[I'm guessing that Palin is not going to be the US Veep. But she'll
make a lot of bucks on the speaker circuit. She seems like the new
Phyllis Schlafly: she talks about "family values" but doesn't practice
them.]

from the Huffington Post:
>Palin: Iraq war 'a task that is from God'

GENE JOHNSON | September 3, 2008 10:48 PM EST | AP

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin told ministry students at
her former church that the United States sent troops to fight in the
Iraq war on a "task that is from God."

In an address last June, the Republican vice presidential candidate
also urged ministry students to pray for a plan to build a $30 billion
natural gas pipeline in the state, calling it "God's will."

Palin asked the students to pray for the troops in Iraq, and noted
that her eldest son, Track, was expected to be deployed there.

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from
God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying
for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

A video of the speech was posted at the Wasilla Assembly of God's Web
site before finding its way on to other sites on the Internet.

Palin told graduating students of the church's School of Ministry,
"What I need to do is strike a deal with you guys." As they preached
the love of Jesus throughout Alaska, she said, she'd work to implement
God's will from the governor's office, including creating jobs by
building a pipeline to bring North Slope natural gas to North American
markets.

"God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get
that gas line built, so pray for that," she said.

"I can do my job there in developing our natural resources and doing
things like getting the roads paved and making sure our troopers have
their cop cars and their uniforms and their guns, and making sure our
public schools are funded," she added. "But really all of that stuff
doesn't do any good if the people of Alaska's heart isn't right with
God."

Palin attended the evangelical church from the time she was a teenager
until 2002, the church said in a statement posted on its Web site. She
has continued to attend special conferences and meetings there.
Religious conservatives have welcomed her selection as John McCain's
running mate.

The Assemblies of God, which claims nearly 3 million members, is one
of the biggest Pentecostal groups in the U.S. Unlike most other
Christians _ including most evangelicals _ Pentecostals believe in
"baptism in the Holy Spirit." That can manifest itself through
speaking in tongues, modern-day prophesy and faith healing. The
Assemblies of God teaches that spirit baptism must be accompanied by
speaking in tongues. Still, some churchgoers never have the
experience.

Rob Boston, a spokesman for Americans United for Separation of Church
and State, lamented Palin's comments.

"I miss the days when pastors delivered sermons and politicians
delivered political speeches," he said. "The United States is
increasingly diverse religiously. The job of a president is to unify
all those different people and bring them together around policy
goals, not to act as a kind of national pastor and bring people to
God."

The section of the church's Web site where videos of past sermons were
posted was shut down Wednesday, and a message was posted saying that
the site "was never intended to handle the traffic it has received in
the last few days."<

-- 
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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