News Release

Palin and Creationism

Share

PHILIP MUNGER
Available for a limited number of interviews, Munger is editor of the “Progressive Alaska” blog and can address a number of aspects of Gov. Palin’s record. He said today: “One thing that hasn’t gotten much attention is Palin’s apparent belief in creationism. Around June 1997 she told me she thought the Earth was about 6,000 years old and that people and dinosaurs walked the Earth at the same time. In 2002 or 2003 (I know it was Nov. 11 since it was at a Veterans Day event) I asked her about this again since my kids and her kids were in the same school district and I was concerned about creationism being taught as if it were a form of science. This time she didn’t answer directly, but said that it didn’t matter since ‘the Lord is coming soon.'”

FREDERICK CLARKSON
Author of the book Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy and Democracy, Clarkson is editor of the forthcoming Dispatches from the Religious Left: The Future of Faith and Politics in America. He is founder of the interactive blog “Talk to Action” about the religious right.

He said today: “More than any candidate in modern political history, there are fair and sound reasons to ask GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin about the relationship between her religious and public policy views.

“For example, Palin told a reporter when she ran for governor that she is a creationist, refused to comment on evolution, and said that she thought discussion of creationism in science class was valid. Similarly, the churches with which she is affiliated preach that we are living in the End Times as described in the Book of Revelation.

“The question is what are the public policy implications of her particular … beliefs on everything from what is taught in the public schools to the way such interpretations influence her views on foreign and military policy.”
More Information

For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167