You’d think she were one of the mysteries of our faith, all the writing that has gone into trying to grapple with the political career and attraction to and hatred for former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.
In the case of the recent Newsweek cover portraying Palin as “Saint Sarah” — in a backhanded canonization not quite the same as the Vatican approach — the quandary isn’t all that mysterious. The Newsweek story, written by a writer who fashions herself as an expert on religion, once again has the magazine betraying an ignorant caricature of Christianity in its newsroom.
Take, for instance: “Many Christian women loathe Palin, of course, and many men love her, but a certain kind of conservative, Bible-believing woman worships her.”
I’m not so sure that was just a cute stylistic maneuver. The pro-life Christian conservative woman is an exotic creature in this particular venue. To the outsider, devotion to saints would be far from the strangest thing a Catholic does. Further, in a country where Barack Obama has, at times, been likened to a deity, why wouldn’t someone worship Sarah Palin too?
Newsweek recounts her honesty about her most recent pregnancy. She had a dark thought. This, in Christianity, according to this newsmagazine, is anathema. Christians as human? Dark thoughts and temptations? How can that be? Never mind that perfect people would have never been in need of redemption and salvation.
But I digress from a good story.
The cover piece goes on to castigate Palin for her femininity. “Palin has already overshared: Nothing makes a person, let alone a politician, appear more vulnerable, more ordinary, and more unambiguously female than a scene in a bathroom where she pees on a stick. But then she defies a generation of pro-life activists who preached that the life of the fetus is sacred, no matter what an individual woman wants.”
As a political strategy, did Hillary Clinton crying during primary season hurt her? It’s a legitimate question for political analysis. But it’s only in a culture where the sexual revolution has so skewed our attitudes and relationship with natural law and biology that being “unambiguously female” makes headlines.
Newsweek goes on to describe Palin’s story about having her son Trig, who has Down syndrome, as a women’s story, which “has all the familiar elements of evangelical testimony: tribulation and dread; trust in God; and, finally, great blessings.”
You, of course, don’t have to be evangelical to appreciate fear, faith and gratitude. Some of the most powerful testimonies frequently come from men. From the Gospels. From the pulpit. It’s not something for the script of the Christian Sex and the City. It’s about the cross. It’s about why we’re alive. It’s about why any of this matters.
The newsmagazine misses all of that glory, though. So they are stuck with an odd trailblazing curiosity who is working out a puzzle — “a path through this thicket of contradictions” that is being a Christian woman who wants to do more than fit Newsweek’s caricature of what a Christian woman is. In truth, while being on a presidential ticket isn’t all that commonplace, insofar as she is a Christian mom and wife engaged with the world, Sarah Palin isn’t the rare bird Newsweek thinks she is. It’s why the night of her famous Republican Convention speech so many men e-mailed me to say that they liked Sarah Palin’s presence on the national scene because she reminds them of their own wives: a religious woman working hard on various fronts, not really represented in popular culture and, for all her flair, actually pretty “ordinary.”
Obviously, Sarah Palin herself continues to be a legitimate news story, and she’s a person full of complexities and decisions, and hers is an unfolding story. But the Newsweek story and the new attention to her as a backlash to feminism is an old story that the media doesn’t really know what to make of. And it’s way bigger than one woman.
It’s a story that those who paid attention to the late John Paul II know well, when he offered a different vision of what feminism could be. It’s a story that those who paid attention to and drank in Paul VI’s warnings in Humanae Vitae know too painfully well. Men and women are not only different, but there is a beauty and genius in our differences. A complementarity that the world needs and heaven knows we need in our lives.
The chaos of the sexual revolution, though, ravaged our culture, media and otherwise. We saw it not only in the secular world, but throughout the Church as well. Just consider the chaos of the recent health-care debate. Though I simplify, the image of a non-habited religious sister railing against the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on CNN was not unrelated. We lost something, all of us, when we lost sight of who we were and our relationships to one another in the natural order — when we stopped supporting one another.
“Palin may say she’s a pugnacious jock primed to take on the big boys, but her family, beauty-queen figure, and glossy hair are her calling cards.” Again, Newsweek reacts not so much to Palin, but acknowledges the existence of Christian women who will be both, trying not to compromise either fundamental reality of their existence. Newsweek derides Palin’s Christianity as Reaganesque — which they mean as backhandedly as the “saint”: “It’s easy. It’s optimistic. It’s future-oriented.”
And there they stumble into the real story! The story of Christianity and the cross and the natural order is much easier than the alternative, though never easy in our fallen state. And, in terms of the future, it’s the true audacity of hope, offering mercy and redemption that no mere politician can dole out.
Kathryn Jean Lopez is editor-at-large of National Review Online and a nationally syndicated columnist.
Click to View Comments
Comments
Join the Discussion
Go Sarah! Is all I want to say. Now that news week comes out against her(not the first time, no doubt), it only further galvanizes me that she’s the right woman for the job!!! The real problem the left has with her is that it’s against the rules for the republicans to have the first woman president. We could have had Alan Keyes, too, as the first black president. They will do everything in their power to prevent this from happening. Read her book, then you’ll knw her actual accomplishments, which were ignored. She’s a force to contend with and that’s why the claws are out. Pray for her. Go, girl!
Proverbs 31. Amen.
I’m sure the other five people who read Newsweak thought it was a spot-on article.
The personal attacks against Sarah Palin are going to get worse. Why? Because the left fears her. She lives in their minds even as they ridicule her publicly. She is the greatest threat to their continuance in power. Interesting to hear the radical feminist silence as this woman is pilloried on a daily basis, isn’t it?
With God’s help, she will knock Obama down like a house of cards in 2012.
I doubt there is a pregnant woman in the U.S. who, faced with a difficult pregnancy, hasn’t had the thought cross her mind that the possibility existed to end the pregnancy. She would have to be totally unconscious not to be aware of that. But Sarah Palin has made it very clear that she never entertained the idea of an abortion, even if the secular media would like to insinuate somehow that she did. Christians are tempted. Jesus Christ Himself was tempted. It would not have been a victory for Him or for us if there wasn’t temptation to overcome.
Sarah Palin is a wonderful example to me of what a Christian should be, and I wish more Catholic women were as upfront, honest and determined to battle the forces of evil we’re seeing in this secular world we live in.
I really like Sarah, but I think she needs a lot more experience to be President (even if it was more than O has - along with common sense). Yet doing what she is now is gaining that experience. It is shocking to me how the left just goes berserk about her. I think it is that she is comfortable being attractive and sticking with her beliefs.
She seems to also differentiate between what her beliefs are and what government should make us believe or do. More power to her.
YEPPERS, Kim..very well stated…AMEN..!
Poor old Newsweek, desperately trying to fend off insolvency by constant pandering to its dwindling, secularist, religion-loathing, lefty base.
I’ve got to give them credit, though. Miller’s piece combines their two “money shot” tropes: Christianity as kooky cult and conservative Americans as dim witted rubes. But then, when you’re running out off cash and readers, you have to economize!
Ray Gagner
Laupahoehoe, Hawaii
While I cannot accept her beliefs, which are inconsistent with the true faith of secular humanism, I can easily support the defense of her faith against the domineering, sneering elites. All that Sarah’s people ever wanted was to be left alone. They were in the world but not of it, and were glad to let the world go its way, as long as they were allowed to have theirs. But our elites have chosen the path of persecution, and are seeking to destroy that which they no longer understand. One does not have to be a Christian to concede its positive contribution to contemporary Western civilization. Sarah Palin is not Presidential material, but as a speak for her people, and defender of their rights, she has my respect and admiration. Good luck and success attend her cause.
The Newsweek story said Mrs. Palin’s story “has all the familiar elements of evangelical testimony: tribulation and dread; trust in God; and, finally, great blessings.” Well, yes. Any story of facing a challenge and coming out on the other side of it triumphantly has those elements. Replace “trust in God” with what ever source of strength a person relies upon and the story is the same. (think Harry Potter, or any hero story, heck, for that matter think of Barbara Boxer and her “hard work earning” the title Senator) It’s the idea that God has a part in it that rankles the left. They just can’t make themselves think that Sarah is human, let alone normal.
All well and good, but I have one question: What is this “Newsweek”? From the name, I am guessing it once was a weekly news magazine. Explain?
The concept that a Christian wife and mother of several, including a child diagnosed pre-birth with a handicap, could be a serious nominee for major national office gives fits to some group of “liberals” to whom abortion and population control are solutions to current problems. Nearly the same group gave Clarence Thomas a hard time when he was nominated to the US Supreme Court. It is almost as if you could hear the words: “You are a black! What business do you have being a conservative? Don’t you know that the Democratic Party represents all minorities?”
The mainstream national media (NY Times, LA Times, Washington Post, ABC, CBS, NBC and PBS) are edited and reported by people who have little or no connection with practicing Christians; and they have absorbed a view that no one with any education believes in a God who cares about how people live their lives, let alone Jesus Christ and His message. To them, a Christian woman such as Sarah Palin is almost a neolithic specimen, a curious throwback to another age. They do not “see” the trend in the European continent of nominal Christians failing to have enouogh babies to replenish the population, and Muslims both immigrating and reproducing to the projection that much of what we call Europe may be living under Sharia law within fifty years.
Those who disrespect God’s law will not prosper; the way of the wicked vanishes.
TeaPot562
There is one person with more government experience dealing with oil leaks than any other in this nation and she was Governor Sarah Palin with Exxon Valdez. However, in addition to Biblical characters unprepared for a job, the greatest being Mother Mary, please consider Truman who stepped up to the plate with his heart fiercely faithful to the American people.I met Sarah Palin personally in Boise, ID, read her book and say prayers of gratitude daily that she is alive in America now.
The Left doesn’t FEAR Palin, the Left is amused by Palin and people who think she would be a good leader for our country.
The Left’s problem with Palin? Other than idealogical differences, she’s also a liar (Bridge to Nowhere), a mediocre intellect (everything that comes out of her mouth), a hypocrite (snuck into Canada for free healthcare) and just plain nasty.
And why is this tagged with “Barack Obama” and not “Saran Palin”?
The trouble with the mainstream media is that they work, play, study, and research in a liberal-secular cultural and social iron bubble. Consequently, they are incopmpetent to write or comment on people and topics outside their bubble. This Newsweek story is a perfect example. The media doesn’t need racial or ethnic diversity as much as it needs cultural and ideological diversity.
And Sarah can show us her birth certificate, her college records, and her elementary school records
Newsweek does indeed miss the point, completely. Great article, thanks for writing it.
I am amazed at the vicious attacks thrown at Palin and her family. I haven’t seen anything like it. I am impressed with her fearless attitude, how she handles the attacks and what she’s been doing since her resignation. I only wish the majority of GOPers were as focused, fighting to take our country back, and not obsess on———- their 2012 campaign (GOP establishment boys…watch Sarah and learn, would you?)
Joanne: I’m not sure what you mean by “she never entertained the idea of an abortion”. She did say that she had thought about it and of course decided not to. Isn’t asking the question “entertaining the idea?”
Lisa Miller’s wikipedia entry may go a long way towards explaining why she missed the boat when it comes to Palin, and religion in general:
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Miller was raised in a secular Jewish home. [3] She attended Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, graduating in English in 1984. She worked at the Harvard Business Review, The New Yorker, and The Wall Street Journal. [4]
Miller was married to her husband in an interfaith ceremony performed by an Episcopalian priest who worked with a rabbi on the ceremony. [3] After the birth of her daughter, Miller joined a Jewish Temple for reasons of “blood and history and culture”. [3] She describes this religious community as a “progressive, inclusive congregation.”
All the angst aimed at Palin can be summed up in one word: Trig.
He is a sign-of-contradiction to every person who has ever avowed *Choice* which, as we all know, translates to every pregnant mother: You have a choice to only choose what we tell you are acceptable options.
These options NEVER include allowing a ‘defective’ child to live.
Folks, even in my own family, say that they don’t like Sarah “bc she doesn’t have enough experience” which is laughable when I think of how much experience O had before taking over the Oval Office. This & other objections to her (not polished, not articulate etc) are basically window-dressing for the core issue: We cannot support a strong female conservative who refuses to hide her child with Downs because her (& his) existence demonstrates the fallacy (evil) of our position.
To which I cheerfully say: Run, Sarah, Run.
I recall the seething hatred my sister, a card-carrying democrat, had for Sarah Palin immediately upon hearing of her being selected as V.P.candidate. It was unnaturally scary.
I don’t read magazines but I in the checkout stand and noticed ‘Time’ magazine with the back of the Pope with the quote ‘being Pope means never having to say your sorry’.
I sometimes wonder if the ‘Time’ and ‘Newsweek’ people live in a world where people say I am sorry everyday of the work week but who never make mistakes(being media they are perfect people)
but are covering it just in case.
What a bunch of morons I hope they go out of business the lot of them!
Why, almost 2 years after the election, is a beauty queen who quit as governor because it became too hard still in the news. She’s won’t be nominated by the Repubs cause she has proved she’s a quitter. The sooner we forget her the better.
Nancy Pelosi
Maxine Walters
Sheila Jackson Lee
Cynthia Turner
Barbra Boxer
but yeah that SARAH PALIN. WHAT AN IDIOT.
Who can take these Leftists seriously?
Billy,
Well, if we’re going to talk ‘quitters’, we’d need to start with the Senator-turned-POTUS who spent exactly 46 days actually present on the Senate floor before assuming the office he’s in now. The people who need to be forgotten ASAP are the crew in the WH…Obama & all his 40+ Czars. Unfortunately, they will be remembered by history on a par with Jimmy Carter.
Love Sarah Palin. Yes, the left is horrified at the prospect that a “making it” story could be about a conservative woman. The success we should applaud is due to the tenacity of someone who challenges the system - that is what the left and Hollywood have taught us. That that same tenacity could be aimed at endorsing traditional beliefs in God and the family is offensive to them. They would rather she just disappear, so they can go back to their more familiar view of the ‘hero.’
It may not be all that we think
http://prolifeprofiles.com/palin
I support whatever decision Sarah Palin makes about her future plans. I found the Newweek article condescending, but what else is new from a rabid anti-God publication? Gov. Palin has defined herself quite nicely and does not need the approval of the MSM. Go Sarah! God bless you.
We can’t just look at Palin’s pro-life stance. Her strance on the enviorment and immigration are not in line with the Catholic church and deserve to be examined as well.
The Catholic Church’s stance on the environment and immigration seems to be debatable, so I’m not sure how anyone can say that Palin’s stances on these issues goes against it. For example, the church says that a country has a right to protect its borders, yet Texas bishops are against building a fence or enforcing immigration laws. It’s unclear to me, therefore, who we’re supposed to listen to. Palin, I believe, is for securing our borders—which is in line with the universal church’s stand.
As for the environment, we’re supposed to be good stewards of the earth, but without putting the environment ahead of human life. That means to me that good Cahtolics can disagree on when the line is crossed. Palin is certainly for being a good steward of the earth, but with right reason.
If I missed something there, I’m sure there will be plenty of you to defend LM’s point of view.
Religion is no more deserving of consideration and respect for its barbaric credos than my ideas are immune from criticism.
Palin is disparaged because she is the antithesis of what this country was founded on, the desire to make a better world. Not in Heaven, here. The Newsweek article may be interpreted in a variety of ways, but for catholics, or their barking dogs, to posture about something that doesn’t come within a parsec of intimating the ignominy and brutality displayed over the centuries by the biggest organized religion on earth, after Islam, of course, is kowtowing to American short-sightedness and short attention span at its best.
Makes for a great show, though. And THAT is what makes us the most notable country on earth. The show.
Join the Discussion
We encourage a lively and honest discussion of our content. We ask that charity guide your words. By submitting this form, you are agreeing to our discussion guidelines. Comments are published at our discretion. We won’t publish comments that lack charity, are off topic, or are more than 400 words. Thank you for keeping this forum thoughtful and respectful.
Comments are no longer being accepted on this article.