Evangelical Christians overwhelmingly support Palin’s religiosity, large family, pro-life stance, and creationistic views. According to the Washington Post, socially conservative voters will not only turn out in larger numbers, but also be more active in the campaign because of Palin. This makes me wonder how we can value the separation of church and state so highly, yet push for a candidate whose values are saturated in the religious experience.
But who am I to say that humankind makes greenhouse gases, or a woman’s body should be under her own control?
Ironically, Palin’s pro-life stance, which includes instances of rape and incest, doesn’t apply to her views of lives in the Middle East. PressTV explores the link between the Christian Right and the Zionist movement, or Israeli occupation of Palestine.
While some people disagree that the War in Iraq is a “task from God,” evangelicals can identify with Palin’s conservative views. This is not to say that all evangelicals will vote for Palin. Increasing numbers of “freestyle” evangelicals are moving away from the evangelical “bloc.” While they may be socially conservative, they may be politically liberal.
It used to be that securing the evangelical vote would strengthen a candidate’s, generally of the Republican ticket, chances. This isn’t the case any more, but maybe Palin will intensify evangelical identity and produce yet another powerful voting bloc in 2008.
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