LA Times Hates People Of 'Christian' Faith

The title of this post is a pretty strong indictment against our local news rag, but to anyone that reads it regularly it should come as no surprise. Last Saturday's announcement that the Archdiocese of Los Angeles would be paying $660-million in settlements in priest abuse cases really set the LAT off, that's for sure. Capping a full week of flagellation of the Catholic church, (I count 18 articles), is today's Column One "masterpiece", Religion beat became a test of faith, in which the former LAT religion-beat correspondent, William Lobdell, bares his soul, or at least what's left of it.

Before I go on, let's get a couple of things out of the way. First, I think that what the Catholic church has done regarding the child-sexual-abuse cases is absolutely abhorrent! I don't understand why these aren't being prosecuted in criminal courts across the land, instead of being fought in civil actions. These pedophile priests should be sharin' a cell with Bubba! Second, I know from anecdotes by personal acquaintances that it's not just Catholic ministers abusing children, Protestant and Orthodox ministers have been known to use their influence and perceived power to prey on women for their own sexual satisfaction. It's an ugly situation and as old as time itself. Third, I am a believing Christian, was raised in the Southern Baptist Church. My understanding of the nature of the relationship between God and man is based on over a dozen years of Sunday School, Bible study, numerous Hell-fire & brimstone revival meetings and observing my parents as they exercised their deep, committed faith. In this regard I probably disappointed them the most, as I must be one of the most back-slidden Baptists out there, not attending church very regularly, not reading my Bible nearly enough, tempting fate and the dark forces far too many times for comfort, far too many . . . however, I still pray daily, still believe, still have my faith.

So, I'm not going to blast the LAT writer, William Lobdell, for what he let happen to himself. The dark path that he describes in today's article would be a difficult one for anyone to tread and not come up challenging the very nature of religion and whether there is any good being done out there. However, when you look at the pattern of what stories he was assigned to cover, the direction that he allowed himself to be led toward, the end result was essentially guaranteed. I truly believe that the LAT editorial board whole-heartedly approves of this outcome -- fits perfectly with their secular, anti-Christian, totally progressive journalistic perspective.

Let's look at a few items in the piece, and then you can read it all if that appeals to you. To start, it is a Column One article, page one, above-the-fold. I've had more than a few issues with the LAT's Column One, that's for sure, due to its Leftist, uber-Liberal, or as they prefer now, progressive slant. In fact, that slant is so pronounced that they've gone all Perry Como on us, lying on their left side, of course. So why I thought today's piece might just be different is a mystery to me -- more wishful thinkin' than reality facin'. It starts out promising, but starts to turn dark already in the fourth 'graph.

WHEN Times editors assigned me to the religion beat, I believed God had answered my prayers.

As a serious Christian, I had cringed at some of the coverage in the mainstream media. Faith frequently was treated like a circus, even a freak show.

I wanted to report objectively and respectfully about how belief shapes people's lives. Along the way, I believed, my own faith would grow deeper and sturdier.

But during the eight years I covered religion, something very different happened.

The next part of the article outlines his nearly-failed life by age 28 and his journey leading to his born-again conversion and acceptance of Christ which leads up to this:

I began praying each morning and night. During those quiet times, I mostly listened for God's voice. And I thought I sensed a plan he had for me: To write about religion for The Times and bring light into the newsroom, if only by my stories and example.

My desire to be a religion reporter grew as I read stories about faith in the mainstream media. Spiritual people often appeared as nuts or simpletons.

Don't we all know that drill? I became more intrigued and eager to learn how Lobdell would accomplish these goals within the conscripts of the far-Left-leaning LAT.

Another maddening trend was that homosexuality and abortion debates dominated media coverage, as if those where the only topics that mattered to Christians.

Uh oh! Methinks there be some disconnect showin' up already. A new Christian, especially someone from Southern California, might just be unaware of how important these two issues have been to mainstream Christianity in the heartland. In a community where gay pride parades are considered "normal" activites, and where abortion-on-demand, generally understood as a Constitutional-guaranteed right and promoted as a rational method of birth control, finding these two issues dominating media coverage was probably "maddening" to Lobdell. And that, dear readers, is all that the editorial board would need to know -- they had thier perfect candidate for the religion-beat. An Icarus of their very own, almost guaranteed to make that flight too close to ol Sol, and come crashing and burning back to progressive reality.

It took several years and numerous memos and e-mails, but editors finally agreed in 1998 to let me write "Getting Religion," a weekly column about faith in Orange County.

I felt like all the tumblers of my life had clicked. I had a strong marriage, great kids and a new column. I attributed it all to God's grace.

You rarely get a more clear example of that ol' adage, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it! So, I'll leave it up to you to go and read the rest of his journey, the ever-more-disillusioning trek that caused him to wind up like this:

My soul, for lack of a better term, had lost faith long ago — probably around the time I stopped going to church. My brain, which had been in denial, had finally caught up.

Clearly, I saw now that belief in God, no matter how grounded, requires at some point a leap of faith. Either you have the gift of faith or you don't. It's not a choice. It can't be willed into existence. And there's no faking it if you're honest about the state of your soul.

Sitting in a park across the street from the courthouse, I called my wife on a cellphone. I told her I was putting in for a new beat at the paper.

Terribly sad, really. I feel badly for William Lobdell and will be compelled to pray for him and his family. With the simple act of going to college causing up to 50% of young Christians to lose their faith, it's not hard to understand how Lobdell, being assigned to cover the horrors that he reported and choosing to almost exclusively look at the underside of Christianity as opposed to its virtuous side, would succumb to the darkness turning away from the light that he found, oh so many years and stories ago.

The Los Angeles Times really, really wanted you to know about this. And, after taking a look at their religion section, Lobdell just might have a lot more company. Thanks LAT -- for making sure that we all know exactly where you're comin' from on this one. Same ol' song, second verse -- could get better . . .

[Cross posted at Okie on the Lam.]