Don Ardell's Wellness Perspectives on Sex, Religion & Politics

A Wellness Perspective On Sarah Palin: This Woman Is Flat Out Crazy!

It's just an opinion, and I don't mean it in the W.C. Field sense ("No doubt exists that all women are crazy; it's only a question of degree"). Furthermore, I readily acknowledge that I am not licensed by the State of Florida or otherwise credentialed to make pronouncements regarding who is and who isn't crazy. I also grant the possibility that Mrs. Palin might think I'm crazy, too, if she knew me. But, as a wellness promoter whose business is studying and making pronouncements about what positive mental health, I'm going to go out on a limb here and declare that this woman is a bona fide lunatic.

I came to this conclusion after watching videos on YouTube of John McCain's running mate participating in an "annointing" by a witch doctor (i.e., Bishop Thomas Muthee, a preacher known for lowering the crime rate, alcoholism and traffic conditions in a Kenyan village by casting out a witch presumably responsible for these perturbationsl). My conclusion about Palin's mental state is also underwritten by a review of countless articles describing her religious beliefs.

There is no doubt in my mind - this woman is crazy. What's more, anyone who has watched the videos and read the same articles who still thinks Palin is qualified for the second highest office in the land is even crazier than she is. Yes, I realize this means I believe millions of hard-core Republicans are lunatics. The fact is, I have long suspected this to be the case, but for other less compelling reasons. One might be their support for George W. Bush for another term in 2004 despite his disastrous first term. But the most compelling reason for the lunatic diagnosis comes from an awareness of the specifics of Palin's weird worldview. The latter consists of a truly bizarre take on basically haywire fundamentalist Christianity gone over the top. In fact, I'm talking about a level of thermonuclear haywire whackoness that elicits an automatic, "nobody could really believe that" sense of credulity-straining preposterousness.

Let me cite a few specifics. If you wonder if I'm making this stuff up, be aware that all examples are taken from an article in the New York Times entitled, "YouTube Videos Draw Attention to Palin's Faith" by Laurie Goodstein, October 25, 2008. Here are elements of Palin's beliefs: If this listing does not qualify one for looney bin services, then the psychiatric profession is finished. Their services are unneeded.

Palin believes that:

* God can be persuaded to protect against "every form of witchcraft." Leaving aside the basic question about whether there is a god, or if said god grants requests, one wonders how many forms of witchcraft Palin believes in and seeks protection against? Is it normal to worry about witches in the year 2008?

* Alaska is a "refuge state" that will fill up in the "last days," which refers to "end times" or doomsday scenarios to come - for sure, not maybe. Imagine if JFK believed in Rapture prophesies during the Cuban missile crisis. Ponder if you think a President Palin might do well under similar circumstances. Would she bring witch doctors to the White House for ritual practices to give the US of A a bit of an advantage? When the witch doctor prayed over her in Alaska, she called his performance "awesome" and "very, very powerful."

* "Spiritual warfare," described as an "assertive and urgent brand of Pentecostalism," must be waged to battle demons and demonic forces that have colonized specific geographic areas and individuals. No wonder she has not campaigned in California or New York.

* "Spiritual warriors" must be recruited and trained to "battle" the demons, otherwise God will lose control of things. This implies that Palin is not so impressed with God's power, else why would he/she/it need the prayers of Alaskan Pentecostals to put down a bunch of trouble-making demons? Still, might a President Palin be tempted to take preemptive action against domestic demons (Democrats)? How would those accused prove their non-demon-hood? It might be a sin to even ask such a question, but one wonders: Is it a crime to be a demon, or to act like a devil now and then, particularly if nobody gets pregnant?

* Some force she calls a "holy spirit" dispenses "gifts." These gifts, given only to true believers in the holy spirit, include the ability to heal, expel demons and predict the future. Guess some of these talents would be good for a head of state but so far Mrs. Palin has not provided any evidence to support such claims nor has she mentioned any of this in interviews with Katie Couric, Brian Williams or even Sean Hannity who, come to think of it, might be a bit of a demon himself.

* America would be a better country if reorganized as a theocracy. This will enable us to enjoy more worldly power, the better to "effectively drive out the demons... and purify the earth." Sounds rational to me. Guess we won't get a lot of support, though, for safeguarding the separation of church and state if Sarah Palin is at or near the Oval Office but at least we won't have all those demons to worry about.

James C. Dobson, leader of Focus on the Family, interviewed Sarah Palin last week (10/22), noting that he, his wife and 43o other "prayer warriors" got together last weekend and prayed for "God's perfect will to be done on Nov. 4." Here is what crazy Sarah had to say about that: "I can feel the power of prayer and the strength that is provided by our prayer warriors across this nation."

Well, isn't that special. That's it. I rest my case - I think I have shown conclusively that Sarah Palin is a lunatic. What do you think?

So Many Issues Are Equally Important In The Upcoming Presidential Election, But One Is More Equal, At Least To Me

Everyone knows the election on November 4 is about more than just a preference for Obama or McCain, the Democrats or Republicans or change versus more of the same. It's about nearly every issue facing America - the direction of the economy, health care, Iraq, our relations with the rest of the world and so on through at least 100 important matters. No pun intended but the differences are as stark as black or while. (OK, slight pun intended but only to momentarily lighten my own high anxieties or worries that our citizens might make a ruinous choice.)

While there are 100 important matters (much more, actually) at issue, one that might not make everyone's top 100 concerns me a great deal. That is the continued separation of church and state. McCain is a great threat because he carries the proverbial ball for the Religious Right, a pressure group that Americans United (AU) terms "a dangerous force bent on undermining the church-state wall."

AU has warned that any hope that this anti-democratic force for intolerance and superstition might be losing power is pure nonsense. They have a powerful lobby and a large following in the Congress - last year alone they gathered a half billion dollars for the next series of battles in their unremitting culture war. In my state of Florida, they are promoting a constitutional ban on same sex marriage that will also remove the rights of all NON-married couples of the opposite or the same sex to enjoy partnership rights. This is simply a ploy to fire up the extremist segment of the population who believe it's appropriate to honor their religious dogmas. By targeting state and local governments throughout the US to do battle for so-called religious morals, the Religious Right keeps the funds coming in for their culture war.

One way to fight back is to vote against them, including voting FOR Obama/Biden and Democrats on local ballots and voting against their poisonous amendments. Another is to contribute to AU for their gallant fight against the Religious Wrong. Visit AU for info at www.au.org. Go Obama!

Religulous - Best Movie On Religion Since The Life Of Brian

Bill Maher has created an hour and a half show offering existential philosophy served with fast-paced comedy, music, historical images, movie excepts and worldwide "holy land" interviews. It's a roller coaster thrill ride up one preposterously silly belief hill and down another. It's all great fun, provided you don't take superstition, supernaturalism or super raw nonsense seriously or reverently. As one who does not, I found the show non-stop fun, but also horrifying in a deeper sense, given the realization that a vast majority of Americans DO believe the crazy stuff Maher skewers simply by asking good questions of true believers. 

"Religulous" offers a clear picture of the shallow foundations of much of the blind faith that people have in supernatural ideas based on claims for revelation.  The message is that we all need to come out of the closet as rational people who prefer science, reason, evidence and doubt to certainty based on little more than habit, tradition and custom.

Without cultural imprinting and constant reinforcement, the fables of faiths could not stand, not even as science fiction. Yet, the vast majority of the earth's inhabitants are besotted with dogmas that hold humanity in a grip of genuine madness.  A semblance of normalcy exits, in my view, because a modest percentage of the world's population, like Bill Maher, manage to overcome the faith of their heritage. Somehow, they come to value the integrity of their own thought processes. It's a very good thing that most believers do not act upon the tenants of the creeds and faiths to which they belong, and that they hold each other at bay, more or less, preventing any one cult from ruling over all the others. However, as "Religulous" effectively demonstrates, there are now, as in the past, ghastly consequences of fundamentalism taken to logical extremes by its most ardent enthusiasts and those who manipulate them for power and profit.

This film might reach an even wider audience than the books that offered the same doubts about religious faith but demanded so much more from their readers, books such as Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion), Christopher Hitchens (God Is Not Great), Sam Harris (The End of Faith) and Dale McGowan (Parenting Beyond Belief). The reason is that the film medium demands less - just sit back and be entertained, no need to read for hours.

I hope Maher wins an Oscar for "Religulous" - it deserves several.