Pentacostalism

Pentecostalism is newly in the news, with both a Sarah Palin connection and a "subprime lending" connection.

Such news items have exposed my own ignorance of such practices as the "dedication" of a baby. In the background in which I was raised, an infant was baptised. I early became aware, of course, that there are Christian churches that don't believe in infant baptism, but that they have what seems a sociological substitute, the practice of dedication, is new to me.

This is a ceremony at which the parents ask for the congregation's help in raising their child.

Okay, live and learn.

A Newsweek article on Palin said that she doesn't consider herself a Pentacostalist, that her Church in Wasilla is "most remarkable for being unremarkable," but that she attends a Pentacostal church in Juneau when she's there -- doing Gubernatorial stuff.

It makes no difference to me, no more than Mitt Romney's Mormonism. I mention it because I can't help but consider the "speaking in tongues" phenomenon characteristic of that denomination a sociological/psychological oddity. Still, one is entitled to one's sociological oddities on a Sunday morning.

What about the subprime mortgage connection? That is expounded by David Van Biema in TIME, in a piece called, "Maybe We Should Blame God for the Subprime Mess."

Mr. Van Biema attributes this connection to Jonathan Walton, of the University of California at Riverside.

Again: live and learn.