Loading ...Palin excites evangelicals
jlindseyBy Frank Lockwood
(c) Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
ST. PAUL, Minn. — John McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as running mate has electrified many evangelical voters, especially those in the Pentecostal community, one of the fastest-growing religious movements in the world.
They see her as a trailblazer — not only as the first Republican woman on the ticket but also as the first person with Pentecostal roots to be a major party candidate.
“I’m proud of her and for her,” said Shonda Walters, a Pentecostal Sunday School teacher from Clarksville. “It seems like she’s worked very hard to get to the place where she is in her life.”
“This certainly has energized the Christian evangelical voting bloc,” said J. Lee Grady, editor of Charisma, a magazine that focuses on the Pentecostal movement.
Like many evangelicals, Pentecostals generally believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God. But Pentecostals place a special emphasis on the Holy Spirit, saying it gives Christians supernatural power to live a Christian life.
Pentecostals believe that the age of miracles did not end in the era of the Apostles but continues to this day.
Christians, they say, can speak in a heavenly language (called ‘tongues’ or glossolalia), can prophecy and can receive divine healing.
Pentecostals also believe that we live in the last days and that Jesus Christ could return to earth at any time.
Palin is a member of Wasilla Bible Church, a nondenominational church roughly 40 miles northeast of Anchorage, and the McCain campaign says Palin doesn’t claim the Pentecostal label. Instead, she describes herself as a “Bible-believing Christian.”
But she attended a Pentecostal congregation, Wasilla Assembly of God, for at least two decades, and she sometimes attends Juneau Christian Center, which is affiliated with the United States’ 2.9 million-member Assemblies of God.
Palin spoke at the graduation of the Wasilla Assembly of God’s school of ministry in June, and the church’s pastor, Ed Kalnins, says in a video posted on the congregation’s Web site, that Palin has “maintained a friendship” with her old place of worship.
Palin also has attended Church on the Rock, another Pentecostal-style congregation in Wasilla.
Darrin Rodgers, who oversees the Assemblies of God’s archives and research center, says Palin’s candidacy is “breaking new ground” for the Pentecostal movement.
“Many Assemblies of God members are very pleased to see someone they consider one of their own, someone they can identify with, having reached this level of public service,” he said.
Arkansas pastors also welcomed the news.
“I’m thrilled that she has been chosen, because of her conservative values. … She’s just a home-run pick for me,” said Evangel Temple pastor Don Hutchings of Fort Smith.
Palin’s candidacy is “great for our movement,” he said. “I know she will represent us as a person of high morals.”
Until now, the highest-ranking political figures with Pentecostal roots were former Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt and former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Both belonged to the Assemblies of God, and both saw their faith placed under a media microscope during the period they served.
In an interview, Watt said he has been “electrified” by Palin’s candidacy, but he predicts that her life will be grueling between now and Election Day.
“I started praying for her Friday morning, praying that she’ll be protected by the hand of God,” the former Reagan administration Cabinet member said.
“She needs protection, because there’ll be forces out to destroy her,” including the Democrats and the national press corps, Watt added.
The rest of this story is available by subscribing to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette’s print or electronic editions at www2.arkansasonline.com.
September 5th, 2008 at 6:42 am
The flags that go up for me are what does big oil have invested in this woman. Some of the statements made by her, such as Alaska succeeding would cause a war in today’s time. I’m not against her, just concerned about forethought.
September 5th, 2008 at 11:03 am
Perplexed, you make a good point. I don’t know how much, if any, big oil has invested in her, and I’d like to find out, too. But I kind of like the fact that she’s at least a bit eccentric. We need to remember that Alaska is only sort of kind of a part of the United States. As Timothy Egan pointed out in a NYTimes blog, this is a state in which drunk driving is still considered a minor eccentricity, the state constitution has been held to make the possession of marijuana for one’s own use legal, and in which shooting wolves from airplanes is common sport. As Egan points out, Alaska is a long way from Washington, DC, and there they consider talk of secession no more radical than we consider talk of redistricting.
I don’t worry about the Alaska-ness of Palin; the fact that, as Fred Thompson points out, she’s the only candidate who knows how to field dress a moose makes her feel like one of my more tom-boy cousins. What bothers me about Palin is her non-Alaskan qualities. She wanted to remove books from her small town’s public library, and was only deterred when two hundred people wrote letters against her. She won office as mayor in her town by proclaiming herself to be an evangelical Christian, and her opponent not one, and with money from the state Republican organization, though it was theoretically a non-partisan race. This was the first time anyone had played the religion card or brought in outside money in such a race. She is against teaching sex education and presumably birth control in schools. Am I the only one who thinks it funny that, absent such education, her own daughter ended up as the second most famous teenage mother in America (after Britney Spears’ sister)?
All in all, I wish she were more Alaskan, not less.
September 6th, 2008 at 8:07 am
Wellllll Gentlemen: I have been doing some studying up on Mrs. Palin and here is what I found out. Yes, she did want to remove books from the library–books with offense language (praise God) I would like better written language than profane babbling in books also.
Yes she wanted to change the sex-ed courses to one that included abstinence (praise God) plan A hasn’t worked for the last 50 years, maybe it is time to quit patting the young men on the backs of the sexual revolution and teach them the consequences of getting a girl pregnant-they should share in the responsibility also.
Yes, she did go to convention that was trying to get Alaska succeeded from the union–It was in 1994 and she went with her husband who was the AIP member–the article stated Mrs. Palin has always been a Republican. So we condemn her for not being a Suzy-homemaker yet when she is, we condemn her also!
As far as stupid rules of the government–Ky has a few of their own such as no walking with ice-cream in your pocket.
And lastly about the oil thing, I can only find out that she accepted in the neighborhood of 4500 dollars–a drop in the bucket these days.
I am sure more information will become available that makes these null-and-void, so I will keep searching.
I think Ms. Palin has more men intimidated than what Hillary could ever accomplish, and this is the reasoning behind the negative insults. I think she is very appealing to all families of special needs children, she is also appealing with anyone who has an unwed mother within the family setting which encompasses just about all of America.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Peach, you say:
“Yes, she did want to remove books from the library–books with offense (sic) language…”
I’ve read a few news articles on the matter and nowhere did they say which books Palin wanted to censor or for what specific reason. What other information do you have?
According to the articles:
“In December 1996, [Wasilla librarian Mary Ellen] Emmons told her hometown newspaper, the Frontiersman, that Palin three times asked her — starting before she was sworn in — about possibly removing objectionable books from the library if the need arose.” Emmons refused on account of principle, and Palin notified Emmons that she would be fired from her position. Palin did not cite the issue of censorship as the reason for dismissal but merely stated that Emmons did not have the mayor’s support.
There are many reasons why someone may find material objectionable. Offensive language is one reason but certainly not the only one.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:18 am
Peach, do you really feel comfortable having someone with a political agenda wanting to remove books from the public library? And how do you know the language in them was offensive when she never identified the books she wanted to have removed?
As to the sex education issue, I guess if she taught abstinence to the daughter at home, it didn’t take. Maybe a little education on birth control would have.
As to the “stupid rules,” I’m not sure what you’re referring to, other than my comments on Alaska law. Personally, I think marijuana should be legalized, so I have no problem with that point of law. As to the wolves, we don’t have much problem with them in my neighborhood, so I’ll defer to those with more experience. I also kind of agree with the Alaska secession movement; it’s a big cold state a thousand miles from anywhere else in the US; why shouldn’t it be either independent or join Canada? Oh yeah, I forgot. It has oil. Again, as I said, my problem is not with her being too Alaskan, it’s with her not being Alaskan enough.
As far as any issue with her being or not being a good homemaker, I don’t care. We live in an era when women as well as men become professionals, and I would think this would be a non-issue for anyone. I’m not worried about her being a woman, I’m worried about her being just another neo-conservative who wants to control what everybody else reads, studies, and thinks.
September 6th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Oh, and one more thing. That business about the ice cream cone in the pocket is an urban legend. I just did a Westlaw search on the Kentucky Revised Statutes for “ice cream,” and got 19 hits, all having to do with the regulation of the production and sale of ice cream, and none having to do with carrying it in one’s pocket. Those kinds of things go around on the internet, but no one ever gives a real citation to a real law, because one doesn’t exist.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:02 pm
jose: Sarah Palin: Book Banner?
Posted by Myca | September 3rd, 2008
A recent Time Magazine article claims that, as Mayor, Sarah Palin looked into removing books with ‘inappropriate language’ from library shelves. The paragraph in question:
Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving “full support” to the mayor.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:23 pm
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Sarah Palin and library censorship
Sep 5, 2008 at 4:59 PM 1 comment
The New York Times, Time magazine and other sources have reported that Sarah Palin, while mayor of Wasilla asked the director of the public library if she would be “all right” with removing books from the library based on “inappropriate content.” Later, the library director and the chief of police were asked to resign for being insufficiently supportive of the new mayor, althought the director eventually kept her job. It’s all pretty vague – we don’t know if the attempted firing was related to the attempted censorship, and despite a chain email making the rounds, there is no authoritative list of which books Palin was challenging.
September 6th, 2008 at 12:33 pm
jose this is from the LibrarianInBlack.Net– but maybe i missed the grammatical flow somewhere, I sure you will understand and accept my apology if I did; October »
September 02, 2008
Palin’s record with libraries called into question
I rarely inject politics into my blog, but in this case I felt compelled. In an article in Time, the political record of Sarah Palin (Republican VP candidate) was examined. Libraries, believe it or not, were brought up (emphasis mine):
Stein says that as mayor, Palin continued to inject religious beliefs into her policy at times. “She asked the library how she could go about banning books,” he says, because some voters thought they had inappropriate language in them. “The librarian was aghast.” That woman, Mary Ellen Baker, couldn’t be reached for comment, but news reports from the time show that Palin had threatened to fire Baker for not giving “full support” to the mayor.
With Laura Bush’s candidacy, many librarians rallied to her husband’s side, hoping for a heyday for libraries (so much for that pipe dream). What will librarians do now with an actual candidate with a record such as this? I will be interested to hear if more comes out about it, especially from the librarian, Ms. Baker.
September 6th, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Its a flag for me peach, I have a very close female,(family member) who works for big oil, I watched how they exploited her, they payed her well, but its PR for the public. Its Image and profits and its working. If you don’t think there is a connection with Palin being picked because of her connections with Alaska, one of the most vast oil reserves in America, well what can I say. I know how big business works, the RNC had rather a large amount of big oil supporters. I really don’t want this woman to be used in a political scenario, but before its over, she will, at no fault of her own.
September 12th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Transformer, not reformer — The Alaskan governor is currently transforming her image to whatever will help achieve her current ambition. She is a politician. After the last eight years, I’d vote for tv’s Maytag repairman before McCain and Palin.
September 13th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Mike, brother, I’m with you on that one. But she does know how to field dress a moose.