Most people in their right minds consider Sarah Palin\u2019s statement about using waterboarding to \u201cbaptize\u201d terrorists as insensitive at the very least. It further reinforces the notion that she will say or do nearly anything to grab a headline, even if it is at the expense of her own integrity, and perhaps that of her political cohorts or even her faith.<\/span><\/p>\n She\u2019d be doing all of us a favor if she\u2019d simply stop talking publically. But in as much as she continues to be afforded a microphone and speaking pulpit, we get to bear witness to her attempts to improvise a caricature of herself on the fly.<\/p>\n Perhaps the most disturbing part of the statement to me is not the brazenness of it, or even the apparent lack of self-awareness or personal filter. It\u2019s that she\u2019s actually speaking on behalf of a significant \u2013 albeit shrinking \u2013 subset of Christian culture in the United States. It\u2019s the strain that believes that the Prayer of Jabez (a prayer about expanding one\u2019s spiritual territory) is a Manifest Destiny of sorts from Jesus to his followers. We\u2019re to reach to all corners of the earth, emboldened with a \u201cbe assimilated or be eliminated\u201d mentality at our backs.<\/p>\n Though this sort of violent rhetoric and behavior enjoyed its peak some centuries ago during the Crusades, the vestiges of imperialist Christian entitlement lingers even today. But the reason that such statements, even if uttered by someone in a position of public influence, come off as silly and absurd rather than chilling is because the beast of Christendom has, in large part, been defanged by the post-Christian culture.<\/p>\n In short: the rest of the world has stopped paying much attention.<\/p>\n