And you never ask questions When God's on your side

Normally I would say, let's not waste time on Sarah Palin. Her main claim to fame is as a skirt for McCain to hide behind, and to use dog-whistle language to excite the Rabid right in this country.

But then stuff like this happens during the Charlie Gibson interview:

"I would never presume to know God's will or use God's words".

Right. Because that's a sin. Except that people, pastors and congregants, in evangelical churches do it all the time.

I heard the leader of one of the largest evangelical churches, based in Costa Mesa, CA, say to his flock, in re: the Second Coming (paraphrasing):

Now, we're admonished to not try and predict when Jesus will return. And I won't. But my reading and study of the Bible leads me to conclude that I have a pretty good idea when it will happen.

Hubris, I guess, when you can listen to what the boss says and still try and spin it your way.

Thing is, Sarah said the Pipeline is God's will":



And she said the Iraq War is God's Plan:



When Charlie Gibson questioned her on this, she demurred (and here's the first quote above):

GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, "Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God." Are we fighting a holy war?

PALIN: You know, I don't know if that was my exact quote.

GIBSON: Exact words.

PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln's words when he said -- first, he suggested never presume to know what God's will is, and I would never presume to know God's will or to speak God's words.

But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that's a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God's side.

That's what that comment was all about, Charlie.

GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln's words, but you went on and said, "There is a plan and it is God's plan."

PALIN: I believe that there is a plan for this world and that plan for this world is for good. I believe that there is great hope and great potential for every country to be able to live and be protected with inalienable rights that I believe are God-given, Charlie, and I believe that those are the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

That, in my world view, is a grand -- the grand plan.

GIBSON: But then are you sending your son on a task that is from God?

PALIN: I don't know if the task is from God, Charlie. What I know is that my son has made a decision. I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not choosing a real easy path where he could be more comfortable and certainly safer.

Let me explain this in simple terms: SHE LIED!!!! She believes what she said in the church video.

I guaran-damn-tee someone got on Teh Google™ immediately after hearing the quote from the church video, probably typed every combination of "God", "war", "will", "plan" , to see what they could find. And they found the Lincoln quote:

Oops.

It appears that the Lincoln quote is apocryphal. In other words, while I can find the quote everywhere, I can find no solid scholarly reference to it anywhere. It appears to be either made-up, or unsubstantiated. Joe Garofoli at SFGate.com has this:

OK, so which Abe quote is it?

Abe, in his second Inaugural address said:"Neither [side] anticipated that the cause of the conflict [i.e., slavery] might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully.

In any case, it seems to be a wonderful phrase that supports the Christian Right's world view, that everything they decide is God's Work is, indeed, God's Work.

I suppose we should bow down and worship even unto them, for they are Holy and know stuff that we don't.

Better yet, we should tell them to leave us the Hell alone.