Bob McCarty Writes

The cover of the April 13 issue of Newsweek uses seven words — THE DECLINE AND FALL OF CHRISTIAN AMERICA — laid out in the shape of a cross to create a sense of drama aimed at enticing readers. Unfortunately, the 4,200-word article says more about the decline of objective journalism than it does about the faith of Americans.

While highlighting the month-old findings of the American Religious Identification Survey conducted by the Program on Public Values at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., Jon Meacham took liberties with the subject matter and injected his opinions on several occasions.

Perhaps the most-egregious example appears in the article’s fifth paragraph where Meacham writes:

The decline and fall of the modern religious right’s notion of a Christian America creates a calmer political environment and, for many believers, may help open the way for a more theologically serious religious life.

Based on that statement, I’m willing to wager Meacham also believes — and wrongly, I might add — that the Fairness Doctrine is a good thing and that the Constitution contains clear language requiring the separation of church and state.

I’m also interested in how Meacham might explain the “calmer political environment” that spawned the Tea Party Movement sweeping the country.  Anyone who’s attended a tea party will vouch for the fact that attendees are anything but calm when it comes to the damage that’s been done to our nation during President Barack Obama’s first 100 days.

Perhaps instead of chronicling the decline of Christianity, Meacham and his colleagues at Newsweek should focus upon the world of journalism — specifically, objective journalism — where a much more precipitous decline is evident.

For a more objective report on the survey, read my post about it published March 9.

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UPDATE 4/06/2009 at 9:35 p.m. Central: The Daily Derelict writes that when you take out the words “Christianity” or “Christians” and replacing them with “journalism,” “newspaper readers” or “newspapers,” and it really doesn’t change the facts in the Newsweek story.