Submitted to a Candid World

The Republican Party wants to frame any criticism of Sarah Palin as illegitimate because of either (1) sexism or (2) elitism. You can’t say she’s anti-feminist; she’s a woman! You can’t say she’s inexperienced; she may not be a “Beltway Insider,” but you hippies would never understand the importance of “small town values”! You can’t criticize her; you’re sexist!

And now, you can’t question her far-right, theocratic, fundamentalist religious beliefs either: that’s insulting, because millions of Americans are as crazy as she is might be:

But the question of whether or not Palin “speaks in tongues” bears on her religious beliefs, and how they influence her: it’s relevant, and is (or ought to be) about more than just how… odd… the practice is (for video of “speaking in tongues,” visit our friend at “Break the Terror”). Just as a belief in creationism indicates a disturbing willingness to put belief before objective reality, “speaking in tongues,” in a political candidate, potentially reflects on the way the candidate thinks and makes critical decisions.  “Speaking in tongues” is typical of those who do, in fact, believe that they have a “direct line” to God, and coupled with ambiguous statements suggesting that Palin may view the Iraq War as a mission from God, if Palin did “speak in tongues,” there would be cause to worry about her judgment and ability to separate the good of the nation from her personal conception of the good of God. Certainly there’s nothing wrong with “speaking in tongues” as a private religious act… but where it is a proxy for politics-by-prayer, it’s something to worry about.

To be fair, though, the only evidence suggesting that Palin does “speak in tongues” is circumstantial – she went to/goes to churches where people do it. And the comic above does go a little too far: it insults and generalizes about Pentecostals, which is uncool, and it’s not particularly funny either. But while there may be a better way to include the subject in the national discourse, Palin’s theology & religious beliefs should be “fair game” for debate and discussion. We’ve learned the hard way, over the past eight years, that single-minded, religiously-driven decisionmaking is not a safe practice. So please, as Amy Poehler/Hillary Clinton suggested, “ask this one about dinosaurs.” Don’t, like the Washington Post did, let WorldNetDaily scare you off.