My old friend and one-time colleague Dave Gushee notes in USA Today that conservative evangelicals’ sudden enthusiasm for Sarah Palin is a bit difficult to square with their “theological vision that women are subservient to men”:
Never have conservative evangelicals positioned themselves as staunch advocates for women’s leadership in political life — until Sarah Palin. …
The nomination of Palin offers conservative Christian leaders the chance to rethink an archaic theological vision that wounds millions of devout Christian women and restricts the full exercise of their gifts. This is an unexpected gift from presidential candidate John McCain to evangelical Christianity.
Read the whole thing, particularly the questions Gushee asks his “complementarian” (i.e., male supremacist) co-religionists, such as: “If you agree that God can call a woman to serve as president, does this have any implications for your views on women’s leadership in church life?” and “Do you believe that Palin is under the authority of her husband as head of the family? If so, would this authority spill over into her role as vice president?”
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An e-mail from Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council informs me that “Coach Joe Gibbs to Address Values Voter Summit.” That should be a great pep talk: “See, your faith is like this magnetic spacer. And the voting booth is like NASCAR’s dynamometer test …”
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So wait, John McCain can’t use a computer because POW!POW!POW! and he’s all, like, too disabled to use a mouse.
So how on earth did Steven Hawking manage to write A Brief History of Time?
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The girls, ages 12 and 13, surprised me the other day by knowing all the words to “I’ve Just Seen a Face.” Thank you, Julie Taymor.
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Next week’s news today
Because John McCain, Friend of NAMBLA, and his enablers in the press are determined to make this a big election about very small things, here is a preview of a news story from next week by, oh, let’s say Adam Nagourney of The New York Times.
… Davis, visibly shaken and with tears in his eyes, reiterated the McCain campaign’s demand for an apology.
“Thousands of older Americans suffer from this same condition,” Davis said. “So when Mr. Obama says, ‘Don’t pee on my leg and tell me it’s raining’ this is a vicious slur not only on Sen. McCain, but also on tens of millions of older Americans.”
Obama, for his part, insisted his comment had not been intended as a personal attack on his Republican rival.
“I don’t see how that can be taken as ageist,” Obama said. “It’s a colloquialism, something my grandmother used to say back in Kansas. And anyway I didn’t even know until today that Sen. McCain suffered from this condition.”
“John McCain was a POW,” Davis reminded reporters. “Leave John McCain aloooooooooone!”
Asked if he would have chosen his words more carefully had he known about his opponent’s condition, Obama shrugged. “Depends,” he said.
This prompted further demands for an apology …
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Isn’t that beluga whale adorable?
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