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When You Bring up the Antichrist...

6:01 AM, November 20, 2008 | Comments (38)
For this week's magazine, Lisa Miller wrote her Belief Watch column about people who think Barack Obama is the Antichrist. Her piece focused largely on Todd Strandberg, the editor and founder of Raptureready.com , a site that Strandberg refers to as the...

Who Is This? Where Am I?

7:40 PM, October 17, 2008 | Comments (4)

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  • Parsing Palin and Religion

    Kurt Soller | Oct 30, 2008 11:14 PM
    What are Sarah Palin’s religious beliefs? That’s a question that Lisa Miller and Andrew Murr tried to answer this week after noticing some boisterous Internet commentary on the subject. As my colleague Andy told me, “There was a lot of hysterical stuff in the blogosphere aimed at belittling Palin's religious views that we wanted to correct and clarify.” So he and Lisa wrote a piece explaining that, while we may never know Palin’s specific views, “we do know a lot about the religious milieu in which she lives, an environment that puts her both squarely within and somewhat outside the American Christian mainstream. This worldview can best be summed up as ‘very conservative Christian plus Alaska.’” In short, Palin has worshiped at both Pentecostal and more traditional Christian churches; meanwhile, she’s grown up in an individualistic state where beliefs range from Native American faiths to Latter Day Saints.

    There’s no denying that her beliefs affect the way she might govern (especially when you consider the moral issues like abortion, stem cell research and gay marriage). And obviously, economics and war stake many pages in the Bible. So why were readers upset that Lisa and Andy tackled this topic? “Jesus and witches? The mainstream media are so transparent. Newsweek, along with the rest of the MSM can’t keep their eyes off of Palin with articles like this one attacking her hair, makeup, shoes and religion,” says one commenter, boldly putting Palin’s spiritual values on par with her sartorial ones.

    Others agreed, saying it was unfair to even mention Palin’s religion, especially in an article that didn’t discuss Obama and the controversy involving Reverend Wright. “Man, this unbelievable,” wrote one reader. “The media spends every day of their lives attacking and putting Sarah Palin under the political microscope. Her religion, her beliefs, her votes, her actions as Governor. But a second rate Senator from Illinois does not get the least amount of scrutiny for his religion, his beliefs, his votes…” As a NEWSWEEK employee, I’d be remiss to not point out that we wrote a whole cover story on Obama’s religion, a topic that has been followed up often with Web stories like the one we're discussing. Some noticed this point, and were generous in mentioning that "Wright was the focus for weeks last spring into summer." Nonetheless, hundreds of comments on the story accuse the two writers of drinking the Kool-Aid, of pressing too hard on Palin’s Pentecostal past or even using the word “witch” in conjunction with her name. “You are going to do this and totally ignore Obama and Rev. Wright?” asks one reader. “If it an issue for one… then it is an issue for both.”

    But should religion be an issue at all? The most heated debates in the thousands of comments left on the story went back and forth between whether politicians should count religion among talking points or taboos. “I don’t think Palin’s religion is important to her political views or tactics,” says commenter Mumsy25. “She has demonstrated this over and over. Therefore, I don’t think it is appropriate to question her faith.” Others disagreed: “I do think it is fair to look at her beliefs – they by no means disqualify her for VP. But just as many use her faith as a positive and a reason to vote for her, the same can be said that it can have a negative effect. I personally find it a little disconcerting that she believes the world could end in her lifetime. It is just one glimpse in the overall picture of a person.” A false picture, perhaps, for some readers: “This is a truly disgraceful hit piece,” wrote one reader. “If you want to know Sarah Palin’s religious beliefs, why don’t you ask her instead of dreaming up imaginary scenarios?”

    Therein lies the problem. “Despite her credentials as a Christian conservative, Palin herself has been awfully quiet about her own faith, how it plays in her life, and so has the campaign,” explains Lisa Miller. “We’ve given a lot of space to Obama’s religion and we wanted to give equal attention to the other side, [especially] since it’s been reported that Palin earned her place on the Republican ticket in large part because she’s so attractive to conservative evangelicals – voters who are critical to winning an election for any Republican but who haven’t historically been so crazy about Senator McCain.”

    Well, if this forum is any indication, that strategy worked. Mention Palin and religion in one breath, and you're sure to get voters -- or readers -- talking.
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  • Can You Believe It?

    Kurt Soller | Oct 30, 2008 07:47 PM

    One of our stories in the mag. this week was about the brain functioning behind the belief in all things paranormal: ghosts, extraterrestrial life, reincarnation, et cetera. I'm simplifying here, but Sharon Begley explains in the story that our brains fill in the blanks between information, thus influencing our belief in these phenomena that have no basis in science or fact.

    For many readers this explanation was, well, unbelievable: "Gimme a break. I love science but I also believe in the paranormal," writes one commenter. "I have had MANY experiences that I would rather not remember dealing with paranormal things to know that science can't just 'explain it away' as some kind of freaking brain activity. Seriously come up with something new. Every time something unexplainable happens they go straight for the 'it must be some kind of brain thing.'"

    Walter Semkiw, a medical doctor who says he is the reincarnation of John Adams, also refuted our claims. As one of the men that we interviewed for the piece, this is what he had to say:

    Reincarnation research should not be scoffed at; rather it should be generously funded, for evidence of reincarnation will truly create a more peaceful world.  We have created a reincarnation research institute for this purpose: www.iisis.net

    The Newsweek article, Why We Believe, made me realize that Newsweek lacks integrity and that it is no better than a tabloid that defames people in sensational ways. The authors of this article do not deserve to be called journalists and they should be ashamed of themselves. Their juvenile article is misleading and amounts to slander.

    You can read Semkiw's entire letter here. But It's worth noting that others appreciated our skepticism."A good balanced article," says one reader. "Perhaps a bit too balanced in giving a sounding board to those who really believe all these things in earnest. It is a sad commentary on how backwards the US is becoming in science that so many more people believe in the paranormal now than in the 1980s." Well, at least it is almost Halloween.


    Editor's Note: NEWSWEEK stands by the story.

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