Could we get back to God? Have we had enough talk about “politics” these days, and could we just get back to God?
That was the request of one of our blog readers on Wednesday. She wrote…

Ok, I’m sorry to say this , but could we all get back on track again? This is called CONVERSATIONS WITH GOD.not conversations with Obama,McCain or anyone else!!
Could we please get back to God !! ….Thank you .. karink 🙂

So I guess there is a thought in the space that God has nothing to do with politics, right? On the other hand, in the same Comments Section was this entry….

Glad to see the interest in the political scene, and I appreciate the sharing and comments on the topic.
Peace, Mike

So I am reminded of the old adage, “You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you cannot please all of the people all of the time.”
But let me ask you this…If God should have nothing to do with politics, would it be conversely true that politics should have nothing to do with God? If so, then why all this talk of how Sarah Palin’s candidacy has awakened, aroused, and excited the Religious Right?
And while we are asking such questions, a few more, please…
Both conventions are over, and Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Whose “side” is God on? Do you think God takes sides? Does God “support” one point of view over another? If so, which point of view is that?
Does God support GOP Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin’s point of view about childbirth, which is pro-life and anti-choice?
Does God support Democractic Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s point of view about war, which is that he is not only against the Iraq War, but against the “mind set” that could even conceive of such a war as a solution?
Now, again looking to the Comments Section in our last entry here…I was remarking in my blog about how BOTH Barack Obama and John McCain offered such appropriate responses to all the hullabaloo over Bristol Palin’s pregnancy. And here along comes “Don L.” to say…

If Obama had spoke out against the media, I would have been impressed. It has been a long standing rule to leave the children out of politics.
Bush did not bring Kerry’s daughter into it
Kerry did not bring Bush’s daughter into it
Bush ‘1’ did not bring Bills daughter into it
Obama did not bring Mc..err.Palins daughter into it.
The media however…those people cant turn away. Someone even suggested a woman cant be a mom and a politician at the same time. Bigots
But again I stress… its one thing for Obama to not get involved. Its another for him to take on the media. He did not.
Posted by: Don L | September 3, 2008 8:32 PM

Gosh, Don….did you not hear, re-played all over the TV for two days, Obama saying directly to the press to “BACK OFF”???? He directly challenged the media.
How much more can you “take on” the media than to tell reporters right to their face on national television, “You guys need to back off. This has nothing to do with Sarah Palin’s qualifications to be governor of Alaska or a candidate for vice president on the United States.”
Now, wouldn’t you, Don, as a fair-minded person, be willing to at least give the man credit for, in fact, directly “taking on the media” on this one? Perhaps you simply missed this remark from the Democratic nominee — although it really was all over the television…
Side Note: I love how everyone in the GOP was critizicing Obama for the past eight weeks for being a “celebrity” and a “media star”…and then, when they get their own high profile personality (which John McCain certainly is not), out come all the conservative bloggers to praise Sarah Palin for being exactly what they bashed Barack Obama for being. Note this headline right here at Beliefnet.com on the top blog displayed this morning…
Sarah Palin: Our Culture’s Newest Star

Then I must say I loved this exchange between “DG” and…once again, “Don L.” (by the way, I am so happy to see all of you posting here. We have a healthy dialogue going, and that’s great!)
Here, DG says…

….this was recently posted by AP:
“Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a “task that is from God.”
VP Candidate Sarah Palin just made the war in Iraq a holy war.
She has singlehandedly recentered the United States in the crosshairs of every fundamentalist muslim sect in the world, not that we werent there already, but the last thing we need is someone with no foreign policy experience doing something foolish, like this, to fuel that fire.
Apparently the Republican leadership hasnt learned anything from history – holy wars are never holy, holy wars never end.

To which Don L. replies…

DG
Perhaps you should watch the video. I could have swore I heard her say ‘pray that we are doing Gods will’
as opposed to what is being twisted and reported.
They must really be scared of her to hate her so bad.
Posted by: Don L | September 3, 2008 9:00 PM

So now let’s look at what she really DID say….just for the record. Thanks to “G.W. McKay,” we have this post…which is kind of scary folks. Kind of scary…

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the Iraq war on a “task that is from God.”
In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it “God’s will.”
Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.
“Our national leaders are sending them 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.
“I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our public schools are funded,” she added. “But really all of that stuff doesn’t do any good if the people of Alaska’s heart isn’t right with God.”
Palin attended the evangelical church from the time she was a teenager until 2002, the church said in a statement posted on its Web site. She has continued to attend special conferences and meetings there. Religious conservatives have welcomed her selection as John McCain’s running mate.
Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, lamented Palin’s comments.
“I miss the days when pastors delivered sermons and politicians delivered political speeches,” he said. “The United States is increasingly diverse religiously. The job of a president is to unify all those different people and bring them together around policy goals, not to act as a kind of national pastor and bring people to God.”
The section of the church’s Web site where videos of past sermons were posted was shut down Wednesday, and a message was posted saying that the site “was never intended to handle the traffic it has received in the last few days.”
Wow, that just seems scary to me in thinking that we are somehow the hand of God, doing “His” bidding in Iraq. The Vid of the above mention speech can be found at YouTube:

Posted by: G W. McKay | September 4, 2008 12:45 AM

All of this “God’s will” stuff brings me right back to the question, What IS God’s will, anyway? And which candidate or party is doing it?
Gosh….if we only could know what God wants…
Hey, I’ve got an idea…! Why not read What God Wants? It’s a fascinating book, available from Atria Books. To get a glimpse of it, scroll back right here on this blogsite and pick up the entries over the past several Saturdays. And then, be sure to read tomorrow’s blog…
And after the weekend, we’re going to take a look here at whether there was, or was not, a “police state” action taken against protesters at the GOP Convention this week.
But tell me, please….having read Sarah Palin’s remarks in the report from the Anchorage newspaper above…don’t YOU find that just a little bit scary? We criticize some other countries in the world who operate with a “theocracy”, in which certain people’s understanding of What God Wants creates laws and other official government policy — and then we turn around and praise it here….yes? Well, of course we do, because OUR God has got it RIGHT…and THEIR God is crazy and all mixed up!
Yes?
Okay, Sarah…I’ve lead off the commentary here. You Officially Scare Me.