Eric Gorski
Rachel Zoll
Posted on 09/07/2008 10:27:23 AM PDT by wagglebee
Associated Press religion writers Eric Gorski and Rachel Zoll are accusing GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin of concealing her Pentecostal religious roots by identifying herself “simply as Christian” in her biography on the website of the National Governors’ Association.
In their Sept. 4 article headlined “Pentecostalism obscured in Palin biography,” Gorski and Zoll rely on Duke Divinity School’s Grant Wacker to suggest a motive for Palin’s alleged duplicity. Wacker says, “the public still perceives [Pentecostals] as sectarian and uncompromising, and those traits will not help Palin’s image.”
“Sarah Palin often identifies herself simply as Christian,” Gorski and Zoll begin. “Yet John McCain’s running mate has deep roots in Pentecostalism...[a Christian tradition] often derided by outsiders and Bible-believers alike.”
Palin grew up attending a Pentecostal church, Wasilla Assembly of God, but has attended the non-Pentecostal Wasilla Bible Church since 2002 (see related article). Pentecostalism is a branch of evangelical Christianity that emphasizes discernible spiritual gifts from God, such as speaking in tongues. Many Christian denominations embrace Pentecostal theology.
Gorski and Zoll misunderstand Palin’s use of the word “Christian.” Evangelical believers, especially those like Palin who attend independent Bible churches, commonly refer to themselves as “Christians,” not as members of any particular denomination or school of theology.
The article says more about Gorski and Zoll than about Palin. Though they cover the religion beat for AP, Gorski and Zoll have a great deal to learn about evangelical culture and theology.
In addition to misunderstanding the term “Christian,” Gorski and Zoll make a serious theological mistake. They incorrectly accuse Wasilla Assembly of God senior pastor Ed Kalnins of questioning, “whether people who voted for Democratic Sen. John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election would get into heaven.”
Kalnins’s exact words were, “I’m not going tell you who to vote for, but if you vote for this particular person, I question your salvation. I’m sorry.”
Orthodox Protestant theology teaches that salvation is possessed in the present. Anybody with a rudimentary knowledge of evangelical Christian doctrine should understand that Kalnins was not saying God would send Kerry supporters to hell. In fact, Kalnins was suggesting that people willing to vote for Sen. Kerry might not already be saved.
In misinterpreting Kalnins’s remarks, Gorski and Zoll committed the same mistake made by leftwing Huffington Post writers Nico Pitney and Sam Stein, and explained in greater detail in another Culture and Media Institute article, Pro-gay Journalist: Palin’s Religious Worldview “Controversial”.
Such a fundamental theological error is understandable coming from a pair of youthful leftwing bloggers, but not from two Associated Press religion writers. Brian Fitzpatrick, a frequent contributor to OneNewsNow, is senior editor for the Culture and Media Institute. This article is printed with permission.
"Pentecostalism" is straight orthodoxy except for the notion of the working of the Holy Spirit with respect to the "gifts of the spirit" and that sort of thing. Indeed, the "charismatic renewal" is a related like phenomenon in the Catholic Church.
In any event, assuming she wanted to deemphasize this aspect of her evangelicalism, how does that effect her ability to govern and administer? It has zero effect.
haha. That’s about the only charge left now.
Too funny! I wonder what these dolts have written about how Christian Obama's Black Theology church is?
Eric Gorski....probably born Catholic.
Rachel Zoll, born Jewish and very very strident historically against scripture based Christianity.
It wouild be ridiculous to have a Christian writer held up as a correspondent on Jewish religious affairs.
Why do the Grahams do this?
I attend an Assembly of God church and I’m a Christian. They just don’t get it.
When you mark your religious beliefs on those little cards etc, it never asks if you’re Pentecostal.
These types of attacks won’t work.
The only people to whom this is scandalous are people who hates all Christians already.
“When did it become part of the litmus test to announce your denomination? And why is AP playing the religion card?”
LOL - ‘cause Sarah scares the crap ou of them, of course!
I'm going with "propaganda" because these two "writers" can't possibly be so stupid as to not understand anything about religion and how it's labeled.
We have more power than you might think.
If the AP writers keep screwing up like this, they will be out of jobs. If they want to be "news authorities" then let them be upbraided for their sloppiness.
No kidding. The more they attack her on “stuff” like this, the more they showcase Palin for America to see and agree with.
Associated Press has two virulent, hate-filed, anti-Christain bigots as “religion writers”: Eric Gorski and Rachel Zoll.
Amazing.
Pentacostals are wonderful people.
I Googled these two losers and found absolutely no commentary about the true hatefilled lunatic Reverend Wright and Obama’s evil “Liberation Church.”
I was raised up in an Assembly of God church until I was 14 years old, and then I just refused to go. In spite of this fact, I grew up around some of the most wonderful people that one could ever know. I have grown up thanking the Lord for the experience that I have had, and for the people that I have loved.
Oh my God! Run for the hills!!
Eric Gorski
Rachel Zoll
How many views were there registered at YouTube when you saw that video clip? It’s stuck at 244 as far as I can tell.
Um, and this is supposed to drive off people, why? HELLO!!! Some folks don’t think it’s a problem for the presidential candidate to be MUSLIM...why would theology matter to the “independents and swing voters” if she were Hare Krishna?!
The whole thing with the media is this: She’s a believer in Christ Jesus who had the audacity to thumb her nose at them in front of the American public when they attacked her and her family first. Now the media is standing in the open like some three-year old whose peed his pants, and is blaming “Mommy” for not taking him to the bathroom!
It’s hard to have atheists have any understanding of any theology as writers for the Always Pissed newswire.
Likewise ..... I am accusing DNC presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama of concealing his Muslim/Black Liberation Theology religious roots by identifying himself as a "Christian".
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