Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
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.
“why is AP playing the religion card?”
Because the race card ain’t working no more.
Bob Bechtel was on TV praising Obama for graduating from Harvard Law School magnum cum laude.
And all this time I thought Obama was anti-gun...
It is interesting just how clueless the media is about Christianity as a whole. I understand not knowing the in and outs of Pentecostals (heck, most Catholics tend to lump all non Catholics together, and the inverse is true also), but the media even gets the basics wrong.
It shows 7,466 right now.
A Christian is anyone who follows the gospel of Christ, regardless of their churches denomination.
And just who do Gorski and Zoll think they are, telling ANYONE what is and isn't Christianity, and what various chritian denominations believe or don't believe? These haters know nothing of Christianity, and have no authority or education to do so.
There were many things that started to bother me, and I regret dragging my children through some of it now. I'm glad I had sense enough not to let anyone lay hands and pray over them to speak in tongues, wish I'd had sense enough to avoid it for myself.
Normal Sunday worship here didn't ordinarily break out in tongues speaking, but it may be different elsewhere.
Nope. Sorry. That article only appeared in an alternate universe where the Associated Press does not act as the house organ for the far left wing of the Democrat party.
Another non-story...I know lots of folks who belong to Pentacostal Holiness churches, and they are fine people.
This just bring up the question; What kind of "Christianity" is Obama and his Rev. Wright pals "church", who's patrons are Muslim? How can Obama be a "Christian" when he isn't even baptized?
Whay aren't Gorski and Troll asking those questions?
“I mean really Palin is Assembly of God and why is this an issue?”
It is an issue because Palin didn’t describe herself as “...a snake-eating, bible-thumpin’ freak”
Nothing less would have satisfied the AP religion reporters, who, like most religion reporters, know nothing about Christianity.
We don’t eat snakes, we handle them. ;->
I hope they keep persecuting her....The left is simply going to embarrass itself.
I was raised Church of the Brethren in Ohio, became Lutheran in High School, went to a Baptist Church, a Community Church, and attend the Catholic Church occasionally with family members. My beliefs have not changed, but the infighting in some churches is more then I can take.
I call myself a Christian. Since when are Pentacostal Churches not Christian anyway?
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Obama Says A Baby Is A Punishment
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Obama: “If they make a mistake, I don’t want them punished with a baby.”
Get used to it. They're going to play every card they can think of, even some that haven't been invented yet.
“OH NO, a Pentecostal!”
Is this the best they can do?
Actually, I was thinking more of the old-time geeks - which is what AP religion reporters think evangelicals are!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INfEuYoZLMI
It's in direct opposition to Gods plan. The Holy Spirit flows throughout the entire Church community. Seven streams for seven churches.
Isaiah's words show that the river of divine water which flows from the breast of Christ (Jn.7:38) has been divided into enough branches to reach all parts of the dispersion -- the number 'seven' the metaphoric representation of the totality and perfection of its distribution.
As a result, these 'seven holy springs' of God now bathe the seven continents of the world. These streams mirror the churches through which they flow -- all the holy lighthouses that shine the message of Christ's salvation toward God's people who are lost and held captive in Babylon. After the dispersion God's people were everywhere on the planet, speaking thousands of different languages. Stretching from one end of the earth to the other, this dispersion was much too widespread for one church or one language alone to make the call to return. Many churches in many languages were needed. Especially since God's call for return (the preaching of Christ) has been going on now for almost two thousand years.
CHRISTIAN churches lead anyone who passes through their doors towards the Gospel. Once a person receives the Gospel, it is then up to them individually to follow it, and in turn know if that church and it's preachers are following the gospel correctly.
Ultimately, the foundation of Christs church is within each and every individual.
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