Newt Gingrich Visits the “Holy Ghost Bartender”

CRN does not endorse Religious Dispatches or leftwing blogger Sarah Posner.  The Left likes to keep an eye on the Christian Right and who they’re uniting with.  In this case Sarah reported that Newt Gingrich visited the church of the man responsible for the “laughing revival,” controversial prosperity preacher Rodney Howard Browne.  She begins her piece:

Today Newt Gingrich made an appearance at River Church in Tampa, Florida, pastored by Rodney Howard Browne. Slate’s Dave Weigel tweeted that in introducing Gingrich, Browne prayed that America “will not allow the killing of unborn babies, and the takeover of Islam” and “the Constitution that we have, and your word, and Jesus is the only way we can be delivered from this plight.”

Browne is no inconsequential—or uncontroversial—figure in the world of charismatic Christianity. He’s been described by Christianity Today as the “often flamboyant Pentecostal preacher.” He’s associated with the “holy laughter” manifestation of charismatic gifts, which the same CT piece characterized as “rang[ing] from uncontrollable laughter to the noises of animals.”  Read more