Please please please tell me this is not true

Am I really surprised by this?

That link is to a Huffington Post article about VP nominee Sarah Palin, and a speech that she delivered to her church about three months ago. My favorite bit from the article: [Emphasis mine]

"Speaking before the Pentecostal church, Palin painted the current war in Iraq as a messianic affair in which the United States could act out the will of the Lord. 'Pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God,' she exhorted the congregants. 'That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God's plan'."

There's a video embedded into the article too, and it makes me uncomfortable. Palin seems unsure at first on the fairly large stage, but that doesn't stop her from giving a speech - wait no, a well-practiced sermon. To be honest, I only watched seven minutes of the video, but in those seven minutes she did two things that the type of preachers that bother me the most also typically do:

1. She spoke like them. You know, intonating certain words and phrases that she thought were the most important to her speech. In fairness, all good orators have to do this. Barack Obama does this. Martin Luther King, Jr. did this. And I can't make an argument about why it bothers me more when Sarah Palin does it. Perhaps its because I trust her about as much as I trust Pat Robertson or his faith healing.

2.She attributed all responsibility of serious matters to her god. Not only did she claim that the Iraq war is god's will, she also tried to convince chuurchmembers to pray for completion of her $30 million pipeline by saying, "I think God's will has to be done in unifying people and companies to get that gas line built, so pray for that." Horrifying!

The article is called "Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview." No shit. Anyone who is that involved in and enthusiastic about her church is going to have a worldview that reflects that church. And that worldview is probably going to be at least a little insane. It scares me to think that governors are still using religion to convince people to support their agendas. I don't care if she was in a church. I don't care if she was in her own home. She mixed her politics with her religion, and that is totally uncool. What is more scary is the number of people who think this is acceptable practice.

Believe me, you really want to click on that last link. I mean, it's clearly anti-republican party propoganda, but I think it makes some really interesting points.