You may be aware that Bristol Palin is writing for Patheos. You likely have an opinion regarding it. I’ve gotten a few of your opinions, some rather strongly worded. I’ve had a range of opinions myself on the subject, but once the idea soaked in, I was fine with it. Here’s why:

Photo: Gage Skidmore

13. She’s A Troll Magnet

We bloggers loathe trolls. They are the bane of our existence. The Palins are so polarizing that there’s a chance that Bristol might draw the bulk of the trolls and haters on Patheos, leaving the rest of us bloggers to write in peace. A woman can hope, right?

12. She’s Raising Awareness of Down Syndrome

And that’s a good thing, right? Ain’t nothing wrong with that. I’m sure Masery over on Staff of Asclepius would agree with me.

11. She’s Raising Awareness of DWTS

We all know this is a subject rarely discussed with the seriousness it deserves. I myself have shirked my duty in this area in favor of discussing the wisdom of drag queens. I’ll admit I’m a fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race (what happened with Willam?) when I should devote my time to more serious things, like whether Jaleel White will do an Urkel dance this season. Thankfully, Bristol is picking up my slack. You go gurl!

10. She Puts My Work Into Perspective

I’ll admit I have slack days, but I do work hard to write something worthwhile here. Something meaningful and of benefit to my community. So seeing Bristol get over 800 FB shares and over 100 tweets for this post, reminds me that if I draw on my Protestant roots and work hard, maybe I can be as successful as she is. Maybe one day I will be able to convey as much meaning with the same economy of vocabulary, and I will be read far and wide.

9. Famous People Have Typos Too

Y’all know I am the queen of typos, and on my off-days there are commas and apostrophes flying everywhere. It bothers me when these slip past me in proof-reading. But it’s reassuring to know that typos, grammar weirdness, flat prose, and awkward sentences creep up on the famous too. We are all just human, after all.

8. Even Evangelicals Can’t Talk About God All The Time

I find it refreshing that a new blogger on a religious website can go a whole week and only mention God once. That is admirable restraint. Religion is something to be taken in moderation, and that’s something religious bloggers need to be reminded of now and again.

7. Bristol Brings Energy to Faith & Family

Bristol brings some much-needed spice to the Patheos Faith and Family portal. Nancy French has been working hard over there and I hope this energy spills over into the other parenting blogs. Who knows, maybe now is the time for a Pagan blogger over there? Maybe I can woo Angela Pippinger, Kris Bradley or Melanie Moore to write alongside Bristol? Wouldn’t that be fun to see?

6. The Atheists Are Ignoring Her

Which cracks me up. Not a peep out of them this week about her. They are hardly a reticent bunch, and shy and retiring aren’t among their attributes. I love that they are in their own little world far away from all us “religious nuts.”

5. Cara Schulz Says So, So It’s So

Cara is afflicted with conservatism, which I imagine is a disease much like arthritis or gout, so as one of her staunchly liberal friends I often find myself not quite seeing the world the way she does. And when you love someone dearly, sometimes you just agree with them to make life go smoother. So Cara is right, as always.

4. Her Readers Ain’t Interested In Us

I don’t expect a pack of rabid Bristol fans to come raining down on the religious bloggers. No, I doubt the Lutheran theologians, nor the Progressive Methodists, nor the Scientologists, nor the Hindus, nor the atheists, much less the Pagans will find hoards of Palin super-fans crowding out comment sections. People who are here for Bristol are likely only here for Bristol, and won’t much bother the rest of us. As far as I can tell, the religious bloggers will reap the rewards (such as improved server response) and not suffer from any downside.

3. It’s Raining Servers

When you work for a growing website, trying to keep ahead of the traffic and keep the servers up and healthy is a tough business. It’s one of the reasons The Wild Hunt came over to Patheos, because hosting was becoming an issue as Jason’s readership grew. Word has it we got some significant server upgrades just to handle Bristol’s traffic. Which means I won’t get server error messages on heavy traffic days when I go to read The Wild Hunt. That’s awesome in my book.

2. Patheos Gains Notoriety From It

Now when I tell people that I work for Patheos, maybe I’ll get a bit more recognition and respect. Of course, the person I’m speaking to will react differently according to their political and moral views, but at least the signal is boosted for the rest of us a bit.

1. Witches Benefit From A Palin

I know this may come as a surprise to my faithful readers, but I’m a Witch. Big shocker, right? Considering the history of Sarah Palin and witchcraft, the fact that the website that hosts so many Pagan blogs gets both a signal boost and server upgrade thanks to Bristol Palin is just a lovely turn of events.

And for the record, I’d like Obama to call me too. I’ve already interviewed presidential candidate Gary Johnson, and I’m torn on whether to vote for that awesome Libertarian, or Obama. So give a Pagan journalist a break and set your aides to searching for my number. I’ll ask you tough questions on the economy, foreign diplomacy and health care rather than ask you to address my personal life. Whether someone insults me isn’t important, but what you plan to do about jobs, Iran and women’s health care is crucial.

Or better yet, hit me up on Google+ hang outs, Mr. President. In this economy neither of us should waste our cellphone minutes. It will only take a few minutes, and if Gov. Johnson can hang out with a Hellenic polytheist in Minneapolis, surely you can video chat with a Witch.