Monday, September 8, 2008

Taken With A Shakerfull of Salt

I know this is Huffington Post reporting, but if even halfway accurate . . . just WOW. Do you want this influence helping choose future SCJ's?

Sarah Palin's churches are actively involved in a resurgent movement that was declared heretical by the Assemblies of God in 1949. This is the same 'Spiritual Warfare' movement that was featured in the award winning movie, "Jesus Camp," which showed young children being trained to do battle for the Lord. At least three of four of Palin's churches are involved with major organizations and leaders of this movement, which is referred to as The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit or the New Apostolic Reformation. The movement is training a young "Joel's Army" to take dominion over the United States and the world.

I wonder if they wear those Jesus Jammies?


And before I get accused of tearing down Palin in order to pushing an agenda *coughRobbiecough*, try and remember that I didn't appreciate the crap spewed out by Obama's church, either.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

The fact that both candidates for the presidency are cozying up to the Bible thumpers says a lot about the state of this country. What about the 15-25% of us who don't believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible? Who's speaking for us? It is ironic that the voices of moderation are not coming from secular authorities like McCain and Obama, but from inside the church itself.

Many of the clergy are actually more open to the theory of evolution than our so-called political leaders are. How incredibly sad and disturbing.

Anonymous said...

Hmmm is this similar to Hitler Youth?

John in IL said...

HuffPo and halfway accurate...you're being kind.

Pat said...

What about the 15-25% of us who don't believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible?

I think the figure is more like 80-90%, although many of those are still in the closet. Politicians are pandering to the 10-20% and those that are still in the closet.

Many of the clergy are actually more open to the theory of evolution than our so-called political leaders are.

I'm not sure about that. When the field of candidates was still large, none of the Democrats said they did not believe in evolution, while three of the Republicans did. Yes, the fact that in 2008, there are political leaders (and educated) that still don't believe in evolution is disturbing. And, of course, any such candidate obviously is not qualified for higher office. But these dinosaurs are becoming extinct.

Then again, most of the clergy I know do believe in evolution. It's certainly not a contradiction to believe in God and evolution, but I do believe that evolution and the literal word of the Bible are inconsistent.

As for Sarah Palin's church, the jury is still out on how it affects her beliefs, but more importantly, her public positions. For example, most Catholics I know are very supportive of gay persons, and almost all of them laugh off the birth control policy, And now I'm reading that Palin is really more for comprehensive sex-education, saying that contraception should be taught to teens (duh!).

Anonymous said...

(I think the figure is more like 80-90%, although many of those are still in the closet)

I don't necessarily disagree that the number is less than what's (self) reported. People often feel pressured to say "yes" whenever somebody brings in Jesus. And I'm the first to say we shouldn't trust every poll result. But at the same time, there shouldn't be dismissed completely. There appears to be a whole lot of "closet case" Americans, Pat.

2004:

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/primetime/US/views_of_bible_poll_040216.html

2005:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43957

In terms of having a right to remain a closeted on matters of faith, I probably wouldn't mind too much. Except of course, that their professed fundamentalism - real or otherwise - is screwing up the country and affecting public policy in highly negative ways.

(When the field of candidates was still large, none of the Democrats said they did not believe in evolution, while three of the Republicans did.)

Evolution is an important "tipping point." But I think there are going to be inconsistencies regardless. Because the Bible's actually an anthology, even self-declared "literalists" believe some versions or translations of the same story more than others. The problem is that - whatever interpretation they happen to believe in - they feel it is fine to force that particular reading upon the rest of us.

Anonymous said...

Ugh, obviously that should be a "they" at the end of the first paragraph. Sometimes, I miss the old-school comment boards.

I often write these responses in haste.

North Dallas Thirty said...

If you're worried about Supreme Court justices, one would think this would be the more troubling statistic.

While 82% of voters who support McCain believe the justices should rule on what is in the Constitution, just 29% of Barack Obama’s supporters agree. Just 11% of McCain supporters say judges should rule based on the judge’s sense of fairness, while nearly half (49%) of Obama supporters agree.

Pat said...

Thanks for the stats John. I am floored that about 60% of the people polled actually believe the Bible literally. I honestly don't believe the Pope literally believes the Bible. Go figure. Yes, I think we agree that there are people who are, in 2008, afraid to admit that the Bible is not literally true, but I doubt that figure is 40%, to make it consistent with my original guess.

But I'm guessing that if they broke it down by age, that about 80-90% of the people under 50 don't literally believe the Bible. But who knows?