Personally, I’m a Palin agnostic, but this line in an article in the recent Catholic Register cracked me up:
“(T)he American-born professor also warns that a close association between conservative, reactionary politics and religion is driving better educated Americans away from church, what Scott Schieman calls “the Sarah Palin effect.”
Rufus F.
Rufus is a likeable curmudgeon. He has a PhD in History, sang for a decade in a punk band, and recently moved to NYC after nearly two decades in Canada. He wrote the book "The Paris Bureau" from Dio Press (2021).
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If that’s true, I’m sorry to hear it. What’s badly needed is a firm push back against the idea that religion that doesn’t include a dogmatic belief in the literal truth of its scriptures is weak, inauthentic, and tantamount to atheism.Report
I believe it. No one wants to be associated with a hypocritical blowhard…not such an OBVIOUS one anyway.
If $arah represents christian values then I want no part of it. I will go quietly on my own.Report
I am probably going to offend some people here, but to be quite honest, the various faiths that are embracing the politicization of religious concerns have never been especially known for their brilliant thinkers. Seriously, when was the last time you heard ‘theologian’ and ‘Baptist’ in the same sentence?Report
I’m no expert on the subject but I am having trouble thinking of any… Billy Graham? Most of the theologians I’ve heard of are Catholics or Anglicans.Report
You mean not in relation to Martin Luther King? He kind of sticks out.Report
Ya know he occurred to me right as I hit submit.Report
I think that might be a stretch. I haven’t seen much evidence that King was thinking very deeply about theology. He obviously applied some basic Christian principles to his civil rights work, but I wouldn’t say he was a giant among Christian thinkers.Report
I recall a conversation I had with the assistant pastor at my wife’s church, who was visiting from Korea to attend an ecumenical religious studies program. He’s a Presbyterian, but the student body also included Catholics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists, and various other Protestant groups, and the lecturers included Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, and probably others I’m leaving out. The only group missing were the Baptists, whose hierarchy wanted nothing to do with such heathens.Report
As a Catholic raised in a Baptist-heavy state, your anecdote sounds about right.Report
Does anyone know why there’s such animus in the South towards Catholics? I remember hearing expressions of it the whole time I was growing up, but never any explanation more plausible than, “Cuz they worship the Pope!”Report
I think it started during the heavy immigration period for the Irish. They were Catholic, most native Southerners weren’t. My mother-in-law is Presbyterian and can barely hide her contempt. I’ve seen it from Methodists too.Report
Rufus,
what did you find funny about this?Report
Eh, it just struck me as funny that I’ve been hearing about that trend for several years now and already Sarah Palin is the go-to reference. I can’t say if that’s a slight against her, the researcher, or “better educated Americans”.Report
I would imagine the overall trend since the Enlightenment has more to do with it than the “Palin Effect”.Report