Religion of the Times

It’s the New York Times again, at the center of another column exposing biased reporting. This time it’s about religion.

As liberal politicians pose at churches, salt their speeches with Scripture, and insist that their aggressive drive for more government is pious obedience to the Almighty, they are getting powerful cover from the mainstream media.

True, very true. But they are as powerful as mainstream America allows them to be. Right now, mainstream America is letting them get away with it.

The biggest help they are getting, apart from credulous acceptance of their sudden spiritual enthusiasm, is the media’s demonizing of conservative Christians. Religion’s okay only if it mirrors liberal opinion.

The New York Times has been in the forefront of the conservative Christian-bashing, running voluminous pieces that accuse churches of avoiding taxes and warning darkly that the Christian Right is on the verge of turning the United States into a Talibanesque theocracy.

Maintaining this false image takes a lot of repetition and misrepresentation.

But the Times has plenty of experience at that. Seriously. 

A perfect example is an article in The New York Times Sunday Magazine (Feb. 18) in which Concerned Women for America’s position on spiritual outreach is so grossly distorted as to constitute a lie.

Running a grossly distorted story based on a lie is actually getting to more common at the Times, especially in its Sunday Magazine.