Sarah Palin -
Religious Background

With Sarah Palin's entry onto the national political scene, many people have begun to scrutinize her life to find out just who this moose-hunting woman from Alaska is. They have looked particularly into her religious background to find out how her beliefs about important issues have been shaped.

Much attention has been placed on Sarah Palin's long time home church, the Wasilla Assembly of God. The media has shown remarkable ignorance in its coverage and assessment of the beliefs of this Pentecostal church.

For starters, 25% of all Christians in the entire world identify themselves as Pentecostal or Charismatic, or have a similar belief structure even if they don't use these terms. That represents an astonishing 600 million people! It is the second largest defined group in all of Christianity, with Catholicism being the largest. 600 million Pentecostals in the world - you'll never hear that on the news. Please keep in mind that Sarah Palin has not made many public statements about her religious beliefs. This page covers the beliefs of Pentecostals in general.

Sarah Palin's religious background -
What are Pentecostals?

What does the term "Pentecostal" mean? It refers to the Day of Pentecost outpouring of the Holy Spirit on believers in Acts Chapter 2, 50 days after Jesus ascended into heaven. This is called the "Day of Pentecost" and the defining characteristic that occurred that day was that tongues of fire appeared on each believer and they began to "speak in tongues." Speaking in tongues is a biblical experience that is the exercising of a divinely given prayer language to the believer.

The Pentecostal movement of the last 100 years is generally agreed to have begun at the 1906 Azusa Street Revival. The Azusa Street meetings occurred in Los Angeles and brought believers from around the world to experience what was occurring there. Many first person accounts exist of miracles, healings, angelic sightings, dreams and visions from God and other supernatural signs. People who were part of this revival spread around the country and the world and eventually formed their own denominations including such denominations as the Assemblies of God, the Church of God in Christ and hundreds of others. Church historians refer to these churches as "Pentecostals."

Another Pentecostal wave spread through America in the 70's that has come to be called the "Charismatic movement." This movement spread through all the traditional denominations, Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, etc. These churchgoers also experienced the same signs as the earlier Pentecostals, including speaking in tongues, divine healing and dreams and visions from God. Many of these "Charismatic movement" converts, unlike their Pentecostal brethren, did not leave their churches, but chose to remain there, even if they had doctrinal differences with the church. The term "Charismatic" comes from the Greek word "charismata," which means "gifts." All of these supernatural signs are called "Gifts of the Spirit," in 1 Corinthians 12.

There are slight differences of belief between Pentecostals, Charismatics, Renewalists, Third Wave believers, and other streams of this group, but in general they all have some distinct beliefs that unite them. There is no unifying church or denomination or central authority over this branch of Christianity.

In general Pentecostals/ Charismatics believe in the present day intervention of God through the Holy Spirit in the lives of people. They believe in various "Gifts of the Spirit," mentioned in biblical chapters, such as 1 Corinthians 12 and Joel 2, such as prophecy, divine healing, dreams and visions from God and speaking in tongues, a divinely inspired language of prayer that is not learned, but given supernaturally.

Pentecostals/Charismatics usually believe the following things:

• The Bible is absolutely and authoritatively the Word of God
• Jesus Christ is the Son of God
• Jesus Christ took the punishment for mankind's sin on himself when he died on the cross
• Jesus Christ rose from the dead, ascended into heaven and is alive there today
• Personal salvation from sin and eternal damnation is only possible through faith in Jesus Christ and this salvation is a gift from God that is not earned by one's own efforts
• Jesus Christ will physically return to earth and establish a physical kingdom
• These are the "Last Days," meaning that this time in human history is nearly over and that Christ's return is imminent and near
• That personal holiness, meaning living free from sinful behavior, is commanded by God
• That there is a literal heaven where believers will go when they die and a literal hell where unbelievers go for eternity
• That God sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers as His personal representative on earth
• That the "Gifts of the Spirit," such as prophecy, healing, miracles and speaking in tongues are available for believers today and are essential in order for a person to live out God's full plan for their lives

There are many variations between different Pentecostal/Charismatic groups on the timing of "Last Days" events, the necessity of and frequency with which one should practice the "Gifts of the Spirit," and other issues, but, generally speaking, people in these groups believe in some variation of the above listed basic beliefs.

There are some Pentecostal denominations such as the Assemblies of God, Church of God in Christ and Open Bible Standard Churches, but many, many Pentecostal/Charismatic churches are simply independent self-governing churches. There also many millions of people who align themselves with these beliefs who still attend non-Pentecostal/Charismatic denominational churches, such as Baptists, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians and Catholics. These people identify themselves generally as Charismatics, but have not left their traditional church. Even as early as the mid-1980's 20%, 30% and 40% of the members of some of these denominations claimed to be Pentecostal/Charismatic in their belief system, even if it meant being at odds with the established beliefs of their denomination.

Sarah Palin's church background -
How many Pentecostals are there?

Now for the statistics. The statistics of the numbers of Pentecostal/ Charismatic Christians in the world and the growth rate of this group is truly astonishing. It is often likened to an "explosion," a "new reformation" or "the next Christendom," in literature studying the subject.

Why all the excitement? Because the entire movement is only 100 years old! This movement has gone from 0 to 600 million followers in only 100 years. It is without question the fastest growing and most significant religious mass movement and revival in world history.

Take a look at these statistics from a 2006 study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a research group in Washington DC.

Those numbers represent the percentage of the entire population that are Pentecostal/Charismatic! Notice that the Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is largely a non-white, non-North American movement. It has been especially strong in third-world urban populations, especially in the last 20 years. For example, the Assemblies of God, Sarah Palin's pentecostal denomination, has about 2.5 million members in the United States, but 22 million in Brazil.

Here are some more astonishing statistics:

• In 1900, around 10% of all Africans were Christians, which represented 10 million people - in 2000, 360 million Africans were Christians, 46% of the population on the entire continent
• In 1900, one percent of the people in the area that would become Nigeria were Christians, 33 percent were Muslims - in 2000, 45% of the population was Christian and 45% Muslim
• In South America today, 90% of all non-Catholic conversions are Pentecostal/Charismatic
• Estimates of the number of Pentecostals/Charismatics in the United States range from 40 million to 75 million
• Most of the world's largest churches are Pentecostal/Charismatic, for example:
• Asia's (and the world's) largest church is in Seoul, South Korea - Yoido Full Gospel Church, aligned with the Assemblies of God, has somewhere between 800,000 and 1,000,000 members


Inside of Winner's Chapel,
Lagos, Nigeria

Click to view larger image

• South America's largest church is in Santiago, Chile - Jotabeche Pentecostal Methodist church has over 300,000 members, this is the second largest church in the world
• Europe's largest church is the Embassy of God in Kiev, Ukraine, pastored by Nigerian Sunday Adelaja, this church has over 20,000 members
• Faith Tabernacle in Lagos, Nigeria, seats 50,000 people
• North America's largest church, Lakewood Church, in Houston, Texas has attendance of 42,000 people every Sunday (this is small compared to the rest of the world's largest churches)
• Of course, not all Pentecostal/Charismatic churches are so large, there are thousands and thousands of smaller churches with this belief structure around the world, but the size of these huge Pentecostal/Charismatic church does indicate the strength and vitality of this movement
• There are somewhere between 60 and 100 million Christians in China, that is more Christians than in North America and Europe combined, exact numbers are hard to estimate because the churches in China meet in secret, many demographers believe that the vast majority are Pentecostal/Charismatic, some of these churches number in the hundreds of thousands
• Approximately 30% of all Protestants in the United States claim to be Pentecostal/Charismatic, in Brazil the number is 78%, in Chile 78%, in Kenya 73%, in the Philippines 67%
• In 6 of the 10 countries listed above, Pentecostals/Charismatics are a majority of the Protestant population, in five of them 2/3 thirds of all Protestants are Pentecostal/Charismatic, in Nigeria, 6 in 10 Protestants are Pentecostal/Charismatic
• In many cities across the United States, the largest churches are Pentecostal/Charismatic in nature - these are the churches with multiple Sunday services, police directing traffic to handle the crowds and vibrant worship music with people lifting their hands toward God, that you see growing larger and larger in nearly every American city

Sarah Palin's religious beliefs - Why is Pentecostalism growing so fast?

What is it about this movement that is drawing so many people? One answer is that the belief system addresses the present needs of people, not just future needs. It provides answers for the big questions of life like what am I created for, what am I supposed to do with my life and where did we come from, and for the day to day needs like "What job should I take," or "Who should I marry?," because it emphasizes personal direction and revelation from God. It also emphasizes God's personal intervention in daily needs like overcoming addictions or sicknesses. People are naturally attracted to this message because they don't want to be run over by life!

The Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is also widely credited for its inclusiveness. This movement has been responsible for the integration of blacks, whites and other races. Many large Pentecostal/Charismatic churches are highly integrated with people from many national backgrounds, often with people of many different colors and nationalities on their staffs. This integration attracts people in an era of racial difficulties, because it shows a belief that all people are created equal, no matter their ethnic background.

The Pentecostal/Charismatic movement has also been credited for its inclusion of women in leadership roles. Many older Christian groups interpreted the Bible to exclude women from church leadership roles, but the Pentecostal/ Charismatic movement has had many women leaders since its infancy in the early 1900's. People are attracted to this because it indicates a belief that everyone, male and female, has an important place in God's kingdom.

So if this Pentecostal/Charismatic movement is so huge and growing larger every day, why haven't you ever heard about it before? The answer is - the Media! When was the last time you heard anything positive about Christianity come from the media? The North American media is mostly made up of people with a very secular world view. A thriving and growing church is contrary to their view of reality. They don't believe in it and don't seem to even see it.

The next time you hear a media personality compare Pentecostals/ Charismatics to "wild snake handlers" and call them a "fringe minority religious group," just think of that gigantic church seating 10,000 people you saw down the road, that has multiple Sunday services, with cars lined up for blocks to get in and ask yourself, "What is going on there that is drawing so many people?" Maybe you should go check it out for yourself!

Most of the statistics used on this page were taken from the following sources:

1. Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, "Spirit and Power - A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals" - October, 2006.
2. The Charismatic Century by Jack Hayford, 2006, published by Warner Faith.

If you would like to read the complete Pew study, click here.

Tweet