Mollie Hemingway is trying to serve two masters: God and journalism

I understand she's a Lutheran, Missouri Synod. It used to be a very conservative denomination. Predictably one of their members would be upset by the lengths to which liberals will go to outrage the sensibilities of scrupulous religious believers, such as Lutherans. And I think she is one of those.

But what she's calling for here in The Federalist is The New York Times to outrage the sensibilities of Muslims like it does every other scrupulous religious sect. How dare they, The New York Times, stick it to Orthodox Jews but shrink from offending Muslims!

OK, The New York Times is hypocritical, along with a bunch of other news outlets. That's supposed to be news?

In picking this fight Mollie Hemingway has chosen journalism over God. Her journalistic sensibilities are more outraged than are her religious sensibilities.

Religious people should be upset about deliberate attempts by the press to offend all religious people, not just some. This includes Muslims. But so far I don't hear anyone saying this except for Pope Francis, and Bill Donohue of the Catholic League.

All I'm hearing from so-called conservatives in America is the call to jump on the pig pile supporting Charlie Hebdo, the now defacto organ of the secularist dogma in the West.

How come? Have you all lost your minds?

Mollie Hemingway cries sacrilege at Sarah Palin but forgets Luther's view that baptism kills

Mollie Hemingway gets her undies in a twist (here) because she thinks Sarah Palin's baptism joke at the NRA meeting was a sacrilege against the life-giving sacrament:

Sarah Palin gave a speech to members of the National Rifle Association, gathered in Indianapolis this weekend. She said something that struck me as sacrilegious ... [:] "Well, if I were in charge, [prisoners] would know that waterboarding is how we baptize terrorists.” ... Does [waterboarding] deliver those who are subjected to it from the devil, as Christian baptism does? Does it give them eternal life, as Christian baptism does? Is it voluntary, as Christian baptism is? It is none of these things. Joking about baptism in the context of this aggressive action suggests that we don’t think baptism is as life-giving or important as it is.

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Except that the Lutheran understanding of baptism, as Mollie ought to know, also includes meting out death, and on a daily basis:

Fourthly.

What does such baptizing with water signify?--Answer.

It signifies that the old Adam in us should, by daily contrition and repentance, be drowned and die with all sins and evil lusts, and, again, a new man daily come forth and arise; who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever.

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Since waterboarding is never meant to kill but is a painful experience designed to get the truth out of someone, you might even say it bears a strong resemblence to the intent of baptism as Luther understood part of its purpose.

Sarah Palin may be many things, but in this case no one but a special pleading Lutheran grandstander looking for something to say would look at Sarah Palin's remarks and conclude she meant anything specifically religious by them. Her remarks might have been in bad taste, but it wasn't sacrilege.

After all, Sarah Palin knows an awful lot about bad taste.