Newsweek suggests Palin is viewed as modern-day Evangelicals prophet

NEW YORK - Former Alaska Governor and Republican running mate of John McCain in 2008, Sarah Palin appears to be reshaping the religious right with her brand of feminism.

According to a recent profile in Newsweek, she is virtually being branded as a prophet for Evangelicals.

The New York Daily News quotes the Newsweek as saying Palin is an admirer of women in the abolition and suffrage movements, but disdainful of early feminists.

Her followers are painted as anti-abortion and unconcerned with the struggles highly educated women have in choosing between career and family.

The article says that over 26 percent of Americans belong to an Evangelical Protestant church, and about 61 percent of them think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.

“Within these circles, there is very much an ideal Christian woman model,” says R. Marie Griffith, Harvard professor and author of “God’s Daughters: Evangelical Women and the Power of Submission.”

“It’s an image that blends this kind of submissive, pretty, aw-shucks demeanour with a fiery power, a spiritual warfare,” she adds.

In short, the story suggests Palin is a superwoman who isn’t afraid to adore her husband and clash with powerful men.

Palin’s ascent comes as a recent Pew report shows more than half of mothers of newborns have some college education, up from 41 percent in 1990. In that same stretch of time, the number of unmarried women with newborns went from 28 to 41 percent.

Traditional feminists, however, aren’t buying Palin’s pitch as she tours the country on book tours and campaign stops for an array of Tea Party candidates running in November elections.

“It’s such a contrivance,” Cecile Richards, head of Planned Parenthood in North America, says. “There’s nothing there. I don’t think Sarah Palin is going to change the national scene on choice or on feminism.

“Her rallying cry is pretty empty if she’s against women’s rights.” (ANI)