Rambi, this is a good and thought provoking piece. I went to the link and read the whole thing. I have no interest in defending Palin but want to say this.
Christians, yes, are called on to live their everyday lives in the harmony described in those scriptures. But those admonitions pertained to Christians living among other Christians.
Ephesians is a letter written by Paul to the congregation of a church he, himself, had founded in Ephesus. It was a thriving Church but reports had reached him of contentions among its members. All the churches that were springing up after Christ's death consisted of converts--people who were turning away from any one of the pagan belief systems of the day as well as the Judaism of the day. So there was constant friction between members of a church as well as between churches themselves as to how to pray, or conduct a service, or baptise, or preach, etc. etc. Groups would splinter off...you can imagine the discord.
Most of Paul's ministry and our record of him comes from the letters he wrote to these different congregations. Sometimes he tried to provide the final word on a dispute, but most of the time he called on the members to stick together and keep focused on the big picture of Christ's basic teachings.
But Paul, in his leadership capacity of the early church often spoke in ways that were harsh and/or belittling. Sometimes to his own members, sometimes to the gentiles, sometimes to the Jewish hierarchy of the day. So my guess is that Palin would see herself (1) as being in a leadership position and (2) representing the 'true Christians'---fundamentalist and evangelical---against the forces of secular humanism. So from her POV, all tools are at her disposal and she's entitled to call it as she sees it, speak harshly, etc.
That's why it's called the Culture WAR. :) |
