual journey into their nation's history:

"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God,. to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits , and humbly to implore his protection and favor… beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed." (President George Washington, Thanks giving Proclamation, October 3, 1789)

"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits... or the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed... and in general for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us." (President George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation, 1789)

"Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God....we may...unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations... and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions, to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our...duties properly...to render our national government a blessing to all the People, by constantly being a government of wise, just and constitutional laws... and to bless them with...peace and concord...and the increase of science... and...to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best." — President George Washington (Oct. 3, 1787) The First Proclamation of a National Day of Thanksgiving and Prayer to Almighty God.

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