Lifted up as an offering to the gods

I was listening to NPR this morning on my way back and forth from the dry cleaner and Starbucks and heard the word 'anathema' used in an interview with a woman from the National Organization for Women (NOW). Apparently, NOW is going to be endorsing the Obama ticket and this raised a question about why they would not support McCain (and also Palin). The response the woman in the interview had (loosely quoted) was: "Actually, Sarah Palin's stance on various issues is anathema to our cause."

So three things I learned from this:

1. How to correctly pronounce anathema
2. The definition of anathema. I wanted to be sure I understood it completely: "to be formally set apart" with its roots taken from a Greek term (Ανάθεμα) which originally referred to lifting something up as an offering to the gods.
3. Sarah Palin will not have the support of America's largest feminist organization.