{"id":2889,"date":"2008-09-06T00:05:00","date_gmt":"2008-09-06T00:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/seeing-sarah-palin-as-esther-god-has-given-her-the-opportunity-serve.html"},"modified":"2008-09-06T00:05:00","modified_gmt":"2008-09-06T00:05:00","slug":"seeing-sarah-palin-as-esther-god-has-given-her-the-opportunity-serve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/seeing-sarah-palin-as-esther-god-has-given-her-the-opportunity-serve.html","title":{"rendered":"Seeing Sarah Palin as Esther: “God has given her the opportunity serve”"},"content":{"rendered":"

What sort of a Christian is Sarah Palin? We know she was baptized Catholic as a baby, but is now an ardent and practicing member of the Assembly of God. And, with every passing day, we’re seeing what that means to her life and her politics. <\/p>\n

The New York Times has this look<\/a> in the Saturday editions: <\/p>\n

<\/a>Shortly after taking office as governor in 2006, Sarah Palin sent an e-mail message to Paul E. Riley, her former pastor in the Assembly of God Church, which her family began attending when she was a youth. She needed spiritual advice in how to do her new job, said Mr. Riley, who is 78 and retired from the church.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe asked for a biblical example of people who were great leaders and what was the secret of their leadership,\u201d Mr. Riley said.<\/p>\n

He wrote back that she should read again from the Old Testament the story of Esther, a beauty queen who became a real one, gaining the king\u2019s ear to avert the slaughter of the Jews and vanquish their enemies. When Esther is called to serve, God grants her a strength she never knew she had.<\/p>\n

Mr. Riley said he thought Ms. Palin had lived out the advice as governor, and would now do so again as the Republican Party\u2019s vice-presidential nominee.<\/p>\n

\u201cGod has given her the opportunity to serve,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd God has given her the strength to carry out her goals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ms. Palin\u2019s religious life \u2014 what she believes and how her beliefs intersect or not with her life in public office in Alaska \u2014 has become a topic of intense interest and scrutiny across the political spectrum as she has risen from relative obscurity to become Senator John McCain\u2019s running mate.<\/p>\n

Interviews with the two pastors she has been most closely associated with here in her hometown \u2014 she now attends the Wasilla Bible Church, though she keeps in touch with Mr. Riley and recently spoke at an event at his former church \u2014 and with friends and acquaintances who have worshipped with her point to a firm conclusion: her foundation and source of guidance is the Bible, and with it has come a conviction to be God\u2019s servant.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust be amazed at the umbrella of this church here, where God is going to send you from this church,\u201d Ms. Palin told the gathering in June of young graduates of a ministry program at the Assembly of God Church, a video of which has been posted on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cBelieve me,\u201d she said, \u201cI know what I am saying \u2014 where God has sent me, from underneath the umbrella of this church, throughout the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

Janet Kincaid, who has known Ms. Palin for about 15 years and worked with her on some Wasilla town boards and commissions when Ms. Palin was mayor here, said Ms. Palin\u2019s spiritual path, from the Assembly of God to Wasilla Bible, has had a consistent theme.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe churches that Sarah has attended all believe in a literal translation of the Bible,\u201d Ms. Kincaid said. \u201cHer principal ethical and moral beliefs stem from this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prayer, and belief in its power, is another constant theme, Ms. Kincaid said, in what she has witnessed in Ms. Palin. \u201cHer beliefs are firm in the power of prayer \u2014 let\u2019s put it that way,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Maria Comella, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin campaign, said Ms. Palin had been baptized Roman Catholic as an infant, but declined to comment further.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to get into discussing her religion,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

In the address at the Assembly of God Church here, Ms. Palin\u2019s ease in talking about the intersection of faith and public life was clear. Among other things, she encouraged the group of young church leaders to pray that \u201cGod\u2019s will\u201d be done in bringing about the construction of a big pipeline in the state, and suggested her work as governor would be hampered \u201cif the people of Alaska\u2019s heart isn\u2019t right with God.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also told the group that her eldest child, Track, would soon be deployed by the Army to Iraq, and that they should pray \u201cthat our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God, that\u2019s what we have to make sure we are praying for, that there is a plan, and that plan is God\u2019s plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

Larry Kroon, who has been the presiding pastor at Wasilla Bible for the last 30 years, declined to describe Ms. Palin\u2019s beliefs or the role she plays in the church, but suggested that she is more of a back-bencher than a leading light.<\/p>\n

\u201cTodd and Sarah come in as Todd and Sarah \u2014 they\u2019re very discreet about it,\u201d he said, referring to Ms. Palin\u2019s husband.<\/p>\n

One of the musical directors at the church, Adele Morgan, who has known Ms. Palin since the third grade, said the Palins moved to the nondenominational Wasilla Bible Church in 2002, in part because its ministry is less \u201cextreme\u201d than Pentecostal churches like the Assemblies of God, which practice speaking in tongues and miraculous healings.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of churches are about music and media and having a big profile,\u201d Ms. Morgan said. \u201cWe are against that. That is why it is so attractive to politicians because they can just sit there and be safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gotten a lot of their people when the other churches get too extreme,\u201d Ms. Morgan continued. However, she added, \u201cIf you lift your hands when we\u2019re singing, we\u2019re not going to shoot you down.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There’s much more at the link<\/a>. And I’m sure, we’ll be hearing and reading more about this unique and vitally important aspect of Palin’s life in the days to come. <\/p>\n

Also, if you wander over to the America<\/i> blog “In All Things”<\/a>, there’s an interesting reflection on “re-baptism,” from a former Southern Baptist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What sort of a Christian is Sarah Palin? We know she was baptized Catholic as a baby, but is now an ardent and practicing member of the Assembly of God. And, with every passing day, we’re seeing what that means to her life and her politics. The New York Times has this look in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-and-politicians"],"yoast_head":"\nSeeing Sarah Palin as Esther: "God has given her the opportunity serve" - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/09\/seeing-sarah-palin-as-esther-god-has-given-her-the-opportunity-serve.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Seeing Sarah Palin as Esther: "God has given her the opportunity serve" - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"What sort of a Christian is Sarah Palin? 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2889\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}