Christianity,  Politics

Russell Moore’s Two-fer

Two items in the news today are related to Russell Moore and are worthy of note. First, The Wall Street Journal features an interview with Moore on adoption and his forthcoming book Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families and Churches. It’s a great article, and you should take a look.

Second, Senator John McCain announced that Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin would be his vice-presidential running mate. Moore predicted Palin as McCain’s pick exactly one month ago. Prescient indeed. Moore out pundited the professional pundits on this one.

60 Comments

  • Paul

    I’m looking forward to hearing all about the investigation she’s under for having her ex-brother in law fired after the divorce.

    Alberto Gonzales, the beauty queen version.

    And she says that she smoked marijuana when it was legal in Alaska, but didn’t like it.

    Well, if you only smoked it once, you would have mentioned that. And if you didn’t like it, you wouldn’t have smoked up a second time. I bet some interviews with her high school friends will turn up a bong the size of a corn silo.

    Between McCain being owned by Coors, and Palin possibly being a former stoner, this could be a really interesting campaign on the GOP’s side.

    As for Moore’s book about the need for Christians to adopt, it’s about time.

  • Darius

    She woke up at 3 AM to go moose hunting with her dad. AWESOME! 🙂

    The “investigation” is a bunch of tripe, she fired the guy because he was incompetent. And since when do you care about people who smoke pot, Paul???

  • Paul

    She just happens to figure out his incompetence right after he gets divorced from her sister?

    Come on Darius. Quit being the republican commentator that you’re dying to be, and just open your eyes here. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, trust me, it’s a duck.

  • Darius

    Seriously, you just go read some quick accusation of Palin on DailyKos and take it like it’s absolutely true? Perhaps, just maybe, you might want to wait for once before assigning guilt or bad motives to someone. You do love to do that though.

  • D.J. Williams

    Paul,

    Seems like a bit of a hasty judgment, don’t you think? I mean, she’s been the nominee for a whole hour already and you’ve got all the information necessary to determine that she’s corrupt?

    The woman does have approval ratings in the 80s, and the vetting process for this pick is pretty rigorous. If McCain or his staffers thought there was any chance of this being a problem (*cough*Tom Ridge*cough*) they’d have likely killed it.

    At any rate, I don’t see how an article on a local news site (we can always count on local news for high-quality reporting) gives you sufficient info to write her off.

  • Truth Unites.. and Divides

    I really like McCain’s decision to choose Governor Sarah Palin as his VP. Several reasons (by no means complete):

    (1) Strongly Pro-Life.

    (2) Strongly Pro-Traditional Marriage.

    (3) Might appeal to disaffected Hilary voters who are put off by Barack Obama so that they vote for McCain-Palin.

    (4) Might appeal to independents so that they vote McCain-Palin.

    (5) She’s tough. She can take on Biden in the debates.

    Disclaimer: I’m not enthused whatsoever by McCain. But Obama horrifies me. And selecting Palin gets me excited that the pro-abortionists of Obama-Biden and the Democrat party have a reasonable chance of being defeated for the office of presidency.

    Pax.

  • Jeff Bailey

    Gov. Palin seems like a fine person. A good choice. Sorry to see the political hacks bashing her already but what else is new.

  • Nathan

    Paul in (3):

    If you jumped on your boy Obama as hard as you just did on Palin we could take you seriously.

    Or, are you saying you love her for all the same reasons that you embrace Obama?

  • John

    McCain seems to be going for the social conservatives and majority of Evangelicals with this pick. The problem is that he already had them. Besides the fact that she’s a female, no liberal-leaning person or person who was considering voting for Obama will change their mind with Palin. Both parties can stop playing the “no experience” card now, for both tickets have a candidate with limited experience.

    In my mind, this doesn’t really change things at all. The race is going to be tight and interesting. Nothing is absolute yet, and neither candidate has put the nail in the coffin (so we should not say that McCain or Obama has definitely won).

    I am excited to see how this will carry out, and I think the next president will be determined by how the next 2 months go. I do know one thing, this surely hasn’t changed the fact that I’m voting for Obama.

    Hopefully McCain won’t cheat on his second wife with Palin…she’s a looker! 🙂

  • Nathan

    I apologize if I inferred that Paul supported Obama.

    My main point is that his rhetoric doesn’t convey the same disdain for Obama that he does for conservatives, especially Bush.

    I couldn’t care less if he despises Bush, but the attack on Palin is humorous considering Obama’s background and close connections and Paul’s tendency to see only conservatives as threats.

  • Darius

    John, you’re wrong. McCain did not already have the Evangelicals, at least not as passionately as he needs them. It’s not about having the support of a certain voting segment, but having the passion of that group. A person like Palin will help increase the passion among Christian conservatives since it shows that McCain is more than lip service on the issue. As for the moderates and left-leaners, she will bring over a few of each who are ticked that Obama both unfairly beat out Hillary (their rules committee meeting was a joke and went against party rules so that Obama would win) and then passed her over for VP. Over 50% of Hillary supporters have said that they aren’t very enthusiastic about Obama, and are obviously looking for another option. Palin as VP gives that to them, since it is quite apparent that she, like McCain, doesn’t fall for partisanship over ethics. Elections are not about getting the other side to vote for you (and not even really the moderates, who usually don’t vote anyway), they are about getting your side passionate about you. McCain will lose if he begins to court moderates or the Left, and Obama will lose if he continues to court the Right with more flip flops.

  • Truth Unites.. and Divides

    I would not be surprised at all if some Hilary supporters vote for the McCain-Palin ticket because of Sarah Palin.

    And that this potential cross-over is enough to tip the balance in crucial battleground, swing states.

    May it be!

  • Darius

    And I’m sure nothing could change your mind from voting for Obama, John, not if you will support a guy who wants to murder babies in the name of a radical ideology.

  • Scott

    So what we’re saying here is that she’s fit to be President should the unforeseen occur. Explain to me what makes her fit to handle foreign affairs and military crises.

  • Darius

    She’s the only one among the 4 candidates who has any executive experience. Granted, I would still trust McCain over her regarding foreign affairs, but she has more experience than Obama does at running a government.

  • Nathan

    John,

    Who cares if the Vice-President has vast credentials. Nobody cares about the Vice-President when they vote. Makes for some headlines today.

    Yes experience is still a huge issue. Unless you think that 36 years of kissing Ted Kennedy’s backside in the Sentate counts for experience with Biden and that Obama will actually ask his permission to govern.

    Bush is one of the very few (literally) to use his Vice-President in anything other than a figure-head position.

    And there are many women who disagree with you about voting for Obama when they knew Hillary could have fought at the convention and possibly stole the nomination. We will never know how much money passed under the table to keep Bill and Hill quiet.

  • Darius

    As a co-worker of mine said this morning, experience is overrated. That’s what the president has advisors for; all he has to do is make a wise decision devoid of biases according to the facts. Palin has already shown that she can do that, she vetoed an anti-gay “rights” bill (even though she is against recognizing gay marriage) because it was unconstitutional. She has taken on her own party when it was rife with corruption.

  • John

    Darius,

    Enough with the whole murdering babies thing. If you want to dialog civilly with me, then stop throwing attacks like that towards my direction acting like I want babies murdered. I am against abortion but have no hope in the Republican party to rid our country of it. I view this differently than you do, so please stop acting like I am actively for the murdering of babies. This is a complex issue and the last thing I want to do is debate it with you, okay? My hope is that we (me and you, and Evangelicals in general) can have a conversation together without you demonizing me and acting like I want to kill babies.

    McCain certainly DID already have the Evangelicals Darius, and you know it. He had their passion due to their hatred of Obama, and Palin will not increase that passion at all. There may be a small segment of Evangelicals voting for Obama, and Palin being on the ticket will not change their mind one bit. It doesn’t show that McCain is more than lip service, it shows that McCain wants their votes and think they’re crucial for his victory. This does not in any way communicate what he will do about it.You have to remember, this is politics in a democratic (kind of democratic) society. The candidates want votes and will do anything to get them. We can’t place too much hope in their words and must assume a motive (undoubtedly selfish motive) for all moves they make.

    If Obama “unfairly” beat out Hillary, then Hillary would not be supporting Obama. When there’s a stale mate and one is clearly in the lead, then he deserves to win. How did you expect them to handle it? Hillary’s support for Obama will surely cause the vast majority of her supporters to vote for him, regardless of Palin being a woman. She is a typical right-winger, and this will not excite any feminist with left-wing tendencies…sorry.

    On another note, just how do complementarians respond to this being a WOMAN? I’d be curious to hear.

  • Nathan

    What does complementarian issues of leadership in the church have to do with the government.

    Almost no evangelical I know would see this as problematic.

  • John

    Nathan,

    Some extend the leadership “in the church” to the home and government as well. Not to mention all (at least overwhelming majority) the kings and government officials in the Bible were males. Many believe that men are leaders and women are not. Thus men shouldn’t have to submit to women, not in the church, not in the home, not in the government.

    I understand many evangelicals would not see this as problematic, but many of the very hard-core ones would. Consistency is the word for that.

  • D.J. Williams

    John,

    I’m a complementarian, a youth pastor at a Southern Baptist church and I’m pretty in touch with “hard-core” evangelicalism – whatever that is – and I know of absolutely no one who believes that male headship is required in secular government.

  • Nathan

    John,

    You cannot expect consistency across multiple denominations or even within autonomous churches within certain denominations, that is why they are in certain denominations or in autonomous congregations.

    Also, if we are to be honest, regardless of the thorough understanding that there are not tests of gender in town square, the data proves otherwise. This is true in goverment for high ranking officials as well as corporate America and CEO’s.

    Doesn’t make it right, just a matter of reality.

  • Lydia

    How does that work at SBTS with employees writing books. Does Moore get to keep the royalties and all income from it?

    If not, did it have to be written on his own time?

  • Darius

    I don’t have an ideological problem with a woman in government, more of a practical concern. Women in leadership have a tendency toward a certain type of personality (read: Nancy Pelosi or Hillary Clinton), plus it is unnatural for men to follow a woman, so I would fear that a woman would get run over unless she’s a very strong-willed person, in which case she’s probably got that certain personality that I don’t like in women. In other words, it’s lose lose. That said, some women can pull it off. So far, Palin seems to be one of them, but we’ll see.

  • Truth Unites.. and Divides

    Nathan: “Almost no evangelical I know would see this as problematic.”

    At least not for this evangelical.

    Scripture speaks to male headship in the home and in the church.

  • Nathan

    About the fact that corporate America and government elected officials rarely elect women to high offices (senate, governor)?

    Or about the fact that you can’t hold all of the Protestants or the Catholics to a broad brushstroke because of individual positions?

  • Moz

    It will be interesting to see how fellow complimentarians handle Palin since many ground their theory of women in ministry in the created order, as does Paul in 1 Timothy. So I can see many who will oppose her on the grounds of creation or Trinity.

  • John

    So, D.J., it appears I am not crazy by making that claim…

    Nathan,

    I just didn’t know what you were talking about when you wrote above. What was your point?

  • Darius

    I admit, I know some people who are at least a little uncomfortable with the idea of a woman president (though they are much more than uncomfortable with the idea of a woman pastor). Ironically enough, many of those people are women.

  • bonnie

    I’m an SB complementarian woman. I don’t tend to be a fan of women working outside the home when dependent children are involved. I realize there are specific situations when this is necessary and that many mothers of young children successfully handle this, but I tend to think that the cons outweigh the pros. Being VP is most definitely a job that will take Palin further away from the day-to-day concerns of her family.

  • Truth Unites.. and Divides

    Feminists, Bring It On!

    “But to any liberal woman who wants to criticize Governor Palin, bring it on. There is a whole generation of women like me — who have been educated to be professionals and worked outside the home, but who subscribe to traditional values and conservative economics. For years, the feminist left have treated women like us as though we don’t exist, or worse yet, like we’re somehow ‘sellouts’ to our gender because we have different priorities and have made different decisions than they have.

    Enough. Sarah Palin makes it clear that accomplished, forward-thinking women are found on all parts of the political spectrum. Every time “feminists” criticize her and try to minimize her substantial talents and accomplishments, they once more make it clear that their agenda has nothing to do with the advancement of women — and everything to do with a big, government-knows-best, America-resenting, man-suspecting, pro-abortion agenda that is foreign to most normal women in this country.

    If any feminists want to take on Palin, let me know. I’ll debate ’em anywhere, any time about the merits of female leaders like Alaska’s governor — especially compared to the female “leadership” on the left that we’ve all been told over the years that we should, as women, be following.”

    In the comment section:

    And I personally know three women (my wife, my boss, and my coworker/best friend) who were big time Hillary supporters (much to my dismay during the primary season) who are so ticked off at O that they were seriously considering McCain even before today. And after talking to all three today, they aren’t considering anymore; they are all firmly in his camp because McCain (unlike O) had the courage to select a woman.”

  • Ferg

    “The courage to select a woman”….what a load of rubbish. I don’t see it as courageous whatsover. I personally see it as a rediculous move. but what does an irish man have to say about it!

  • Darius

    Why is it ridiculous, Ferg? I don’t necessarily subscribe to the idea that it was particularly courageous of McCain, but I also don’t understand what was so ridiculous about it.

  • Ferg

    I’m just incredibly surprised. she’s younger than obama and less experienced which is something that mccain was going on about in relation to obama.
    her foreign policy is non existent and biden will tear her apart on that.
    some would say choosing her to appeal to hillary supporters is plain insulting.
    can you actually imagine her being the president of america? seriously.

  • Jeff Bailey

    And Obama HAS that experience??? Get real. He’s been a senator for what? 140 something days…….and half of that off running for president. And he’s at the TOP of the ticket. Please Obama….please let’s have a debate on experience. Please.

  • Darius

    I don’t surrender the point that Biden is so great on foreign policy. He was against the Surge, which shows that he was utterly wrong and/or terribly partisan. He routinely sticks his foot in his mouth on all sorts of issues. A well-prepared Palin will school him.

  • Truth Unites.. and Divides

    I’m praying for two things this political season:

    (1) That Obama-Biden are defeated.

    (2) California passes the Marriage Amendment that affirms that marriage is between a man and a woman.

    Both are going to be tough to win against the militant liberal opposition who’ve enlisted (duped?) politically liberal (who are often theologically liberal too) Christians to enable the killing of unborn babies and to enable legitimization of same-sex behavior, a sin that is clearly mentioned in Scripture.

  • Moz

    Ferg,

    “Biden will tear her apart…”

    Yeah, that will play well on TV: Ugly old white guy tears into attractive mother of 5. Remember when Hilary cried and won big the next day (or thereabout)?

    They are counting on it. A campaign narrative is just like any other. We like the underdog, and right now, that is an old war vet and working mom.

    GOP looks good. McCain is crazy like a fox.

  • Carol Jean

    McLarko said, “I’m voting for Palin because she’s a good looking.”

    Does anyone think she just wears the glasses to make herself look more serious – perhaps trying to distance herself from the beauty queen image?

  • Scott

    “Both are going to be tough to win against the militant liberal opposition who’ve enlisted (duped?) politically liberal (who are often theologically liberal too) Christians to enable the killing of unborn babies and to enable legitimization of same-sex behavior, a sin that is clearly mentioned in Scripture.”

    The worst in a very bad history of antagonistic and misinformed posts. Congratulations for singlehandedly reinforcing the stereotypes of politically conservative fundamentalists.

  • Jeff Bailey

    Very gracious congratulations to Palin from Hillary Clinton. In sharp contrast to the totally classless remark from Obama.

  • Darius

    Scott and John,

    And you haven’t reinforced the stereotype of politically liberal fundamentalists?? You are fed a preponderance of evidence that Obama is radically anti-life, and you two just gleefully brag how you still plan on voting for him. It honestly breaks my heart to see two professing Christians so close-minded and stubborn in their political ideologies that even the most despicable practice in today’s world gets only a “ho hum” from them.

  • Truth Unites... and Divides

    “Scott and John,

    And you haven’t reinforced the stereotype of politically liberal fundamentalists??”

    Darius, they most assuredly have reinforced their credentials as politically liberal fundamentalists.

    “… you two just gleefully brag how you still plan on voting for him.”

    That’s weird. I don’t know why they’re bragging about it.

    It honestly breaks my heart to see two professing Christians so close-minded and stubborn in their political ideologies that even the most despicable practice in today’s world gets only a “ho hum” from them.”

    I don’t know why they’re so close-minded and stubborn in their political ideologies either. Perhaps its because their hearts are hardened from being “ho-hum” about moral travesties.

  • Alando Franklin

    Should Christians support a woman for the Office of Civil Magistrtae?

    We need to first understand that these questions can only be answered from Scripture. Mere human opinion or reason is not sufficient for the Christian. The Word of God is the only infallible, authoritative standard for directing us into the paths of righteousness. Only the Bible has the power to equip us for every good work (2 Tim. 3:15-17). The duty of every true follower of Jesus Christ is to obey His commandments (John 14:15), and, in fact, the sign that we are really His disciples is that we continue in obedience to His Word (John 8:31; 1 John 2:3-5).

    Read more:

    http://www.visionforumministries.org/issues/ballot_box/should_christians_support_a_wo.aspx

  • Brittany

    My problem with Palin’s nomination is that it is clearly a ploy on McCain’s part to sucker in all of us dissatisfied Clinton supporters. It’s condescending to believe that a mass of women will simply vote according to the candidate’s genitalia rather than acknowledging the huge gap between Clinton’s and Palin’s policy stances.

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