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I got an e-mail from a reader the other day after I wrote a column saying Sarah Palin had neither the national nor international experience to be a heartbeat away from becoming president.

The reader adamantly disagreed. "Sarah Palin is a fine Christian woman," the reader wrote, implying that being a Christian was qualification enough.

Palin grew up in the Assemblies of God church but now attends the Wasilla Bible Church. It's the same church involved in converting Jews to Jesus and praying for gays to go straight. John McCain tapped Palin to be his running mate to attract the religious right.

I began thinking about Palin, "the fine Christian woman," the other day after Palin threw honesty to the wind (honesty is a Christian principle) and morphed into a Rottweiler with lipstick.

Palin is making stump speeches accusing Barack Obama of 1) being buddies with terrorists and 2) not being one of us. Specifically, Palin said Obama is "palling around with terrorists." She's referring to Obama's service on a nonprofit community board in Chicago with Bill Ayers, the 1960s radical who founded the Weathermen and who engaged in bombings decades ago.

Obama, 47, acknowledges that he knows Ayers, 63, but they have never been close friends. Ayers is a professor of education in Chicago and lives in Obama's neighborhood. Obama's campaign says he has not seen or spoken with Ayers in two years.

As for Ayers, he's changed over the decades. He is the author of 15 books, serves on nonprofit boards and is a friend of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, who consults Ayers about educational reforms. "He's done a lot of good in this city and nationally," Mayor Daley told The New York Times. "This is 2008. People make mistakes. You judge a person by his whole life," the mayor said of Ayers.

Obama acknowledges knowing Ayers but describes Ayers as "somebody who engaged in detestable acts 40 years ago, when I was 8."

For Palin to say Obama and Ayers are "palling around together" is a gross exaggeration. Nevertheless, she's achieved her intended goal of planting seeds of mistrust and anger toward Obama. But she is playing a dangerous game. When Palin brings up the Obama-Ayers topic, members of the audience have yelled out "terrorist" and "kill him."

Palin's demagoguery could lead to terrible consequences. It's no secret that many people worry about Obama's safety because he is an African American running for president. Her "palling around with terrorists" remark is not only inaccurate but dangerous.

Being "a fine Christian woman" has not kept Palin from playing the race card, either. In stump speeches she has said of Obama: "This is not a man who sees America like you and I see America." (Subtext: Obama is black and you and I are white. Another subtext: Obama is un-American.)

If McCain and Palin want to play the guilt-by-association game, Obama can throw mud, too. He did so after Palin launched her attack-dog rants. Obama responded by resurrecting a sordid chapter in McCain's life: the Keat­ing Five episode. McCain was a close friend of Charles Keat­ing, the savings and loan scoundrel who has served time in prison for financial misdeeds. McCain was among The Keating Five who helped pave the way for Keating's financial shenanigans. McCain was criticized for poor judgment by the clubby Senate, but the episode could have cost him his career.

It is not unusual for campaigns to get down and dirty, especially if one candidate (McCain) is trailing in the polls as Election Day nears. But Palin, with McCain's permission, is taking it to a new low.

McCain and Obama promised to take the high road in the presidential campaign, but McCain -- via Palin -- deliberately went off the rails. To his credit, McCain did not repeat Palin's accusations in Tuesday night's debate, but neither has he stopped her from making them.

Palin, meanwhile, is enjoying the limelight and has no qualms about smearing mud. In doing so, she is sowing hatred, bitterness, bigotry and even danger.

Is this really what The Good Book had in mind when it defined being a follower of Christ?

Rosemary Roberts writes a Friday column. E-mail: rmroberts@triad.rr.com.