Palin's musings not Evangelical
Mark I. Pinsky/Religion News Service
Issue date: 10/19/08 Section: Divine Intervention
ORLANDO, Fla. - After living among evangelicals and writing about them for more than a dozen years, I am sometimes accused of losing my credentials as a left-wing Jew from the Jersey suburbs.
In private, my blue state friends speculate that I have become a victim of some sort of evangelical Stockholm Syndrome. I can't help it.
I, like most of those I know, despite fundamental differences over theology, politics and culture. They are my friends, my neighbors, even my doctor.
By and large, I have found these conservative Christians to be nothing like the national media stereotype of intolerant, knuckle-dragging yokels with torches and pitchforks. In fact, most of the evangelicals I have encountered here in the Sunbelt are middle-class suburbanites like me, good-hearted and intelligent, with diverse views on a wide range of issues, even if most vote Republican.
None of this blinds me to their flaws, some of which have been highlighted by the emergence of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the GOP's vice presidential nominee.
On the surface, Palin seems to be a champion broadly embraced by evangelicals. Yet in recent weeks, some polls suggest that she may not be significantly boosting support for the top of the GOP ticket among undecided White evangelicals, a key demographic.
Why is this? In the Sunbelt and heartland suburbs where middle class evangelicals determine the outcome of national elections, I detect a growing unease with Palin as a potential president. It predates her disastrous interview with Katie Couric and the conservative columnists' calls for her to step aside. It may be slowed by her performance in the vice presidential debate, but it is unlikely to be reversed.
"Gov. Palin is gifted and full of potential, and the media has been embarrassingly and abysmally condescending toward her," said the Rev. Kendall Harmon, a conservative Episcopal leader from Summerville, S.C. "She has much to offer but she is not ready to take on this assignment. She lacks the credentials - at this time - to be in this position. This is too much too soon."
In private, my blue state friends speculate that I have become a victim of some sort of evangelical Stockholm Syndrome. I can't help it.
I, like most of those I know, despite fundamental differences over theology, politics and culture. They are my friends, my neighbors, even my doctor.
By and large, I have found these conservative Christians to be nothing like the national media stereotype of intolerant, knuckle-dragging yokels with torches and pitchforks. In fact, most of the evangelicals I have encountered here in the Sunbelt are middle-class suburbanites like me, good-hearted and intelligent, with diverse views on a wide range of issues, even if most vote Republican.
None of this blinds me to their flaws, some of which have been highlighted by the emergence of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as the GOP's vice presidential nominee.
On the surface, Palin seems to be a champion broadly embraced by evangelicals. Yet in recent weeks, some polls suggest that she may not be significantly boosting support for the top of the GOP ticket among undecided White evangelicals, a key demographic.
Why is this? In the Sunbelt and heartland suburbs where middle class evangelicals determine the outcome of national elections, I detect a growing unease with Palin as a potential president. It predates her disastrous interview with Katie Couric and the conservative columnists' calls for her to step aside. It may be slowed by her performance in the vice presidential debate, but it is unlikely to be reversed.
"Gov. Palin is gifted and full of potential, and the media has been embarrassingly and abysmally condescending toward her," said the Rev. Kendall Harmon, a conservative Episcopal leader from Summerville, S.C. "She has much to offer but she is not ready to take on this assignment. She lacks the credentials - at this time - to be in this position. This is too much too soon."
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