Reader AG says:
On [Bill] Maher’s show last week, Andrew Sullivan made a big show of defending religion and expressing contempt for Maher’s movie, Religulous. [The exchange begins at around 6:45 -- GB]:
But today, Sullivan says, “[e]ven I am a little shocked by this video from Palin’s church. Asking God to protect her from witchcraft?”
I don’t get how you defend religion against an anti-religionist like Maher yet still feel free to make fun of someone else’s. Especially since for a huge portion of the population, Palin’s nutbag worship seems perfectly normal.
I’m sure one could look at any religion’s bizarre practices (take wrapping oneself in a shawl [a Jewish prayer scarf] and phylacteries [leather straps with boxes containing portions of the bible placed over the head and heart] and davining [rocking back and forth while praying -- GB]) and express shock at its unusualness. But whatever Palin’s failings — and they are legion — I think one would be hard-pressed to say that she isn’t a devout practitioner of her religion. And if that means she chooses to ward off witchcraft, or have a hearty snack of christ ‘n blood, or pray to the angel Moroni, then that is her business.
And my point isn’t that her religion isn’t nutty. It’s that Sullivan is a hypocrite for thinking he gets to have it both ways.
