"Our national leaders are sending them [troops in Iraq] out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."
A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God's Web site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet.
Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry, "What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American markets.
"God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.
Gene Johnson, Associated Press, "Palin: Iraq War 'A Task That Is From God'" September 3, 2008
Governor Palin is entitled to think or pray whatever way she chooses, but unless you're a devotee of some weird sect that believes George W. Bush has a direct line to heaven, it's a stretch to say that his war of choice under false pretenses was "a task that is from God." In fact, it's more than eerie to consider the parallels between her view of God & Government and that of another fundamentalist ideology, the Wahabism that grew into a politico-religious movement in Saudi Arabia:
Eleanor A. Doumato, British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Volume 19, Issue 1 (1992)
Now, it truly is just a coincidence that Palin's home town of Wasilla, Alaska has the same name as a tenet of Islam, wasila, that has to do with means of approaching God:
Al Wasila according to the sacred law is an action or deed performed by a believer as a means to achieving an aim or purpose. Al Wasila is to approach God with a good deed and to ask Him to grant us a good position in the hereafter, as in the verse: "O you who believe! Do your duty to God, seek the means of approach (wasila) unto Him, and strive in His cause: that you may prosper." [al-Maida 5:35]. It is not acceptable for someone to believe that those called upon can cause effects, benefit or harm.
So I guess the prescription against "causing effects, benefit or harm" in the case of Bush's invasion of Iraq means that Sarah-of-Wasilla is not practicing true wasila. But Wasilla, Alaska, was of course not named after an Islamic theological concept, but - according to the official town history - take your pick:
a) Athabaskan Indian chief Wasilla
b) the Russian name Vasili
And who says Sarah Palin isn't familiar with either diversity or with foreign affairs? We were already reminded that she commands the Alaska National Guard, our first line of defense against Siberia. Now we learn that she hails from a former Russian colonial outpost in North America. But I digress.
This post is about religion, and its proper place outside governors' mansions, White Houses, and governance as practiced outside of Saudi Arabia. I don't care if the candidates for the US Presidency are Christians, Muslims, Jews, agnostics, or animists. Admittedly, there's not much chance for the latter four categories to get very far in a country that remains predominately Christian, but white Protestant evangelicals need to understand that they are in a definite minority and should not assume that their visions of God approving pipelines is everyone's idea of politics or religion.
And now a word from Governor Palin's own parish in Wasilla:
As Alaskans we are excited about our Governor being selected as the nominee for Vice President. As residents of Wasilla, we are ecstatic about one of our own being thrust to the national forefront. However, as a church, it is not appropriate for us to endorse any one candidate over another. As believers, we are reminded in 1 Peter 2.13 that we are to submit to those in authority. 1 Timothy 2.1-2 tells us pray for those in authority. This we will do no matter who is elected. We wish the best to Governor Palin, and Senator McCain, as well as to Senator Obama and Senator Biden.
Nice of the pastor to throw in a little bipartisan note at the end, but consider his choice of Scripture: "we are to submit to those in authority." See, I knew there was a really nice parallel between fundamentalists in Alaska and Arabia, and it's not just the coincidence about the name Wasilla.
I think old Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Wahhab would be perfectly at home in Wasilla, as long as he could get over the fact that Muslims probably make up 0.000001 % of the population (if that). "We are to submit to those in authority..." Submission, my friends, is what Islam means, literally. Submission to the will of God. Most Muslims, of course, do not subscribe to Wahabism, nor would they go as far as to equate submission to temporal rulers with heavenly edicts. Sadly, most of them live in places where there is precious little room to do anything but submit to "those in authority," or suffer the consequences.
I leave you where the Associated Press left its Palin Iraq-is-a-task-from-God story, with the words of Rob Boston of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, from his blog:
There has been a lot of “God talk” this election season, and Americans United has been critical of it on both sides of the political aisle. The reason is simple: Being president, vice president, senator, governor (or even small-town mayor) involves certain tasks, but none of them is religious in nature. The president oversees the national budget, serves as commander in chief and manages international relations, among other things. Governors draw up state budgets and work with their legislatures. A mayor makes sure the police and fire departments are adequately funded and deals with zoning issues.
Amen.