





Mansfield's Mission: Mainstreaming Sarah Palin's Faith and Values Bill Berkowitz print page Mon Sep 27, 2010 at 02:46:24 PM EST Stephen Mansfield and David Holland's new book The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin: What She Believes and What It Means for America examines and analyzes the faith of the former Alaska governor. According to Publisher's Weekly, the book "sheds some light on the topic, but not much." These days, it doesn't take a Peretz Hilton-like character to recognize that Sarah Palin is, as my mother might have put it, "the cat's pajamas." Her celebrity is indisputable; everywhere she goes she draws crowds. Her earning power is unmatched by most of her political contemporaries. Her political endorsements have helped carry a number of conservative candidates to victory. Her Fox News Channel appearances are, well ... Fox News Channel appearances. Two years ago, before she was picked by Senator John McCain as his vice presidential running mate, most people hadn't heard of her. We've learned about her life, her family, her clothes, and her grizzliness. And now, we are going to learn about her faith. At least that's what is being promised by veteran author Stephen Mansfield who has visited the faith terrain many times before. Mansfield's oeuvre Over the years Mansfield has written a best-seller about the religious faith of George W. Bush (The Faith of George W. Bush); he's written of Barack Obama's faith (The Faith of Barack Obama), as well as books about Pope Benedict XVI (Pope Benedict XVI: His Life and Mission), Booker T. Washington (Then Darkness Fled: The Liberating Wisdom of Booker T. Washington), and the Guinness Family and its libational contributions (The Search for God and Guinness). With the assistance of writing partner David Holland -- an author, speaker, media consultant, anf blogger -- Mansfield has produced a new book titled The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin: What She Believes and What It Means for America. According to the promo blurb at amazon.com, Mansfield and Holland "were given extensive access to Palin s pastors, advisors, friends and family and it has allowed them to capture the moving story of Palin's faith, as well as the meaning of that faith for American politics and culture." Published by Frontline Pub Inc. and released on September 21, the Mansfield and Holland book claims to take a close look at the faith of Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, and perhaps the most famous mother of any contestant (her daughter Bristol) that has ever appeared on "Dancing with the Stars!" Shedding 'some light' on Palin's faith According to Publisher's Weekly, the book "sheds some light on the topic, but not much." PW pointed out that while "The authors say they've done research ... much of their reconstruction of Palin's life and career in Alaska is un-sourced and merely rhetorically overheated (Palin's pastor is a "beloved" man of god). "A chapter about Palin's husband, Todd, is especially lightweight and speculative ('He seems to have lost a sense of himself during this time'). Although they spend much time delineating her leadership qualities, they are largely silent about her decision to resign as Alaska's leader. The public record, including Palin's own words, is sufficient for this to have been a more substantive analysis of an important topic." Despite PW's reservations, Mansfield's reputation, Palin's celebrity, and a full slate of appearances and interviews - including several on the Fox News Channel - could turn the book into an instant best-seller. On Wednesday, September 22, Mansfield appeared on the "Knowing the Truth" radio program with Kevin Boling.



The Mansfield factor Mansfield is more than just an author, he is also the founder and head of The Mansfield Group, an organization established in 2000 that aims "to do good in the world," according to its website: "The Mansfield Group not only orchestrates the work of Stephen Mansfield - his life as a writer, a speaker and a consultant - but it also serves as the parent company for a number of successful ventures," including the Chartwell Literary Group, "which has become a wonderfully innovative and successful firm devoted to creating and managing literary projects," and The Global Leadership Development Fund, a "non-profit foundation is devoted to funding character-based leadership training around the world." It is unclear whether The Faith and Values of Sarah Palin will provide Mansfield with as much grief as his book about Obama's faith did. A few years back, just prior to the publication of The Faith of Barack Obama, Mansfield was flooded by hate mail from conservatives resulting from an interview he did with Ben Smith of Politico. Smith wrote that the tone of Mansfield's book on Obama "range[d] from gently critical to gushing, and the author defends Obama - and even his controversial former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright - from conservative critics, and portrays him as a compelling figure for Christian voters." In a blog post titled "An Internet Mugging," Mansfield tried to answer some of Smith's observations about the book, claiming that he wasn't "gushing" and tried to fairly explain Obama's religious beliefs: "Everyone is drawing conclusions from a single article on a single political blog," Mansfield wrote. "...my secretary has been fielding dozens of emails assuring that I am going to roast for all eternity. I'm deceived, serving Satan, in the employ of Obama, in the employ of McCain, in the employ of Oprah, and I'm apparently not going to be alive on Election Day." Mansfield added: "If I as a public Christian and former pastor can be treated like this by Christians, then I suppose people like Al Franken and Hillary Clinton must get even worse from church folks. So, why would they ever think of embracing the God of people filled with such hate? It is a miracle any of them do." At the time, Mansfield's scholarship had also come under fire - sans threats -- from progressive quarters. Chris Rodda, a Senior Research Director for the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) and an expert on historical revisionism, discussed the rebroadcast of a segment of an HDNet Dan Rather Reports program titled "Christian Soldiers," which featured Mikey Weinstein, founder and president of MRFF and Mansfield. Rodda pointed out that by publishing his Ten Tortured Words: How the Founding Fathers Tried to Protect Religion in America ... and What's Happened Since, "Mansfield joined the ranks of the Christian nationalist history revisionists, perpetuating, in some cases through near-plagiarism, the lies of pseudo-historian and former Texas Republican Party chairman David Barton, a man who Mansfield described in the book's acknowledgements as a friend and mentor." These days, Barton is an advisor on historical matters to the Fox News Channel's Glenn Beck. Rodda noted that in Mansfield's 2005 book, The Faith of the American Soldier, he took the time to defend and praise Gen. William Boykin. Boykin had his 15 minutes when video of his 2003 "sermon," in which he stated, referring to the capture of Somali warlord Osman Atto, "I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol," became public. According to Rodda, Mansfield said that "Gen. Boykin gave many in the field just the kind of warrior code they needed to fulfill their duties with moral passion." Bryan Preston, former Communications Director of the Republican Party of Texas and a contributor to Pajamas Media, penned a review in which, after criticizing Obama for not being nearly as forthcoming as Palin, pointed out that the book "shows that Mrs. Palin is very much what-you-see-is-what-you-get: an authentically and uniquely American woman whose very ordinary beliefs have propelled her to do remarkable things. And that mainstream faith and those main street values may propel her to do yet even more remarkable things before her story is finished." Preston's review has already received pretty broad distribution on right wing websites and blogs. Not having read the book, I am not sure how deep Mansfield/Holland delve into Palin's relations with leaders of the New Apostolic Reformation. If they don't, they are missing a big chunk of Palin's faith story - a chunk that the mainstream media has paid little attention to. If you really want to learn about the faith of Sarah Palin, you might want to read how Talk2Action contributors have covered the story for the better part of two years. Incidentally, according to Amazon.com, the release date of Palin's second book, "America by Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag" has been set for November 10.



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