Reporting on religion is a difficult task, even moreso when a political candidate is involved. Voters care about candidates’ religious affiliations. But if reporters are going to take up the task of explaining beliefs to their readers and viewers, they should do it with care. CNN’s Monday evening attempt to plumb Sarah Palin’s religious beliefs fell far short of that mandate.
CNN sent reporter Randi Kaye to Anchorage for the goods on Palin’s Pentecostal church. Here’s how the report starts:
Sarah Palin calls herself a Bible believing Christian. period. What she doesn't mention is this — Palin spent most of her life attending a Pentecostal church that may have shaped her beliefs if not politics.
Reading between the lines: Palin has kept her Pentecostal church a secret, because it’s something to hide. Here’s why:
The Wasilla Assembly of God Pentecoastal Church where congregants say they speak in tongues.
Oh! That’s what she’s hiding, even though Tim McGraw, Palin’s former pastor, “says he never saw Palin speak in tongues.” It’s a good thing they asked.
What’s more, members of the church also have other strange beliefs: “ He says members also practice faith healing and believe in the end times, a violent upheaval in the world that will bring the second coming of Jesus.” Hmmm, don’t most Christians believe that? Isn’t that the Book of Revelations?
The CNN piece also makes a point of excerpting out of context an advertising video for a youth group called the Master’s Commission of Wasilla, Alaska, after referring that one of the church’s pastors had preached some “unusual sermons.” The portion of the video shown on CNN shows fire engulfing a map of the United States; the context makes it seem like the video is arguing that the world will soon end. In fact, the video—self-consciously styled as an over-the-top movie trailer—is a promotional tool for a youth group; the fiery map is a visual metaphor for how Christ’s message will soon spread across the country. Flashy production values aside, this is pretty standard stuff for Christian youth groups.
The reporters, producers, and editors behind these pieces fail to understand that Pentecostalism is not a bizarro sect, but a relatively common Protestant denomination, with about 30 million American adherents. CNN treats Pentecostalism as an exotic religion, whose focal point is speaking in tongues. I’m not an expert on the group, but I imagine that its core beliefs also have something to do with Christianity and good works and all that, and not just an easily ridiculed spiritual experience. By treating the topic with condescension, they alienate viewers and play into the hands of those who rail against the media’s purported liberal bias.
There’s a lot that Americans need to know about Sarah Palin’s fitness for the vice-presidency, and the media ought to ask tough questions about her background and her stance on various issues. But the objective is to analyze her qualifications, not to examine whether Pentecostalism seems weird to people who know nothing about the faith.
The message seems to be that CNN wants its politicians to appear religious, but not, Heaven forbid, engage in any type of heartfelt religious practice that might seem too kooky. And that’s a line that’s hard to toe.
Regardless of what church she attends, I think the voters have every right to know her religious views. She has attended a fundamentalist church where some of the congregants no doubt read the Bible literally, rejecting evolution and thinking the Earth is less than 10,000 years old.
She may not be one of them, but I for one would prefer a candidate who has accepted the Enlightenment and rejected the superstitious aspects of religion.
I have only this to say about Palin's theology, "bugga monto eeba eeba boop boop kaya matig!"
Thanks for your analysis of CNN’s flawed story about Palin’s church. The media coverage of Palin and faith has told us more about elite media bias and ignorance than about Palin.
A couple of quibbles: first, Palin describing herself as a “Christian” is not an attempt to obscure her Pentecostal roots. In fact, it’s common practice for people who attend independent Bible churches like Palin does, and also for people who attend any brand of evangelical Christian church, including Pentecostal churches. The Huffington Post and AP both made this mistake, which CMI addressed a week ago: AP Wrongly Charges Palin with Deception over Faith (http://www.cultureandmediainstitute.org/articles/2008/20080904203030.aspx).
Second, it’s the book of Revelation, not Revelations. Common mistake.
Finally, Pentecostalism is not a denomination, it’s a school of theology. Many evangelical denominations embrace this theology, like Palin’s former denomination, the Assemblies of God, and many do not.
Brian Fitzpatrick
Senior Editor
Culture and Media Institute
I am active in interfaith organizations and have heard comments about Palin's very extreme religious views repeatedly. This is the first blog that I have found definitely linking Palin to some very anti-female, very anti-non Protestant Christian views. The people she hangs out with are very, very bizarre. Please get this out to the rest of the media. See the link below.
http://www.wildhunt.org/2008/10/update-ii-palins-anti-pagan.html
Shannon Marquardt
408-251-5984
The only reason Sarah Palin has any kind of political future at all is because the press has irresponsibly not told the public about this woman's very serious short comings! She opposes equal pay for equal work, as mayor, charged rape victims for their rape kits, as governor, cut funding of teen pregnancy programs AND nominated a sexual harassment perpetrator to a key office. She also ran up a huge budget deficit as mayor, commonly makes sexist and racist remarks, is closely associated with Ted Stevens, the charged Alaska Senator and is anti-choice on the abortion issue even in the case of rape and incest! To add to the icing on the cake, she is a member of an extremist Pentecostal religious group which views itself as battling "the Queens of Heaven", i.e. any strong, positive female figure in any faith, including the Virgin Mary in the Catholic Church. This same group has held exorcism to get rid of San Francisco's supposed demons and they believe sections of the U.S. are opposed by demons!!!