Sarah Palin is under fire for a statement she made at a National Rifle Association (NRA) meeting comparing waterboarding to baptism. But the Alaskan politician is not backing down.
The controversy started at the NRA’s “Stand and Fight” rally in late April. The former Alaska governor piped:
“Enemies, who would utterly annihilate America, they who’d obviously have information on plots, to carry out jihad. Oh, but you can’t offend them, can’t make them feel uncomfortable, not even a smidgen. Well, if I were in charge, they would know that waterboarding is how we’d baptize terrorists.”
In response, online Christian community Faithful America launched a petition denouncing Palin’s words:
“For Christians, torture is not a joke or a political punch line, 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.”
But Palin isn’t backing down. In a Facebook post, she wrote:
“Perhaps hypocritical folks who only want Freedom of Speech to apply to those who agree with their liberal agenda might want to consider that the evil terrorists who were the brunt of my one-liner would be the first to strip away ALL our rights if given the chance. That’s why we do whatever we can to prevent them from killing innocent people. And for that, we should NEVER apologize.”
Who’s right? Is Faithful America and the 45,000-plus people who signed the petition overreaching or is Palin flat-out wrong? Sound off in the comment box below.
