In an interview with Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin offered up this criticism of Obama’s continuity with America’s policy of reducing its nuclear arsenal:
“No administration in America’s history would, I think, ever have considered such a step that we just found out President Obama is supporting today. It’s kinda like getting out there on a playground, a bunch of kids, getting ready to fight, and one of the kids saying, ‘Go ahead, punch me in the face and I’m not going to retaliate. Go ahead and do what you want to with me.’
I’ll bypass the obvious point that Obama’s treaty is a simple continuation of nuclear disarmament policies that began with Ronald Reagan. What’s most interesting to me is Palin’s apparent belief that a person in a fight would be wrong to refuse to retalitate. This is interesting to me because Sarah Palin describes herself as a “bible-believing Christian” and often peppers her speeches with exhortations to politicians to express their faith in political life. So you would think that her opinions about retaliation would be more in line with what’s in the Bible–which is very, very clear about how Christians should respond to violence.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if someone wants to sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.”
So I guess my question is, is Sarah Palin not a Bible-believing Christian when it comes to the teachings of Jesus Christ on retaliation? Or does she simply not believe that Jesus’s very clear teachings on the matter are relevant to a country that she has described in the past as being built on Judeo-Christian values?
