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TechnoratiReligious Left theologian Susan Thistlewaite at the Center for American Progress, writing for The Washington Post’s religion blog, has formulated the ultimate reason why Sarah Palin must not become Vice President. Belonging to an evangelical denomination, Palin must believe in the biblical injunction: "Wives be subject to your husbands, as unto the Lord." How can she serve in office while submitting to her husband, the Rev Thistlewaite querulously wondered. Must not Mr. Palin also be politically vetted, since clearly he is the master of his submissive wife?
To someone like the Rev. Thistlewaite, Governor Palin must seem as exotic and frightening as a Maori spearman. Indeed, even scarier, as the enlightened former seminary president and United Church of Christ (UCC) minister probably reverences all “indigenous” cultures, while conservative American Christians merit fear and suspicion.
Until recently, Thistlewaite was president of the radical Chicago Theological Seminary, where future activist pastors can study “womanist theology,” “postcolonialism,” and “homosexuality and hermeneutics.” She is now at the Center for American Progress, founded by former Bill Clinton staffer John Podesta, where she can help interpret troubling American religious trends to secular liberals curious about life west of the Potomac. The Rev. Jesse Jackson Senior is both an alumni and former professor at the school, where he probably, by comparison, was a moderating influence. In 2002, under Thistlewaite’s presidency, the seminary honored former Obama pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose “Godd-mn America” views are likely in sync with the school. Wright, of course, is a fellow UCC pastor.
Thistlewaite is very concerned that Governor Palin belongs to the disturbing Assemblies of God, which the former Chicago seminary professor no doubt regards as a “fundamentalist” sect. In fact, the 2.8 million denomination is one of America’s fastest growing religious bodies, having long ago surpassed in membership the once influential UCC, which at 1.2 million members has become one of America’s fastest imploding churches.
Perhaps in Thistlewaite’s imagination, women in the Assemblies of God wear bonnets, sit silently, and wash the feet of their husbands. In fact, the Pentecostal church has ordained women for many years, and Pentecostalism is well known for often elevating women to leadership. One of the best known Pentecostals in the 20th century was the flamboyant evangelist Aimee Simple McPherson, whose riveting radio broadcasts and alleged scandals enthralled Americans for over two decades until her death in 1944.
There are estimated globally to be about 400 million Pentecostals, and nearly 60 million belong to the international branch of Palin’s church. Pentecostals in the world probably outnumber liberal UCC devotees about at least 100 to 1, if not more. But Thistlewaite, retaining the frowning attitude of her Puritan tradition if not the theology, is worried that Palin’s church regards the Bible as "the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct." Seemingly unbeknownst to the former seminary president, seeing the Bible as divine revelation is a teaching common to most of the 2 billion Catholics, Evangelicals and Eastern Orthodox in the world. Far more exotic and unusual among the world’s Christians would be the feminist and sexual orientation emphases of Thistlewaite’s school, not to mention the gender neutral version of the New Testament and Psalms that Thistlewaite published. Hopefully the Center for American Progress is not relying exclusively on Thistlewaite to interpret the religious world, otherwise the curious liberals there are likely in for multiple surprises. Continue »
