This Political Reporter Says Journalism Has Made Him A Better Christian — He's Not Alone

May 13, 2022 Bobby Ross Jr.

Weekend Plug-in 🔌

Editor’s note: Every Friday, “Weekend Plug-in” features analysis, fact checking and top headlines from the world of faith. Subscribe now to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. Got feedback or ideas? Email Bobby Ross Jr. at therossnews@gmail.com.

(ANALYSIS) Say what?

Jon Ward, chief national correspondent for Yahoo! News, writes in an essay for Christianity Today that his profession has made him a better Christian.

Ward knows many of his fellow Christians may find that hard to believe:

Conservative Christians are far more hostile toward the media now than they were when I was growing up. Some of my own family members have told me I should be ashamed of myself for doing my job. In fact, most people don’t like the media — and that’s bad for society. The media shares some of the blame for that, as I’ve written recently for Yahoo! News.

But he explains the profession’s role in his own life:

Journalism has empowered many of the most noble, the most Christian elements of my character. I have been discipled for two decades in how to discern what is true and false, and — probably more importantly — how to discern when there are no easy answers or solutions. I have been trained in pursuing truth without regard to whom it offends.

I have also been given a sense of humility about what we can know for sure and how often we need to acknowledge that our point of view is limited and incomplete. This is sometimes called “epistemological modesty,” and it is a quality that we badly need more of in our discourse.

Hey dude, you’re preaching to the choir.

Seriously, I authored a recent Christian Chronicle editorial that focused on the faith of one of my journalistic heroes: Jerry Mitchell, a Mississippi investigative reporter whose stories helped put four Klansmen and a serial killer behind bars.

From that editorial:

Mitchell recalled that a radio show host asked him once, “How can you be a Christian and a journalist?”

He was ready with a response.

“We’re actually both truth-seekers,” Mitchell told the Chronicle’s staff and board. “The thing about God’s word is, it doesn’t pull any punches. You get to see what Moses did, and you get to see what David did. And I think that’s kind of how I see journalism.

“We just kind of tell it like it is,” he explained. “We certainly do it out of love. We don’t do it out of spite or anything like that.”

Regular Weekend Plug-in readers may recall my 2020 take on the gap between the news media and people of faith. It’s still relevant.

Several years ago, I asked NBC’s Lester Holt if it’s hard to be a person of faith in his role. I still remember his response:

“I think there’s a connotation that we’re the liberal, atheist media,” Holt said. “And I know a lot of people in this business who are people of faith — maybe not this specific faith that I share, but people who believe in God and follow their faith. So I don’t find it hard.

“In fact, I find in many ways that this job is a blessing, in that as a journalist, I really get to see life in all its permutations. … I see death. I see people going through the depth of tragedy, and I see people going through the highest of things. It just reminds you of how short life is … and I think it’s the kind of thing that in many ways is faith-affirming.”

Sarah Pulliam Bailey, a high-profile Washington Post religion reporter, has written about how she was “raised in both a religious home and a newspaper home”:

My parents would pull out books for Bible study in the morning and plop them next to the local newspaper. The Bible and newspaper went together like cereal and milk. I grew up believing journalism was a noble profession because the best journalism is based on the relentless pursuit of truth.

Like New York Times religion writers Ruth Graham and Elizabeth Dias, Bailey is a graduate of Wheaton College — “the evangelical Harvard.” See a 2021 feature by Bethany Peterson on “How Wheaton alumni are paving the way toward responsible journalism in a polarized society.”

This Christianity Today interview by Paul Glader is a bit older, but Michael Luo, now editor of NewYorker.com, talked in 2013 about how faith informs his award-winning work.

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. After leak, religious rift over legal abortion on display: The possible overturning of Roe v. Wade — the focus of last week’s Plug-in — remains big news.

The Associated Press’ Deepa Bharath and Luis Andres Henao delve into which faith groups oppose abortion — and which don’t.

More coverage:

• Anti-abortion advocate worked for years to overturn Roe but worries over next steps (by Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post)

• The under-discussed middle ground in the abortion debate (by Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

• The Supreme Court leak was an unplanned complication for pregnancy centers (by Emily Belz, Christianity Today)

• Even abortion foes will help friends who choose to end a pregnancy (by Bob Smietana, Religion News Service)

• Faith-based abortion opponents to boost emphasis on pregnancy care, options if Roe overturned (by Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)

• When does life begin? Religions don't agree (by Sarah McCammon, NPR)

• A 49-year crusade: Inside the movement to overturn Roe v. Wade (by Michael Scherer, Josh Dawsey, Caroline Kitchener and Rachel Roubein, Washington Post)

• Think piece: Cutting through the abortion polling mess (by Erick Erickson, World)

2. How politics poisoned the evangelical church: Speaking of journalists with faith backgrounds, meet The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta, a senior pastor’s son. He explores how the evangelical movement — which “spent 40 years at war with secular America” — is now “at war with itself.”

Keeping with the theme, the New York Times’ Ruth Graham — in a front-page piece — reports on how a “seismic shift” has fractured evangelicals. Graham’s story focuses on an Arkansas pastor who “thought he would lead his hometown church for the rest of his life. Then came Trump and everything after.”

3. Inside the start of a new traditionalist Methodist denomination and its road ahead: The Tennessean’s Liam Adams travels to Avon, Indiana, to report on how “a new Methodist denomination has launched and is drawing away more conservative churches.”

Religion News Service’s Yonat Shimron, reporting from Garner, North Carolina, offers additional coverage of the same Wesleyan Covenant Association conference, which was livestreamed to dozens of churches nationally.

In related news, the United Methodist Church’s highest court has ruled that annual conferences within the denomination can’t leave as part of the ongoing schism, Adams and RNS’ Emily McFarlan Miller report.

Inside The Godbeat: Behind The Bylines

Last week’s Plug-in noted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ plan to close the Washington, D.C., and New York bureaus of Catholic News Service while maintaining a Vatican presence.

That decision has sparked a backlash.

At the National Catholic Reporter, David Gibson argues that the closures undermine the bishops’ pastoral work. Losing CNS’ domestic presence “opens the door to partisan and ideological church coverage,” Catholic journalists tell America’s Michael J. O’Loughlin.

Charging Station: In Case You Missed It

Here is where you can catch up on recent news and opinions from ReligionUnplugged.com.

• Adopting a doodle puppy from Amish country’s epicenter of dog breeding (by Paul Glader)

• Country music star Naomi Judd faced demons and angels (by Terry Mattingly)

• Vatican expresses ‘concern’ over Cardinal Zen arrest for ties to pro-democracy fund (by Clemente Lisi)

• Theoretical physicist Dr. Frank Wilczek receives 2022 Templeton Prize (by Paul Glader)

• Senate hearing examines political role of tax-exempt organizations (by Steve Rabey)

• Pakistani wives in Indian Kashmir: Deport us or grant citizenship (by Zaffar Iqbal)

• From Bucharest to Transylvania, Romanian churches serve Ukraine (by Erik Tryggestad)

• Lawsuit accuses Liberty University of inadequately addressing rape complaint (by Anne Stych)

The Final Plug

“A Presbyterian burnt in effigy. A Methodist shot in the leg. That’s just the start of the strange back story on the constitutional amendment going on the ballot in Tennessee this November,” Christianity Today’s Daniel Silliman tweets.

He “dug up the weird history.” It’s a fantastic story, as everything Silliman writes tends to be.

Happy Friday the 13th, everyone! Enjoy the weekend.

Bobby Ross Jr. is a columnist for ReligionUnplugged.com and editor-in-chief of The Christian Chronicle. A former religion writer for The Associated Press and The Oklahoman, Ross has reported from all 50 states and 15 nations. He has covered religion since 1999.

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