Newsweek hits a home run on religion
Posted November 6, 2006
I don't think there's a secular magazine in America that does a better job of covering religion than Newsweek. New editor Jon Meacham understands how important faith and values are to American society and his magazine is running circles around Time and U.S. News when it comes to covering this topic.
Take a look at this week's cover. A less perceptive editor would've put Rev. Ted Haggard on the cover, grinning ear to ear as he dishes out "inconsistent statements" (his term) to the media. Instead, Newsweek shows the cross of Christ, wrapped daintily in a U.S. flag.
"The Politics of Jesus" is the name of the cover article and it makes clear that evangelicals are increasingly divided over what their political agenda should be. Some, Newsweek says, want to concentrate on sexual morality. Others care more about social justice.
Newsweek understands that Pat Robertson is not the voice of evangelical Christianity. Nor is Jerry Falwell. (Rick Warren? He's popular, hipper and more moderate, but he doesn't speak for everybody.) Billy Graham is the closest thing there is to a spokesman for evangelical Christianity -- but he's a unifying force precisely because he focuses on faith and steers clear of partisan political issues.
Newsweek's cover story shows sensitivity and depth. But I would make one suggestion for future coverage. Author Lisa Miller, as she traces the modern history of evangelicals in politics, correctly notes that Jimmy Carter's spirituality was key to his 1976 victory. Many Christians were proud to vote for someone who unapologetically shared his "born-again" faith with the world.
But let me make one minor quibble. Miller writes "In the North, Carter's God talk was seen as an oddity, but in the South it meant something." NO, No, no, Ms. Miller. You've got that part wrong.
I grew up in eastern Oregon (hardly the South.) And in 1976, at age 9, I had a green-and-white Carter-Mondale "Leaders for a change" poster hanging on my bedroom wall. I prayed that Jimmy Carter would win that election. My parents voted for him. The people I went to church with overwhelmingly supported his candidacy.
Carter's God talk was probably seen as an oddity in the newsroom of the New York Times up north and the Washington Post (slightly) down south, but it resonated in almost every state of this country.
Even in Oregon (which is sometimes branded as the nation's most secular state), roughly one-in-four voters is an evangelical or born-again Christian.
Unfortunately, evangelicals are woefully underrepresented in some of America's largest newsrooms. But they're out there -- north and south, urban and rural. Ignore the stereotypes, steer clear of the easy generalizations. Keep digging, keep looking and you'll find the truth.
Frank,
Geographic realities aside, I think by "in the North" she was refering to the Northeast (the historical "North"), not Oregon. Having grown up in New England, (and having a father who worked for Ted Kennedy in his primary battle against Carter) I think the statement is most certainly true for that region of the country.