Obama vs. Palin: Different 'Faith Journeys'

Since Obama compares himself to Sarah Palin (because he knows Biden can't hold a candle to her) I'll play along. Let's compare "faith journeys."

Obama kicks of his "Faith, Family and Values Tour" this week to prove his Christian creds to us ignorant rednecks still clinging to God and guns.

Jan LaRue at American Thinker calls it by a more truthful title, Obama's Faith, Family and Variable Values Tour, and looks at Obama's record.

And Terry Eastland at The Weekly Standard writes Clinging to Her Religion: The faith journey of Sarah Palin, 'Bible-believing Christian'

Jan LaRue kicks off with: Obama's "faith" journey

For openers, no one who contradicts Jesus Christ on the subject of salvation should be directing Christian traffic at the intersection of faith and politics. That's a lot of cheek to turn. Maybe audacity should be added to the list of deadly sins.

Obama told Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Cathleen Falsani, that he is "rooted in the Christian tradition, and that "there are many paths to the same place." Falsani found it an "unlikely theological position for someone who places his faith squarely at the feet of Jesus." Obama told her it depends "on how a particular verse from the Gospel of John, where Jesus says, ‘I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me,' is heard."

Those seeking further illumination about Obama's Christian beliefs, beyond his 20-year indoctrination by the most left, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright and Rev. Michael Pfleger, might mull over Newsweek's cover story, "Finding His Faith," with a Bible in hand. I also offer for consideration my own musings in "Sermon from Mt. Obama Raises Big Questions."

Terry Eastland receives the kickoff and runs it back with:

A few weeks before the Republican convention, Time magazine asked Sarah Palin what her religion was. "Christian," she said. Asked whether she was any particular kind of Christian, she replied, "No. Bible-believing Christian." Ever since John McCain asked Palin to be his running mate, her religion has been high on the list of subjects journalists have pursued. Although Palin herself hasn't brought it up and has mostly declined to be interviewed on the matter, it is already clear that her religious background contains material unfamiliar to media and political elites. Few politicians at Palin's level describe themselves as Bible-believing Christians.

Palin was baptized a Roman Catholic as an infant. When she was a teenager, she and her mother began attending the Wasilla Assembly of God. There she was "saved," as she has said, and also rebaptized, by full immersion, in Beaver Lake.

At Wasilla High School, Palin was known for her Christian faith. In an interview, John Bitney, who went to high school with her and later worked for her in the governor's office, recalls that she was "just a Christian girl" who was well regarded for her character. He adds that she "didn't preach" at anyone. A basketball star, she led a chapter of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Read both essays if you need more details, but you'll find no surprises on big issues important to evangelicals, abortion, homosexual marriage and the right to adopt, the usual suspects on most social conservative agendas. Short version: Palin's against 'em all and Obama's for 'em all.

In other news on the Palin-Obama front, Charlie Martin at American Thinker and Pajamas Media reports Palin's nasty rumor list is still growing, up to 91 as of today.

And Martin says he's beginning to suspect a common thread running through this constant output of nasty rumors that turn out to be lies.

...these stories often directly touch on something that has just been noticed in the mainstream press: “Palin cut ’special needs’ funding” came out shortly after she mentioned being an advocate for special needs children in her acceptance speech; “Catholic charities” came out after questions about Biden losing support among blue-collar Catholics made it appear that Palin might be attracting more Catholic voters...

The correlation between the particular line-item and other political stories seems far more than just random. Still, it’s possible to explain this without assuming there is some central controller — a Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy — passing them around. But Rusty Shackleford at the Jawa Report may have changed my mind.

Ahah! You don't suppose Obama campaign manager David Axlerod's astroturfing sock puppets would spread a nasty rumor about Palin, do you?