All you have to do is drive up Big Bend Blvd. Something big’s happening at Wash U Thursday night.

And aside from her two exclusive interviews with Charles Gibson and Katie Couric, this will be the nation’s first real chance to see Governor Sarah Palin in an extended discussion of substantive issues.

It’s doubtful Gov. Palin and Sen. Biden will get into religion much. But we have gotten a glimpse into Gov. Palin’s Pentecostal faith.

Last week the Associated Press reported on the episode where a Kenyan pastor “prayed for her protection from ‘witchcraft.’” The video is on her former home congregation’s Web site.

And much has been made of the YouTube video of her at the same congregation, Wasilla Assembly of God Church. Recently, The New Yorker even weighed in.

Yet, for all the sound and fury, we still don’t know a whole lot. But I have found one of the YouTube soundbites to be very telling:

“I…

Two questions popped out at me in my reading today. Completely unrelated questions mind you, but both were fascinating (and sometimes frustrating) articles to read.

(1) Why Don’t Churches Pay Taxes?

That is a question The L.A. Times hoped to shed some light on by inviting Barry Lynn (Americans United for the Separation of Church & State) and conservative columnist Erik Stanley together for a Point/Counter-Point column. Lynn consistently gets on my last nerve, but so do preachers who confuse the Bible with political party platforms. Funny though, I’ve never actually sat under a single preacher who pushed his personal political views or endorsed a candidate. I am sure they are out there, but they haven’t served as my pastor. Anyhow, that is a little off-subject from the Times column, but these issues end up all running together anyway. See the article here.

(2) Is Mormonism Christian?

The October 2008 issue of First Things puts…