From the Associated Press, Dallas Morning News religion blog:

In a radio interview with evangelical leader James Dobson, Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin described herself as a “hard core pro-lifer” and said the birth of a son with Down syndrome gave her the opportunity to live out her beliefs.

Palin described her son Trig in religious terms, saying that her family had been “chosen,” and that his life would serve a “greater good.” The interview was broadcast Wednesday on Dobson’s radio show, which reaches an estimated 1.5 million Americans daily. A partial transcript of Palin’s comments:

“I’ve always had near and dear to my heart the mission of protecting the sanctity of life and being pro-life, a hard core pro-lifer, but I think this opportunity for me to really be walking the walk and not just talking the talk. There’s purpose in this also for a greater good to be met. I feel so privileged and blessed to have been, I guess, chosen to have Trig enter our lives because you know I do want it to help us in our cause here in allowing America to be a more welcoming nation for all of our children.”

Audio of the interview can be accessed here.

Writing in the Philadelphia Inquirer, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum says the Palin family is showing the nation “both the joy and the difficulty of having a disabled child.”

Santorum says he and his wife four months ago had a daughter, Bella, who was subsequently diagnosed with Trisomy 18, “a syndrome with a mortality rate of more than 90 percent in the first year.” Twelve years ago, they had a son with a “fatal birth defect”.

In a country where some politicians now promise to end suffering, and where our usefulness seems to be measured in dollars, these special individuals stand as complex, mysterious contradictions from a loving God.

They remind us that it is not just our capacity to achieve, but our capacity for sacrificial love that will change the character of America for the good. And that character will inspire true hope – and that hope does not disappoint.

Writing in the Seattle Times, guest columnist Dena Fox says GOP vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor Sarah Palin is not demonstrating family values when she puts her own political ambitions ahead of the needs of her family, particularly Trig (who has Down syndrome) and Bristol (who is pregnant).

Fox is an evangelical Christian, a resident of Wasilla, Alaska, and the mother of a son with Down syndrome. She challenges the support Palin has been getting from evangelical leaders for her “pro-life and pro-family values” positions.

Over the past 11 years, I have learned that a child with Down syndrome requires somewhat more time, instruction and advocacy than my other children.

These demands have been intense, but the rewards just as great. I agree with Governor Palin’s assessment that her son is a gift and God’s will for her life.

But if it is God’s will that Sarah and Todd Palin raise a child with Down syndrome, it seems just as clear to me that God would will Sarah and Todd to be physically available to hold him, care for him, and – over the next twenty-plus years – raise him.

… Palin may be a fine politician, but hers is not the example of Christian family values my family strives to live by, nor is hers the model of family values I want my family to emulate.

‘Democrats warn women that high court – and abortion rights – is at stake’

From MSNBC.com:

The response of Democratic leaders to John McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate seems to send a consistent message: beware of Republican efforts to overturn Roe v. Wade. Anti-abortion forces are pointing to Palin’s son Trig as evidence that McCain is reaching out to pro-life voters.

While Palin would not likely have any role in choosing Supreme Court nominees if McCain wins the presidential election, his choice of her as a running mate sent a reassuring message to anti-abortion forces in the Republican Party.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council noted that Palin and her husband had learned while Palin was pregnant with her son, Trig, born in April, that the baby would be born with Down’s syndrome.

“In an era when over 80 percent of Down’s syndrome babies are aborted, the Palins feel they have been extremely blessed by God to raise ‘an absolutely perfect’ son,” Perkins said. “Gov. Palin continues to use her testimony to advance protections for unborn children.”

See also: McCain’s VP choice reassures evangelicals — Associated Press

From WCBSTV New York and AM New York:

Advocates are demanding that conservative radio host Michael Savage lose his job after he referred to children with autism as “brats” with neglectful parents during his nationally syndicated show. Savage says autism is a “money racket” to get extra welfare and extra help in school.

On his broadcast, Savage said: “I’ll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it’s a brat who hasn’t been told to cut the act out … They don’t have a father around to tell them, ‘Don’t act like a moron. You’ll get nowhere in life. Stop acting like a putz. Straighten up. Act like a man. Don’t sit there crying and screaming, idiot.’ ”

Advocacy groups are planning a protest at the studios of WOR in Manhattan, and are calling for a boycott of all stations carrying Savage’s show. The program reaches an estimated eight million listeners a week on nearly 400 stations, behind only Rush Limbaugh’s and Sean Hannity’s in number of listeners, according to Talkers magazine, an industry publication.

Savage’s radio formula seems to lean heavily on invective and has been boycotted previously.  (more…)

From the New York Times, a feature about Mormon missionaries in the South Bronx. Jacob Frost, who is hearing impaired, at right in photo, and Jeffrey Westra, who isn’t, use American Sign Language as they visit current church members, recruit potential members and reach out to those who have strayed.

The church’s efforts to minister to the deaf in New York began in 1991. By 1998, the church had formed a deaf congregation, which today has some 250 members, about 100 of whom live in the Bronx …

(New York Times photo)