Religion and Politics ’08: Sarah Palin

Background

Religious Biography

Palin was baptized a Roman Catholic as an infant. When Palin was a teenager, she and her mother began attending Wasilla Assembly of God, a church affiliated with the Assemblies of God, a pentecostal denomination that claims more than 52 million adherents worldwide. According to Kaylene Johnson, the author of Sarah: How a Hockey Mom Turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down, Palin asked to be re-baptized and was immersed in Beaver Lake in a ceremony that included her mother.

A point guard on the varsity basketball team, Palin led a Wasilla High School chapter of The Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Palin’s biographer recounts a story about how Palin, then a junior, followed up on a close loss at the state basketball tournament. The morning after the game, when the coaches didn’t see any of the players at breakfast, they wondered whether the team had stayed up partying. But later they discovered Palin and her teammates returning from a church service, Bibles in hand. The next season, Palin made the free throw that won the Wasilla Warriors an Alaska state championship.

Following Palin’s vice-presidential nomination, Wasilla Assembly of God’s website said Palin attended the church until 2002. Media reports connected Palin with several churches since 2002, including Juneau Christian Center, which has a pentecostal history; The Church on the Rock, a nondenominational, evangelical congregation; and Wasilla Bible Church, a nondenominational, evangelical church where the Palins’ youngest child, Trig, was part of a dedication ceremony in which parents ask for a congregation’s help to raise their child as a Christian.

At one point during the 2008 general election campaign, a spokeswoman for the McCain-Palin ticket told the Associated Press that Palin had attended different churches and did not consider herself a pentecostal. Shortly before her surprise selection as John McCain’s running mate, Time magazine asked Palin what her religion was. Palin responded, “Christian.” When asked if she was any particular type of Christian, she answered, “No. Bible-believing Christian.”

On the Issues

Abortion
Palin opposes abortion in all cases, except to save the life of the mother. She says that Roe v. Wade should be reversed and that “states should be able to decide that issue.” During an October 2008 campaign interview she said, “I’ve always had near and dear to my heart the mission of protecting the sanctity of life and being pro-life or a hard-core pro-lifer.” She said that when she found out early in her pregnancy that her youngest son would be born with Down syndrome, it scared her but also provided an opportunity to live what she believed. She has also said, “Alaskans know I am pro-life and have never wavered in my belief in the sanctity of every human life.”
Compare McCain and Obama

Church and State
In response to a question about religious leaders endorsing political candidates, Palin said, “Faith is very important to so many of us here in America, and I would never support any government effort to stifle our freedom of religion or freedom of expression or freedom of speech.” During her 2006 campaign for Alaska governor, Palin said her interpretation of the Bible would not “bleed over into policy.”
Compare McCain and Obama

Death Penalty
Palin supports capital punishment. During her 2006 gubernatorial campaign, she was asked whether she would introduce legislation – or support a bill introduced by a legislator – to adopt the death penalty in Alaska, and if so, to which crimes it should apply. She responded, “If the legislature were to pass a bill that established a death penalty on adults who murder children, I would sign it.”
Compare McCain and Obama

Education
In a 2006 debate during her gubernatorial campaign, Palin said she favored schools teaching both evolution and creationism but that she would not push Alaska’s state board of education to add such alternatives to school curricula, saying, “I won’t have religion as a litmus test, or anybody’s personal opinion on evolution or creationism.” She has not pushed the issue while in office.
Compare McCain and Obama

Environment
Palin supports drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, as well as offshore drilling, to help America reach energy independence. In her 2007 state of the state address she said that “to sustain our future, we must look to ramp up responsible resource development.” She was instrumental in securing a license for a natural gas pipeline that will run from Alaska’s northern Prudhoe Bay to Canada. In a June 2008 speech at her former church in Wasilla, Palin