NYT news flash: There are religious people out there!

• these guys keep saying) doesn’t get religion.

  Not that the article is hostile. There’s something a little um, polite, let us say, about the tone — sometimes almost to the point of brittleness — but at least they’re not on the attack. What makes the article unintentionally hilarious, though, is what that they consider newsworthy. Take this, for example:

  Janet Kincaid, who has known Ms. Palin for about 15 years … said Ms. Palin’s spiritual path, from the Assembly of God to Wasilla Bible, has had a consistent theme.

  “The churches that Sarah has attended all believe in a literal translation of the Bible,” Ms. Kincaid said. “Her principal ethical and moral beliefs stem from this.”

  Prayer, and belief in its power, is another constant theme, Ms. Kincaid said, in what she has witnessed in Ms. Palin. “Her beliefs are firm in the power of prayer — let’s put it that way,” she said.

  Stop the PRESSES! Churches that believe in the Bible? People that believe in the power of prayer?? How long has THIS been going on?!

  Thank goodness those gutsy reporters from NYT are willing to suit up in their combat gear and go blow the lid off that hotbed of fanaticism, Palin’s little homechurch in Wasilla, so they can report back to us normal people that:

  • “Last month, a leader in the group Jews for Jesus, which advocates converting Jews to Christianity — but which has been accused by some Jews of anti-Semitism — spoke at the church. The speaker, David Brickner, spoke enthusiastically about the “miracle” of conversions in Israel by the group’s missionaries.”
  • “The Wasilla Bible Church, which draws 800 to 1,000 people for Sunday service, itself is discreet to the point of self-effacement. … On the three-year-old building itself, which looks more like a warehouse than a cathedral, a large cross over the rear entrance is the only declaration of purpose.”
  • “[From presiding pastor, Larry Kroon:] “I trust my people can go out … and they can deal with an issue such as abortion — any issue out there — whether it’s in the public arena, or in the hospital room with their relative dying of cancer, because they will be equipped with a biblical perspective that will enable them to react in that situation,” said Mr. Kroon, who described himself as ‘pro-life.’”

  Wow! Right in our own back yard. Who’d have thought such things were possible?

  And lest the intellectual-as-anything Times readers miss where all this might lead, the story leads off with an anecdote:

  Shortly after taking office as governor in 2006, Sarah Palin sent an e-mail message to Paul E. Riley, her former pastor in the Assembly of God Church, which her family began attending when she was a youth. She needed spiritual advice in how to do her new job, said Mr. Riley, who is 78 and retired from the church.

  “She asked for a biblical example of people who were great leaders and what was the secret of their leadership,” Mr. Riley said.

  He wrote back that she should read again from the Old Testament the story of Esther, a beauty queen who became a real one, gaining the king’s ear to avert the slaughter of the Jews and vanquish their enemies. When Esther is called to serve, God grants her a strength she never knew she had.

  Mr. Riley said he thought Ms. Palin had lived out the advice as governor, and would now do so again as the Republican Party’s vice-presidential nominee.

  When I got to that beauty queen reference, I nearly came out of my chair. To reduce the Book of Esther to some Cinderella tale is like saying that Book of Exodus is about a really successful marketing campaign. I realize I have to be a little circumspect here — it’s possible that the reporter got that idea from Mr. Riley (in which case I’d say it’s just as well the guy is retired). But there’s no doubt why it’s included here. It’s a winking reference to the fact that Palin won a beauty pageant in her hometown in 1984. It’s hard to figure out which they think is scarier — the beauty-queen-thing or Riley’s advice that Palin ask God for strength.

  Honest to goodness, I wish we’d have some reason to have the NYT come and interview us at our church. I think you could have some real fun. Meet them at the door in a paper hat and be holding snakes on both hands. Ask them if they’d like to consult the Lord Jehovah about the choice between coffee or tea. Call your kids by names like Amminidab, Jehoshaphat and Saint-theophan-the-recluse.

  Darn. Alaskans get all the breaks.

  (Times article HERE)

  C-SPAN run. Run, SPAN, run.
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