Sarah Palin's Churches

The Palin family currently goes to four different Pentecostal churches in Wasilla and Juneau. All four churches share the belief that the Bible must be taken literally because it is the actual word of God. Palin is an active speaker and leader in her churches. They are: Wasilla Assembly of God, Wasilla Bible Church, Wasilla Church on the Rock and the Juneau Christian Center. Each of the churches have a pastor who is conservative, sometimes to the point of extreme. The Assemblies of God teaches that true spiritual baptism involves to varying degrees speaking in tongues, modern prophesy and faith healing.

The Assemblies of God (officially called The World Assemblies of God Fellowship) is the world's largest Pentecostal denomination. There are more than 200,000 churches in over 200 countries, with as many as 20 million followers around the world. There are just over 12,000 Assemblies churches in the U.S. Members prefer to talk about their faith as a cooperative fellowship rather than instead of a denomination. The collective Assemblies of God is governed by a General Council.

The Assemblies of God views their missions as creating programs that essentially guarantee their continuing purpose which is the merger of church and state and to promote this model in every country in the world. In the early 1900s, the stance of the denomination was that of pacifism. In that context, there were many conscientious objectors to engaging in war of any sort. The official pacifist position remained unchanged until 1967 when the General Council adopted a more neutral posture. The Constitution of the organization was written to say: “As a Movement we affirm our loyalty to the government of the United States in war or peace. We shall continue to insist, as we have historically, on the right of each member to choose whether to declare their position as a combatant, a noncombatant, or a conscientious objector.” Today the Assemblies of God allows its members to make their own decisions on the question of war.

Within the Assemblies of God movement, there evolved a branch of beliefs that collectively are called The Third Wave of the Holy Spirit, or the New Apostolic Reformation. Adherents to this doctrine believe in the use of 'strategic level spiritual warfare' to expunge the world of demons and evil from American and other world cities. Church services include speaking in tongues, being overcome by the Holy Spirit resulting in fainting, crying and shrieking. The movement is training a young "Joel's Army" to take dominion over the United States and the world. While some elements of this belief system are founded in Pentecostalism, the extremist views of this movement were declared heresy in 1949 by the General Council of the Assemblies of God, and again condemned by the Council in 2000.

In examining the religious views espoused at Palin's churches, it is clear that the conservatism inherent in the beliefs is tantamount to complete and utter ‘blind faith’ in the Bible in its most literal context. To cite but one example: the Bible says, in paraphrase, that it is a sin for a man to lay with another man. The fundamentalists take this singular passage at its word and therefore are totally against gay rights or ‘unions’ of any kind between people of the same sex.

Sarah Palin has managed to stir up controversy and concern about her Pentecostal roots. Not because they are the beliefs of a particular denomination of Christianity, but because some of the beliefs and opinions of Palin’s churches do affect her decision making. She is adamantly against abortion under any circumstances for religious reasons so it makes sense that she would support an ultra-conservative federal judiciary and she has admitted to this.

If Sarah Palin holds beliefs that are to the far religious right, American voters have a right to know about the doctrines taught in the churches she and her family attend. In this country, Palin has the right to hold whatever religious views she finds have most meaning for her spiritually. At the same time, voters need to know how her religious beliefs may influence her executive power decision making. Indubitably, Palin could be doing the red carpet walk right into the Oval Office if circumstances were to collide to bring about a presidential post for her.