Erick Erickson asks at RedState: What Do Sarah Palin and Jesus Christ Have In Common? (the subtitle of which is “Your reaction to the title of this post says more about you than it does about Sarah, Jesus, or me”).
The reaction people have to Sarah Palin is very much the reaction many people have to Jesus — both offend and disgust the secular values of some and with others failing to embrace either sends you straight to hell.
I must confess, I find the sentence to be a bit confusing, but I think he is saying that both Jesus and Palin are polarizing figures who have fierce critics and defenders, which I suppose it accurate as far as it goes. However, there is a matter of magnitude to be considered here. Ultimately, I am not sure about the overall salience of the observation.
Indeed, the rest of the post has zero to do with Jesus and ends up being a rant about people not liking Palin and other people not liking anyone to criticize Palin. I will say this: there are people who see Palin as the savior of the Republican Party, so in that regards I suppose there is an analogy to be made. I suppose, too, Erickson is feeling a bit persecuted for both being a Palin fan and for making some mild critiques of Palin and being attacked by the faithful.
I would note, the trope that criticism of Palin is the result of “hate” or because Palin represents some massive threat to those who find her problematic is growing quite tiresome.
I would call this the most ridiculous things I have read of late, but Pat Robertson and his theory on Haiti takes the cake in that regard.
I am not sure what point Erickson is making in his subtitle, except to note that I suppose anyone’s response to X says more about that person than it does about Palin, Jesus, or Erick Erickson.
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January 14th, 2024 at 12:20 pm
Sarah Palin is very much the reaction many people have to Jesus — both offend and disgust the secular values of some
I’m not sure I agree with the idea that Jesus “disgusts the secular values of some.”
I’m not a Christian, but I have no beef with Jesus. From my reading of the Bible, he was a good bloke.
People who espouse secular values are more offended by efforts to push religion in the public sphere than the tenets or figures of particular religions.
I have no problem with Jesus, Muhammad, Abraham or anyone else.
But if Christians started insisting on public prayer, or Musilms started insisting on not flying kites (like the Taliban did), or Jews started insisting that stores could only sell Kosher products, it would offend secular values.
It is also important to recognize that secular values are not necessarily in conflict with religious values. I know plenty of Christians who find efforts to push religion in the public realm quite distasteful.
January 14th, 2024 at 12:34 pm
A fair point. Really, Erickson’s formulation borders on the nonsensical.
January 14th, 2024 at 12:40 pm
I was going to guess that they could both see Russia from their house.
January 14th, 2024 at 1:05 pm
boz: that’s classic.
I wish I had thought of it first!
January 14th, 2024 at 3:17 pm
[...] to Jesus. Really, the headline kind of says it all and adding snark is just gratuitous. Someone even beat me to the cross-linkage to the Pat Robertson “Haiti made a deal with the devil” ridiculousness. God already [...]
January 14th, 2024 at 3:48 pm
boz: that’s classic.
I wish I had thought of it first!
Also, given that Jesus could walk on water and turn water into wine, he probably read “all the newspapers,” like Sarah.