55,000 Christians: We’re ‘Appalled By Sarah Palin’s Twisted Misrepresentation Of Our Faith’

More than 55,000 Christians have signed a petition stating they are “appalled by [Sarah] Palin’s twisted misrepresentation of our faith.” The petition, created by Faithful America on Monday, came in response to the former Alaska governor’s speech at the NRA’s “Stand And Fight” rally over the weekend. Sarah Palin, now infamously had said if she were president, America’s enemies “would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” (Video here.) 

The petition laments that the former Republican vice presidential candidate’s comments “are already making international headlines, once again portraying Christianity as a religion of hatred and violence.”

“For Christians,” the petition notes, “torture is not a joke or a political punchline, but a ghastly reminder of the suffering of Jesus upon the cross. By equating it with Holy Baptism — the act by which we are united with Christ in his death and resurrection — Sarah Palin is blasphemously twisting our faith into a weapon of hatred and violence. No media outlet should cover her remarks without reporting on how sincere Christians of all theological and political persuasions are appalled.”

Almost immediately, America’s faith leaders, pundits and writers attacked Palin for the “heresy” of her “blasphemous” and “sacrilegious” water boarding analogy. 

Well-known religion writer Rod Dreher at The American Conservative labeled Palin “the Madame Defarge of the populist American right,” and wrote:

Hey world, Sarah Palin believes those “good plans” that God has for us, that holy “destiny,” can include torturing other human beings. And she’s not apologizing for it. At the very best, torture might be a tragic necessity — I don’t think so, but I’m trying to think about it from the other side — but Palin and her audience don’t think so. They laugh at it and cheer for it. This is decadence.

Palin’s response to her critics? Double down. 

“If some overly sensitive wusses took offense, remember the First Amendment doesn’t give you a right not to be offended.” 

Ironic, since she’s yet again misusing the First Amendment, which only applies to government censorship, and separation of church and state — issues Palin just doesn’t understand.