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• Monday, September 1, 2008 10:58 PM

  Sarah and Bristol Palin are fair game

  I'd like to respect Sarah Palin's request that Bristol be given some privacy in this regard. However, there is no right to privacy spelled out in the Constitution; the Fourth Amendment only protects us against unwarranted search and seizure. In Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court found an implied right to privacy, and this decision served as the basis for Roe v. Wade (which Palin and her party would like to see overturned!).

  If Bristol is the daughter of a candidate that believes in abstinence-only sex education and doesn't believe in a Constitutional right to privacy, she and her shotgun wedding are fair game for scrutiny by the news media.

  Sarah Palin opposes same-sex marriage as well. I don't expect conservative Christians to support LGBT rights, but they really should be teaching tolerance and forgiveness.

  Back in 1990, my friend Rankin Fisher, a former Missionary Baptist minister, who also happens to be gay, commented, "No religion can condone homosexuality."

  That may be, but no religion can condone sex outside of marriage, either. People are doing these things anyway! Who am I to pass judgment on another?

  "All have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God," is how the apostle Paul put it.

  Paul told his followers to bless their persecutors and not curse them (Romans 12:14), to care for their enemies by providing them with food and drink (12:20), and to pay their taxes and obey all earthly governments (13:1-7). He mentioned giving all his belongings to feed the hungry (I Corinthians 13:3), and taught giving to the person in need (Ephesians 4:23). He told his followers it was wrong to take their conflicts before non-Christian courts rather than before the saints. (I Corinthians 6:1)

  Paul taught "it is good for a man not to touch a woman," i.e., it is best to be celibate, but because of prevailing immoralities, marriage is allowed. Divorce is permissible in the case of an unbeliever demanding separation. (I Corinthians 7)

  "This is God's will--your sanctification, that you keep yourselves from sexual immorality, that each of you learn how to take his own wife in purity and honor, not in lustful passion like the gentiles who have no knowledge of God." (I Thessalonians 4:3-5)

  Paul told his followers not to associate with sexually immoral people (I Corinthians 5:9-12, 6:15,18). He opposed homosexuality (Romans 1:24-27) and incest (I Corinthians 5:1). He taught that fornicators, idolaters, adulterers and robbers will not inherit the kingdom of God. (I Corinthians 6:9-10)

  Paul condemned wickedness, immorality, depravity, greed, murder, quarreling, deceit, malignity, gossip, slander, insolence, pride (Romans 1:29-30), drunkenness, carousing, debauchery, jealousy (Romans 13:13), sensuality, magic arts, animosities, bad temper, selfishness, dissensions, envy (Galatians 5:19-21; greediness (Ephesians 4:19; Colossians 3:5), foul speech, anger, clamor, abusive language, malice (Ephesians 4:29-32), dishonesty (Colossians 3:13), materialism (I Timothy 6:6-11), conceit, avarice, boasting and treachery. (II Timothy 3:2-4)

  Paul praised love, joy, peace, kindness, generosity, fidelity and gentleness (Galatians 5:22-23). He told his followers to conduct themselves with humility and gentleness (Ephesians 4:2), to speak to one another in psalms and hymns; to sing heartily and make music to the Lord. (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16)

  Paul told the gentiles to train themselves for godliness, to practice self-control and lead upright, godly lives (Galatians 5:23; I Timothy 4:7; II Timothy 1:7; Titus 2:11-12). He told them to ALWAYS pray constantly. (I Thessalonians 5:17)

  Paul wrote further that women should cover their heads while worshiping, and that long hair on males is dishonorable. (I Corinthians 11:5-14) According to Paul, Christian women are to dress modestly and prudently, and are not to be adorned with braided hair, gold or pearls or expensive clothes. (I Timothy 2:9)

  My problem really isn't with Christians not being able to follow Jesus or Paul, but with the hypocrisy of saying "I believe," and then ignoring the rest of what their religion dictates when it suits them. Why not just be secular, like everyone else?

  It's my contention all of us (Christians included!) really live in a secular society; one in which people merely pay lip service to religious ideals.

  Again, Sarah and Bristol Palin (and Christians in general) are fair game for scrutiny by the news media.

  —vasumurti Read vasumurti's other letters
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