Palin & Religion

Concerns about the effect US Republican Veep candidate Sarah Palin’s religious affiliations might have on a McCain/Palin administration – or, even worse, should she ascend to the Presidency – are being expressed by many bloggers. The congregation of The Assembly of God church with which Palin is connected in Alaska is known to have beliefs connected with Christian Reconstructionism , "Third Wave" Christianity, and Dominionism. The latter takes its name from the exhortation in Genesis for "man" to have "dominion" over the Earth. According to some accounts , the Dominionists take this further, believing that God wants believers in (a certain type of?) Christianity to have dominion over people of other faiths, and has as one of its aims, establishing a Christian theocracy in the USA, with militarism and violence part of the picture. Let me say at the outset, that although it’s known that people in Palin's church advocate this and the other beliefs, what’s not known is to what extent Palin believes and acts on these. This would make an excellent question for a reporter to ask her – should the McCain campaign ever allow her to answer reporters’ questions.

There are at least two sets of beliefs adopted by Palin’s AoG church that readers of this blog might want to examine further. First, is the connection between Pastor Thomas Muthee , who, looking for the cause of a Kenyan village’s problems that included an increase in car crashes, pointed the finger at a woman in the village whom he accused of witchcraft, eventually causing the woman to flee for her safety. This is the aspect of Palin’s religious connections that has been most widely covered in the mainstream media. Palin credits Muthee's praying over her, with being largely responsible for her being elected Governor of Alaska. Palin has praised him for his "prayer" in which rather than ask God to help Palin win, Muthee tells God to clear the way for Sarah to come into political power. Update: An additional instance of Muthee praying to protect Palin from "witchcraft" was reported shortly after this post was written. See AP article linked below.

I'm not aware of there being much, if any MSM discussion about another set of beliefs, possibly because of their complexity. But I think this is of interest to readers of this blog. Dominionists/Christian Reconstructionists/"Third Wave" Christians conflate the "Queen of Heaven" against whom the prophet Jeremiah rails in the Hebrew scriptures, with "Diana" (aka "Isis") of Ephesus, and with Mary, Mother of Jesus (apparently because she was called "Queen of Heaven" extra-biblically by the Catholic church). All these they lump together as being demonic Diana, the enemy of Dominionist Christians.

Here are some links to more on all of this (which will lead you to even more....):
Dark Christianity--many posts, the most recent to date on Sept. 24
Wild Hunt Blog--several articles, latest Sept 18:"Update:Palin's Anti-Pagan Co-Religionists"
Daily Kos--"You Tube Censors Viral Video On Palin's churches"
Street Prophets--"Voodoo Palin...."
Street Prophets--"Sarah Palin:Daimonizomai & Belief in Powerful Demon Possession"
Starhawk on WoPo "On Faith"
Radical Goddess Theology--"Curled My Hair"
Alternet.org--"Weird Theology in Wasilla: A Look Inside Sarah Palin's Pentecostal Church" (includes discussion of anti-Goddess aspect)
AP: "Palin once blessed to be free of 'witchcraft' "

TAGS:news Sarah Palin Elections Dominionism Thomas Muthee Christian Reconstruction Queen of Heaven