It has been interesting watching evangelicals sing and dance their way around the news of Sarah Palin’s pregnant seventeen year-old daughter.  Step One:  Use the Bible to motivate and mobilize the Evangelical community behind the Republican candidate.  Step Two:  Abandon the Bible when its message is inconvenient to ‘our’ candidate.  That’s where we are today.  After presenting a united front and hailing McCain’s choice, what could the Evangelical crowd say after hearing the news of her daughter’s pregnancy?  Reuters quoted what is perhaps the leading Evangelical political voice on the subject:

James Dobson, an influential Christian evangelical conservative, said his Focus on the Family group had always counseled young mothers to see their pregnancies through, "even though there will be of course challenges along the way."

The story continues:

"That is what the Palins are doing, and they should be commended once again for not just talking about their pro-life and pro-family values, but living them out even in the midst of trying circumstances," he said in a statement.

What pro-family values?  Sarah Palin is a member of “Feminists for Life.”  Since when is Feminism pro-family? Is not having an abortion all that is required to qualify as pro-family?  Is that how far we have fallen?  Are Evangelicals thinking on this one, or just following in lockstep behind their fearless Republican leaders?  In the past several days I have been combing the web to find news reports of leading (read: mainstream) Evangelicals calling the Republicans to task over this pick.  Instead, I have been bombarded with an avalanche of praise for McCain’s pro-family/pro-woman pick.  From Richard Land (Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission), to James Dobson (Focus on the Family), to Tony Perkins (FRC), all of the major players seem to be reading from the same sheet of music. 

Perhaps I’m just tone-deaf.  I cannot sing a sweet tune on this one.  Nor can I dance to the  steady drumbeat of the Neocons.  I have tried to imagine how the conversation went when McCain finally ‘popped the question’ to Palin (to whom he referred as his political partner and “soulmate” on Fox News Sunday).  Here’s what I imagine:

McCain:  Sarah, will you be my Vice President?

Palin:  Senator McCain, I am honored.  However, I cannot.  I just had a baby four months ago.  As you know, he has Down Syndrome.  He is going to need my time, attention and care these next several months, and these next four years.  I simply cannot give him that and serve my country as Vice President.

McCain:  I understand.  Are you sure you won’t reconsider?

Palin:  Well, sir.  There is also the issue of my seventeen year-old daughter, Bristol .  She is five months pregnant.  It has been a shock to our family.  For me to run for Vice President would bring national humiliation on her and our family.  Also, the baby is due in December, right between the election and the inauguration.  I would basically have to abandon my pregnant daughter in order to be at your side on the campaign trail. Moreover, she is going to have the baby and marry the father and they are going to need all the help and support we can give them.  These next four years are just too crucial to our family.  I simply must decline. 

I’ve tried to continue the conversation in my head, but I cannot imagine what McCain, or any man could have said to a “pro-family” woman at that point to make her reconsider.  More importantly, I cannot imagine what would possess a “pro-family” man to persist in asking a woman who already has too much on her plate to add even more in a time like this. 

In all of this, two things are clear.  First, evangelicalism has lost its biblical perspective and its prophetic voice.  Men who should be standing guard as the conscience of the country are instead falling in line with the Feminist agenda and calling a family tragedy (and I’m not  just talking about the teenage pregnancy) a shining example of family values. 

Second, the feminization of America is a fait accompli.  The Socialists, and Gramscian Marxists are somewhere lighting up a big, fat Cuban cigar.  Race, gender, and hegemony… That is what they believe makes the world go ‘round; and America (led by a chorus of leading Evangelical voices) is saying a hearty Amen!  The sad thing is, most of us have been so thoroughly indoctrinated (another reason to flee government education) that we don’t even realize the implications of what we are witnessing.  We just want ‘our side’ to win no matter what.  Well, at least our fearless Evangelical leaders are getting their mugs on television, and their quotes in the paper.  That’s one way to get the gospel out.  Of course, in this case, it’s the Feminist, Socialist, Marxist gospel that is being proclaimed.  I’m waiting for one of them to get on screen and belt out a chorus of Isaiah 3:

“For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves. Tell the righteous that it shall be well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him. My people—infants are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, your guides mislead you and they have swallowed up the course of your paths.” (Isaiah 3:9-12 ESV)

Let us hear and heed the Word of the Lord.  Of course, that might mean a little less exposure on the national news.  I suppose we’ll keep dancing the two-step.

VB