Reply #89: I do battle with fundies on my local paper's website on a nearly daily basis [View All]

and it was Obama who embraced Rick Warren for political reasons.

Having worked on the Kucinich campaign, I learned some harsh truths about the press in this country, and the same harsh truths apply to coverage of religion. The news media are owned by corporate types. What they cover either 1) reinforces the powers that be or 2) is gaudy and colorful.

Kucinich would come to Minneapolis, draw steadily increasing crowds, and get NO coverage in the local press. One of the "approved" candidates would come to Minneapolis and get a full article, even if it was only to speak to 25 top-dollar contributors.

The mainline churches lobby against cuts in programs for the poor, march in Gay Pride parades, and provide food, clothing, and shelter for thousands of people in the Twin Cities year in and year out. (The same was true in Portland. Thanks to the efforts of the local churches, every meal was covered, seven days a week.) We get NO publicity unless some fundamentalist decides to accuse us of being in league with the devil. What we do does not please the powers that be.

The fundamentalists violate the law by telling their members to vote Republican. That serves the interests of the powers that be. They get the publicity.

Once in a while, Jim Wallis gets a few minutes of airtime, but that happens about as often as Noam Chomsky getting airtime.