But there’s a darker reason for the abject hatred of Palin, and the clues can be found in that Catskill Mountains bunk. Because evil can manifest when people project their own badness and shame onto another.

People on the left hate Palin for one simple reason: because she is everything they are not. She is their polar opposite because her life journey has diverged from the prescribed liberal path.

Palin was raised to be self-sufficient and independent since “idle hands are the devil’s tools.” Little Sarah was up at the crack of dawn, hunting with her dad; in sharp contrast, liberal kids like me were still fast asleep.

Palin didn’t have life handed to her on a silver platter, like so many in the ruling class. Instead, Sarah balanced school, chores, jobs, and sports. While liberal girls like me were glued to the boob tube, Sarah had no time for sloth.

Palin attended church with her family on Sundays. On Sunday morning, young liberals like me were recovering from Saturday night.

From her devout Christian upbringing, Sarah learned to be a good girl. In contrast, I learned everything I needed to know about how to be a modern girl from the monthly Playboy Magazine, which was conspicuously displayed on our living room table.

Sarah dated and then married her high school sweetheart; I learned that my body was a commodity that I “owned.” And I could use my body — and allow it to be used — to temporarily still the pangs of loneliness.

There’s a lyric from a Matt Maher song that always moves me to tears. It’s when he cries out to God: “Where were You when sin stole my innocence?”

…

Leftists loathe Palin because she has retained something that was stripped from them years ago: a wholesomeness, a purity of heart. People on the left despise Palin because she shines a bright light on their shame and unworthiness, which they try desperately to deny.

The progressives, like that brutal gang of abandoned girls, want to drag Palin down into the gutter with them; they want to spoil her. Of course, their efforts will be futile; Palin is fueled by a Spirit that isn’t simply her own.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/01/why_the_left_hates_sarah_palin.html

Wesley, you are exactly right. This is why the struggle for American Orthodoxy is so vital to the future of Orthodox Christianity. An American Church that is not funded or manipulated by the state can truly transform lives and provide prophetic outreach.

Yes Andrew, this is the way they “united to resist a totalitarian regime”: martyrdom!

Andrew: That’s one of the things I think the American Church has a great potential to contribute to Orthodoxy worldwide–aloofness from official power.

Andrew: I suppose the Patriarch of Russia (Tikhon) and all of the incredible number of martyred clergy who stood up against Lenin might qualify. I suppose the marytred and recently canonized Metropolitan of Zagreb (Dositeus) and martyred clergy of Croatia who stood up against Pavelic might qualify. I suppose the Serbian Patriarch (Gavrilo) and the martyred clergy (particularly recently canonized St. Barnabus — born and raised in my former parish in Indiana) might qualify. Can I cite an example where all clergy united with one voice. No. There are Judas among all and at all times. However, let’s not profane or lessen the memory of those holy martyrs of the 20th Century who stood up and gave up their blood for the cause of Christ.

Andrew, I am wondering what do you have in mind when you say “united to resist a totalitarian regime”. What specific means to “resist” do you have in mind. Can you apply them over a period of 50 or 70 years (the time interval of the communist oppression)? Or over couple of centuries (this is how long the ottoman oppression lasted)?

it looks like when it comes to the heavy lifting of confronting and dismantling evil historically Orthodox Christian Churches have been on the sidelines while those who do not share our faith have gone on to make the world better for Orthodox Christians to live and worship in.

The way I see it, is that the evil has been always attacking the true Church, the Orthodox Church, but the gates of hell will not prevail against it because the Lord has thus promised. The Orthodox Church survived Communism because some of its true sons became saints while in prisons, thus converting the brutal guards and those oppressing them. The salvation did not come from outside the Church.

Precious Vessels of the Holy Spirit: Blessed Epiphanios (Theodoropoulos)

Faith and trust ίn God are not for you to say in the morning, « Ι believe that ί n a little while the sun will dawn. »
That is merely trust ίn the functioning of natural law and not ίn God. Faith is when, at a time when everything shows that the sun is being led to its setting, you say, « Α little more and the sun will be ίn the middle of the sky, » if the Lord has thus promised.

I can understand this is a hot button issue. Certainly the words of Fr. Roman Braga deserve serious reflection. However, my initial question remains unanswered. Has the leadership of a national Orthodox Church ever united to resist a totalitarian regime?

Honestly, I cannot think of one and this certainly gives me a moment of pause because more and more it looks like when it comes to the heavy lifting of confronting and dismantling evil historically Orthodox Christian Churches have been on the sidelines while those who do not share our faith have gone on to make the world better for Orthodox Christians to live and worship in. For this we should be grateful.

Every person, every church leader when confronted with the reality of evil has a choice in the end as to how to respond.

In all humility I must ask, What good is monastic counsel or keeping a Church “open”, if every day a regime marches hundreds of innocents by the door of your parish and off to the camps to be executed? Can Orthodox Christians survive such schizophrenia?

And don’t forget Jimmy Carter’s reality therapy sessions with his psychiatrist. Jimmy was seated in a cushy winged back chair next to the fireplace. However, we never could actually see the psychiatrist and we only heard one side of fireside chat (or was it a sit down comedy routine? I forget).

Ryan, Nick, I forgot about all those. Plus Nixon was on The Tonite Show back in ’61 playing piano. And let’s not forget the Old Horndog Clinton hisself who went on the same program and played the saxophone. (Both did it after a defeat of some type, Clinton had become a joke because of his stemwinder speech at the 88 Dem convention; Nixon because he lost a squeaker to JFK.)

What this points to in my mind is the utter delusion that Palin inspires. It’s as if anything she does causes haters to forget everything else that went on before.

During the communist era, a faithful crowd came to a hieromonk of blessed memory. They told him that they want to go out to protest communism. He advised them not to do so because “some of you are not ready”. What he meant was that the faith of some of these people was not strong enough to endure the following great tribulation, and they’ll fall away from the faith. We too should be searching for the treasures of truth which is the only way our faith will be strong enough to endure great tribulation. Some of those tortured in the communist prisons understood that the torturers were possessed. Once they understood that, they stopped cursing and started to pray for them insted. We keep criticizing … but all in total vain because there is absolutely no love as commanded by Christ.

Usually , acting ‘like a raging bull’ is very unwise. The Church does not rely on the tactics of mass demonstration.

On Compromise in the Hierarchy During the Communist Yoke by Fr. Roman Braga

Interviewer: As far as you are concerned, during the Communist regime there was never really a split between the hierarchy and the faithful?

Fr. Roman: Never. The Orthodox faithful during this time were so wise that they never left the Church. The churches during the Communist regime were never empty. Whether the hierarchs were compromised or not, I do not know, but the churches were crowded with people, more than during our so-called freedom when we enjoyed liberty and democracy and our bishops were not compromised in any way. I told you that when we were in prison we used to pray for the hierarchy, hoping that they would do something to keep the churches open. I do not know the difference between the hierarchs under the Communist regime and St. Genadius the Scholar, who, when Constantinople was conquered by Mohammed II, signed the great compromise not to ring the bells, not to have processions on the streets with holy relics, not to have services outside the church building–and he is a saint in the calendar. Our hierarchy, though, who managed to keep all the churches open during the Communist occupations are blamed and condemned. What is the difference between one situation and another? I strongly believe that if the Sacramental life of the Church was guaranteed by the hierarchy during the Communist regime it was the Spirit of God which worked through them. What is more important than to save this Sacramental life, which is in fact the salvation of the people?

And I want to tell you something else. A certain Romanian Lutheran pastor invented the theory of the underground Church in Romania, as if certain catacombs existed in which faithful gathered, with the Communists chasing them to kill them. We never had such things in Romania. The underground Church was in each individual. Each bishop had one thing in his heart, while he was obligated to do something else; he felt one thing, while he was forced to speak something else. Each one possessed a dual personality. And this thing was painful; it was a real torture. I heard it in the confessions of many hierarchs from the Communist period who are now retired. We were in prison and we did not have the responsibility of defending and maintaining the life of the Orthodox Church in Romania, and now as refugees I think it is immoral to criticize them here from a safe distance. We who are in America enjoy freedom; we should not criticize people who suffered such psychological torture with the purpose of saving the institution of the Church.

And Richard Nixon on “Laugh In” while President

I’m no Palin apologist, but I’d like to point out the following politcal figures have appeared on Saturday Night Live:
Gerald Ford (while President), Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, George HW Bush, Barack Obama, Steve Forbes, Al Gore, Ed Kocj, Rudy Gulianni, Bob Dole, Paul Simon. The list could go one.

Right on. Next time some tragedy happens, maybe a hurricaine or tornado or flood or another mentally troubled person does a crime, I hope reporters go to these folks who connected this with Palin and ask them who is it among their enemies that did it this time?

I would not characterize Patriarch Pavle’s actions vis-a-vis the Milosevic regime in such a manner. While it is true that he helped lead a demonstration (I believe in 1997) to block the police from attacking a student protest, the Serbian Church’s attitude towards Milosevic was quite ambivalent. While it can be said that it did not bless the regime and criticized it in various areas, it also sided with the regime in its collaboration with the Bosnian and Kosovo Serbs during the two wars.