It's not clear to me that Palin's past pastor was preoccupied with witches. Someone invited to the church by the pastor was.

I'd encourage readers to drill down into the links you give, before making their call.

The AP towards the end gets has a paragraph about casting out demons. That's biblical, and it's pretty conventional in Pentecostal churches. Where's the line between demons and witches?

Pentecostals represent a large and growing segment of the US population. I know plenty of Pentecostals and they're no more peculiar than the rest of us, although their theology isn't for me. How far do we want to go in questioning whether a Pentecostal is a suitable candidate for the Presidency or a breath for that office?

It's not the question that was asked, but I think it runs counter to Obama's interest to question the form of faith held by Palin. It's a problem for not for Palin, but for Obama. To do so questions the faith of many in the electorate.

Benen goes on to write,

I do, however, have two unresolved questions. First, does she believe in the separation of church and state, and is she comfortable with a government that remains entirely neutral on matters of faith? And second, does she believe public officials should use religious beliefs to shape public policy? Palin recently said those fighting the war in Iraq are "out on a task that is from God," and added, in the same remarks, that "God's will" was responsible for a national gas pipeline project in Alaska.

She did not "say they are." Anyone fairly reporting this -- and fairness includes taking the care to get basic facts right -- knows it.

As to separation of church and state, and the role of her own faith in shaping public policy, let's put those questions to every candidate. I doubt the answers would be all that different.

The Pentecostal stuff doesn't bother me. The witch stuff bothers me, given the background of the speaker, who clearly believes in real live female witches who need to be defeated. The Israelite stuff is pretty bad, too, I think.

I am having some difficulty with this controversy. There seems to be a lot of reaction, especially from the secular press and bloggers, that sounds like generic hostility to religion and belief in the supernatural, with no distinction between Muthee and "ordinary" local Assemblies of God. Sometimes I cannot tell the difference between what they are saying and what people said back when JFK was running for President (e.g. that he would serve the Vatican and its supposed desire to rule the world). I'm wondering what Stephen Carter (The Culture of Disbelief) would say.

On the other hand, I agree with Jim and others who find the actual witch hunting very disturbing. I'm just not sure how far one can and should go in ascribing Muthee's beliefs and practices to Palin. Am I accountable for everything said or done by the bishop who anointed me when I was confirmed in the Episcopal Church?

What I am having difficulty finding out is how much Muthee has been involved in the Wasilla church and to what extent, if any, that church is out of the mainstream of Pentecostal churches. I am intrigued by a series of articles posted at Talk to Action, which suggest that Wasilla, or at least Muthee, is connected to some kind of radical "Third Wave" movement. See also the dispute about Bruce Wilson (of Talk to Action)'s stories at Bartholomew's Notes on Religion. Knowing next to nothing about Pentecostalism, it is difficult for me to evaluate the claims on either side.

Kathryn Jensen

Kathryn,

I do think it's notable that, in remarks from just this past June, Sarah Palin pointedly credited Pastor Muthee's prayers, in part, for her political success [FWIW, it turns out she also did a very credible impression of him! "Make a way, Lord, make a way!" *g*]

I'm remembering the Iraqi war widow, who had to fight SO HARD to get her husband's Wiccan symbol onto his U.S. military headstone: could Sarah Palin promise to be their Commander-in-Chief, too? Or would she have her Supernatural Advisor cast them out?

JC Fisher

Africans don't understand us on the gay issue. We have the same problem here with witchcraft.Maybe some cross culture respect is called for?

R J Gleason

Oh, I understand completely...this guy wants God to do room service for a select few he has delivered to his specialized and tiny space where only prepackaged puritans "receive" GODS GRACE..the slaying of witches and the smearing of Buddha added a thirdrate measure of fear and hate to help celebrate the blessing of the not-so-up-and-coming Sarahgate.

I've been in Kenya and met people who have dealt first hand with witchcraft there. They were convinced that it is a real (and dangerous) power in the land and the evidence that they presented convinced me too. I've been prayed for by people who have prayed against witches (in my case, an American missionary couple who did computer support and pediatric nursing who'd been in Kenya for many years), and I'd take their prayers any time.

Ralph Wagenet

Africans don't understand us on the gay issue. We have the same problem here with witchcraft. Maybe some cross culture respect is called for?

GLBT - Witches...GLBT - Witches...GLBT - Witches

Sorry Rick (& Ralph), I cannot wrap my head around these two things as being equal or interchangeable cultural/social issues.

Africa does not have a corner on the "black arts." We have a fair share of folks claiming the existence of hookus, pookus here in Mexico (& throughout Latin America.) I have been around it, or better said, it has surrounded me, all my life. Folks believe it is real and powerful. I do not. Sorry, the evidence does not convince me.

The Gang of Six primates often state that homosexuality does not exist in Africa, at least not naturally, but is an apostasy exported from the West which is infecting and seducing modern Africans. What is truly sad is that it is apparent that they have bought into a not-so-subtle racism of Christian missionaries of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The common knowledge of the day was that homosexuality was not observed, and so did not exist or occur in nature, in the wild, among lower forms of animals. Another common knowledge was that Africans were a lower form of human life, and closer, in fact, to the lower orders of animal life than white Europeans. So, by extension, Africans were subsequently taught the assumption that homosexuality did not exist among their peoples, because it does not exist among the animals!

In actuality, homosexuality and bisexuality not only exist in lower orders of animals, especially primates, but all human cultures as well, in relatively the same mathematical numbers worldwide. It not only existed in Africa, but many native African animist/indigenous faiths respected and esteemed homosexuals as significant and held them as special members of their societies, as did many First Nation/Indigenous/Native cultures in the Americas.

So, it is not homosexuality which has invaded or been imported to Africa, but European racism, homophobia, and for that matter Christianity itself.