Olbermann, Maddow Paint Palin's Faith as Extreme

Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow took swings at Sarah Palin's faith Monday night as the No. 1 story of Olbermann's countdown, implying that her faith is a form of extremism.

Olbermann started off by showing clips of Palin appearing at her former church, the Wasilla Church of God. He criticized the church's programs to pray for homosexuals. "You'll be encouraged by the power of God's love and His desire to transform the lives of those impacted by homosexuality," an insert in the bulletin of the Wasilla Bible Church once said. He also attacked the subject of Palin's prayers, including for the success of a pipeline.

Olbermann then commented on a report that a former pastor at her previous church and a fellow parishioner have said that "worshippers not only they believe in the rapture, and that the Governor Palin has spoken of Alaska of being a refuge for that supposed lifting up of those true-believers, but also they speak in tongues, in other words in words or sounds neither they nor anybody else understands, kind of like FOX News." Olbermann, while stumbling on his words, asked guest Rachel Maddow "should we be terrified?"

Maddow says that while a lot of people's religious beliefs from the outside seem "alarming," Palin needs to be asked if she thinks God is directing her public policy, and does Palin believe in the separation of church and state. Maddow says we (as a nation) are not excited about "extremism."

Criticizing prayer, Olbermann ask "Some of these things addressed to her deity ---Doesn't he/she [referring to God] have better things to do?" Maddow retorts, "Wouldn't God be better at it?" (that is, wouldn't crews be furiously working if Palin prayed for the success of a pipeline).

This is tough for people with Olbermann and Maddow's mindset to understand. But here it goes.

1. Prayer is intensely personal, and the Bible encourages people to be specific in prayer. People pray for healing, they pray for wisdom, they pray for success in activities, in travel and in other matters. It's not a matter for us to decide if Palin's (or any one else for that matter) prayer is appropriate. She was following a sound biblical practice of being specific in her prayer.

2. Presidents have long believed God is directing their public policy in the past. In this area, Maddow should read more of the writings of Lincoln.

3. The question of whether God has better things to do just demonstrates a basic lack of understating of the faith of billions of Christians, who believe that God desires a personal relationship with everyone. When asked how to pray, Jesus responded with what we call The Lord's Prayer, part of which we ask God for "our daily bread" -- a fundamental desire for our personal salvation: the need of bread to survive. God has no better thing to do than to provide us with what we need to survive.

4. Many Protestant Christians believe in the rapture. While there is a debate as to when the rapture might happen, and even if it might happen, the vast majority of Protestants do hold the belief that this will happen near the end times. It certainly is part of Protestant mainstream belief, something most would expect Palin to believe in.

5. Speaking in tongues means speaking in a way or in a language that is not normally understood by the speaker or the listeners. There are 30 million Pentecostals in the United States, and about 130 million in the world. (Ironically, more than the numbers of viewers at MSNBC, which total about 500,000 or so). Pentecostals and charismatic churches are the denominations most associated with the gift of speaking in tongues, as described in 1 Corinthians 14:2 (New Revised Standard Version):

For those who speak in a tongue do not speak to other people but to God; for nobody understands them, since they are speaking mysteries in the Spirit.

Beyond Pentecostal and charismatic churches, there are many Christians in other Protestant and Catholic denominations who believe the practice is a valid form of prayer. Some Pentecostal churches, including Assemblies of God, teach that speaking in tongues is evidence of baptism in the Holy Spirit, but it is not essential for salvation and eternal life. Some other Pentecostal denominations teach that speaking in tongues is experienced by everyone who has truly been saved. Other denominations do not put emphasis on the practice.

So, where is the extremism here? At least 10 percent of the American population believe in the gift of speaking in tongues. Many more believe that there will be a rapture. A vast majority of Americans (Christian, Jewish and Muslim) believe in the power of prayer. But few, less than a million, bother to watch Olbermann's show. So, Keith and Rachel, who represents the mainstream? The hundreds of millions of people of faith or the hundreds of thousands of MSNBC viewers?