A Renewed Mind

Keeping up with the world is a necessity for anyone who wants to make the glories of Christ known. Of course, there are different ways to do that. I have found it helpful to read carefully read through a couple of news magazines each week. Quite some time ago, I chose two magazines that approach the world and its events from very different perspectives and with very different values–World and U.S.News & World Report.

For the last twelve years or so, I subscribed to U.S.News. Each week I would digest the issue trying to glean news from “articles” interspersed with commentary aimed at advancing an evolutionary secular humanism, a revisionist view of history, and a liberal, socialistic political agenda. Last year, the magazine cut back from a weekly to a bi-weekly format largely because of a changing cost structure. Due to declining subscriptions, this year they evolved into a monthly magazine aimed at lifestyle rather than detailed news. To explain the decline, the publishers blamed the changes on the readers and their changing habits rather than making a critical examination of their magazine’s editorial approach to “journalism”.

Without much product loyalty, I quickly switched to another news weekly which is really not another. In late March, my first issue of Time arrived and much to my lack of surprise, its cover story was an opinion piece. Sigh. What has happened to the news? What happens when people read without discernment and are unaware that the “news” they are reading is really the writer’s opinions? What happens when the “news” is really spun and manufactured in order to advance a worldview or agenda?

Two recent stories from two different “news” magazines illustrate my concern. In both columns the writers celebrate the demise of institutions far too soon, before the ‘facts’ can substantiate their joyous claims. Last week’s cover of Time gleefully concluded that the Republican party is now an endangered species. The accompanying article is filled with derogatory commentary to support the magazine’s hopeful prediction of the death of the GOP, but contains very little objective content. In this case, even a most undiscerning reader can probably tell that the writer really, really wants the Republican Party to go away. To be fair, I am sure that some columnists said essentially the same thing about the Democrats after November, 2004, which only further illustrates the folly of letting opinion guide the reporting of facts. Though I have nothing invested in the Republican Party, I take issue with “journalism” that seeks to manipulate public opinion by stating their opinions and desires as if they are historical and factual.

On an opposite front, the April 13 issue of Newsweek triumphantly reported that we have come to “The End of Christian America“. In the story, Jon Meachem gives his analysis of the data in the 2009 American Religious Identification Survey (ARIS) and data from a Newsweek poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International. Here again, the writer’s elation is thinly veiled as he pronounces the end of evangelical Christianity’s influence on America. In making his case, he takes data from the ARIS which show a decline in the number of “self-identified Christians” and a rise in the number of “religiously unidentified” and places them alongside the political poll conducted by Newsweek to argue that the decline in evangelical Christianity means that they are no longer an influence on the American political system. Meachem implies that America has now been liberated from a evangelical influence and presents a belittling caricature of evangelical Christians in the process. Shortly after publication, Meachem later wrote a shorter online column stating that he was not attacking Christianity, but simply rejoicing that Christianity was finding its rightful place in the closet–my paraphrase, of course.

Evangelicals can’t be too sensitive to the liberal media’s disparaging attitudes and actions; we should expect them. In fact, we should rejoice in them (Matthew 5:11-12). Indeed, America does stand for liberty and freedom so that her people are able to express their opinions, as Meachem did in his story and as I am doing here. Nevertheless, journalists and the news media should be expected to report the facts of current events openly and objectively. When journalists shape their stories and the “facts” according to their own agendas and desired outcomes, they are no longer journalists, but commentators seeking to make people believe what they want them to believe.*

While I believe this needs to change, I don’t believe that it will, at least not soon. Therefore, we must be careful; we must be discerning. We don’t have to be afraid of the media, and we must read and keep up with our world. We just have to be wise and understanding. From whatever source we get our news,we must learn to separate the factual accounts within the story from the author’s commentary and flawed conclusions. For my part, I will continue to read Time and World each week.  With both I will be a careful reader so that I may learn from them more about the world and cultures of our day so that, by the grace of God, I may be better prepared to give a defense for the hope that is within me.

*Blogs don’t have footnotes?! At this point, I’m sure that Mr. Meachem might ask, “How are preachers any different?” That’s a good question. Next time, we’ll address “When Preaching Isn’t Preaching”.