A bias against religion?

There it was last week, smack dab on the front page of the New York Times, the soi-disant Paper of Record. It was an article on the National Prayer Breakfast, a bipartisan and decades-old annual event held in Washington, D.C. The breakfast was an example of one of the things that’s right in Washington. And the New York Times article described it as an “international influence-peddling bazaar.”

We repeat, this was an article on the front page of the Times, a news article. Not an editorial. Not an opinion piece written by a columnist, but a reporter.

Given all the luminaries that were there, from the president to congressmen to Nobel laureates—not to mention all the international notables who have attended in the past (think Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama)—this has become an important way to bridge gaps in Washington. A few bad apples obviously try to use it for secular reasons by meeting and trying to connect with government officials. Maybe those few are really trying to peddle influence. Since influence peddling is the name of the game in Washington, one would probably expect as much. But to paint the entire gathering as an “international influence-peddling bazaar” is bizarre itself. It’s certainly not impartial journalism.

The incoming co-chairmen of the 2019 National Prayer Breakfast are Democrat Chris Coons and Republican James Lankford. It might be the most bipartisan event in Washington all year. It’s encouraging to see that despite all the disagreements, rancor, animosity, and ill will in Washington, there is one event where people of all different political persuasions come together and for a common purpose: prayer. (Breakfast: When you eat of a morning, breaking your nightly fast. Even the name of the meal is rooted in prayer.)

When one thinks about all the claims of bias in the news today, articles like this are evidence of a newspaper shooting itself in the foot. Not only does an article like this confirm the readers’ perception of bias, it leads them to believe that there’s a bias against religion.

Newspapers in America today have enough problems without the largest paper in the largest city in America allowing this type of reporting—and editing.