How Sarah Palin Embodies the Countercultural Evangelical Ethos
By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country
The evangelical movement's eye-popping numbers (new megachurches are opening as mainline churches shrink), cultural power (think The Purpose Driven Life or crossover hits from Christian radio), and political success (George W. Bush, Mike Huckabee, Tim Pawlenty, etc.) makes it easy to forget that evangelical Christianity is very much a countercultural phenomenon.
Even as it adapts to the contemporary American cultural landscape—look at Rick Warren's Hawaiian shirts or the number of megachurches that now boast coffee shops—the American evangelical movement nonetheless defines itself as separate from the rest of the country.
"Religions that grow are the ones that are hard-core in some way—they have something that differs sharply from the culture in which they operate," Stephen Prothero, a religion professor at Boston University, told me recently. "That's the problem with mainline Protestantism: It's not different enough from mainstream America. Evangelicals have been able to pitch themselves as the alternative to mainstream culture."
Indeed, evangelicals read self-consciously evangelical magazines, go on church mission trips, and demonstrate remarkable political cohesion; a Pew survey out today finds that 71 percent of white evangelicals think abortion should be illegal, compared to 44 percent of the rest of the country.
In fact, nowhere is the evangelical countercultural impulse more evident than in politics. At the recent Values Voter Summit in Washington, more than one speaker compared the Christian right's role in politics today to the biblical story of David and Goliath.
And no politician embodies that embattled evangelical mentality more than Sarah Palin. She's an outsider's outsider.
During last year's campaign, the Republican vice presidential nominee portrayed herself as fighting not only the liberal media elite but the McCain campaign itself and the broader GOP establishment.
Palin has reportedly modeled her leadership on the biblical Queen Esther, who pulled off a long-shot gambit to save the Jews from an oppressive king. When she stepped down as Alaska's governor this year, Palin quoted Esther directly in reference to her own political future: "If I die, I die."
Palin's much anticipated memoir, to be released next month, is poised to solidify her appeal to the embattled evangelical psyche. Just look at the title: Going Rogue. With the book already in the No. 1 slot on Amazon, the pitch seems to be resonating.
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Reader Comments
re: bobbie of OR's last post
Nice try. Isn't that a really derogatory word to use. It is insulting with hardly no redeeming value (except that it is used in media all the time with a "lighter weight" to describe someone who goes against the grain/swims agains the stream/doesn't go along to get along/opposes the popular trend.
But, here's a point that bobbie from OR may not be aware of;however, from the tone of his voice, he may be one of those that would not care about this factual point or feel any remorse that he published something that is factually misleading as long as the verbage pushed forward a certain story line.
At the very beginning of bobbie from OR's post he says, "This is Sarah Palin's own word to describe herself.. " The fact is that this is the word that certain opposition types in the Republican party and outside the party used to describe her possible damaging role (in their opinion) in last year's campaign.
Of course, she then adopted it, but it was not her word to describe herself. That factoid kind of removes the point from bobbie's point and changes the direction. Many groups and/or persons down through history have become known for a name that their opposition gave to them. Frequently, they have then adopted it and worn it with a sense of purpose.
I ams sure if one would care to read the book (out of fairness and openmindedness), one would discover what words she does use to describe herself.
Have a great day.
Going Rogue
Here is the definition of rogue from the Merriam Webster online dictionary.
This is Sarah Palin's own word to describe herself..
here is the link and the definition
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rogue
Main Entry: 1 rogue
Pronunciation: ˈrōg
Function: noun
Etymology: origin unknown
Date: 1561
1 : vagrant, tramp
2 : a dishonest or worthless person : scoundrel
3 : a mischievous person : scamp
4 : a horse inclined to shirk or misbehave
5 : an individual exhibiting a chance and usually inferior biological variation
— rogu·ish ˈrō-gish adjective
— rogu·ish·ly adverb
— rogu·ish·ness noun
Something not said about Sarah Palin's resignation
I did not hear all of Sarah Palin's resignation speech, but what I did hear was significant, enlightening, and neglected by the press. It reveals a lot about the woman and her views.
Certainly, she understood well the politically motivated suits she is involved in which is reported and made to be the main focus in most reports and criticisms.
But what is not reported is that she plainly said that she was not going to remain in office pretending to hold office and carrying out her duties on the public dime while fighting for her polictical life and engaging in other activities like many other politicians do. Think John Edwards and President Obama who barely served fractions of their elective federal terms while running for President. There are many others that could be named since it seems to be a prevalent practice for those determined to live on public funds to advance their personal goals while failing to fully attend to the responsibilities of their office.
I think, in many respects, Sarah has always been simply the hockey mom who wanted to bring change and not a business as usual politician. It appears she still feels that way. Surviving as a politician was not her primary pursuit. It was not something she lusted after. The office. The power. The control. The legacy. She entered the arena with that mindset. She left with that mindset. The assasination of her family and the crude and cruel crucifixion of her life by the "well-meaning and civil" members of the political left was not what she signed up for. I admire her because she does NOT measure success by how long she can remain under the strain of such political and personal torture for the politically vicarious pleasure of the partisan spectators and manipulators. It is a sad commentary upon ourselves and our culture that a significant percent of the public measures success by those terms. They are like spectators in the old Roman coliseum calling for more blood and booing the gladiator that is unwilling to satisfy their most base demands. It is a false, straw standard to which we have descended, but to which the gladiator is not bound by any moral principle to follow. She is bound only to her own principles, weapons, and chosen field of battle.
The words to which I allude were a small part of her ramblings, but they revealed a devotion to a higher standard, an inwardly motivated humanity, and the courage to continue on the "road less traveled."
I wish her well and God's speed...and to her family.
Good luck to the rogue.
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