How do they decide which conflicts to cover?
The media are giving saturation coverage these days to the furor created by some groups over the inclusion of Pastor Rick Warren in president-elect Obama’s inauguration ceremony.
Rick Warren looms over religion news and blogs right now like a balloon over the Macy’s parade. It’s hard to avoid commentary that doesn’t lambaste him as a homophobe, cheer the author of a 40-million-copy Bible handbook as America’s pastor or excoriate him as the anti-Christ for his willingness to share a podium with people who hold different views.
I heard an interesting comment on television calling Warren “the new Billy Graham”, and all considered, that may be an apt description for our time.
But where’s the coverage of this?
The U.S. government’s bailout of the American International Group is helping promote Shariah law, a lawsuit filed in federal court in Michigan alleges.
The suit — brought with the support of the Thomas More Law Center, a non-profit law firm that promotes conservative Christian values — claims that making U.S. taxpayers comply with Shariah, the Islamic legal framework based on the Koran, is unconstitutional.
This month, AIG announced that it would offer Shariah-compliant homeowner insurance policies, known as takaful, to U.S. customers through one of its subsidiaries. To be Shariah compliant, companies cannot earn interest and must agree to send a percentage of their revenue to Islamic charitable groups.
The lawsuit — by Iraq war veteran Kevin Murray, on behalf of U.S. taxpayers, against Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and the Federal Reserve — claims that by subsidizing AIG, the federal government is conveying “…a message of endorsement and promotion of Shariah-based Islam … and [a] message of disfavor of and hostility toward Christianity and Judaism.”
Why such disproportionate media coverage? Because we now have a pop media pandering to the pop culture. And the one remaining acceptable intolerance is of Christianity.
