I don’t read The Atlantic, though I will occasionally click through to their website. It’s typically rage-inducing and this time was no different. Little known “fact,” brethren… this whole financial crash was caused by… you guessed it… Christians. I saw a YouTube clip of some nitwit TV pundit try to float that idea last week; whether that was triggered by this article I have no idea, but I feel confident that we’re about to enjoy another round as the object of the media’s two-minute hate.
As the Doc points out, one could as easily state that African-Americans and Latinos caused the housing crisis and subsequent crash. The article also does a nice job of misrepresenting Christianity by conflating it with the prosperity gospel; identifies tithing, which is a mainstream Protestant practice, as a prosperity gospel practice; and even takes a gratuitous swipe at Sarah Palin. Go read the post over at The Doctor Is In.
What I most enjoy about this is the contrast with how Islam is treated by the press. They cringe at identifying Nidal Malik Hassan as a Muslim, qualify every Islamist honor killing or terror attack by western Muslims as fringe element or a perversion of that Religion of Peace(tm) which is Islam without citing the supporting Quranic verses, and downplay surveys which indicate that a sizeable percentage – in recent years between 10 and 15% of Muslims – admit they approve of terror as a tactic in the battle for Islamic rule over the west.
Unlike Newsweek, The Atlantic at least does not have blood on its hands. Remember Newsweek’s credulous reporting of a flushed Quran in 2005? Their willingness to uncritically repeat jihadi propaganda (when the al Qaeda playbook specifically instructs prisoners to complain about their treatment) from a single, anonymous, unsubstantiated source triggered riots at which 16 people were killed. It’s very telling that in their worldview, the government is more likely to do something wrong than a jihadi is to lie about it. And speaking of doing something wrong; the squeamishness exhibited by the press at reports of Quran desecration or any insult to Mohammed is certainly not matched by distaste for exhibits like Piss Christ. Some offenses are more equal than others, obviously. With the Quran flushing story in mind, I believe Newsweek still occupies the bottom spot, but kudos to The Atlantic for a nice effort.
