The new president and CEO of the New York Times (NYT) is surprisingly open about his Catholic religious views and ethics.

Mark Thompson, who begins his new role today, describes himself as "a critical realist in religious matters"—and now some are anxious to see how those beliefs will play out in his new role at the Times. Thompson's role focuses on business decisions, not editorial ones, for the NYT.

Early this morning I turned to the New York Times (as I often do) and was shocked to see a laudatory piece about First Lady Betty Ford take a swipe at Christianity Today.

“The Christian Right was especially cruel,” to Ford, wrote Nixonland author Rick Perlstein. “In 1976, when a rabbi collapsed of a heart attack beside her at a ceremonial dinner, she courageously took the lectern to lead a prayer for his life. The rabbi ‘was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short time later,’ Christianity Today mocked in its next issue.”

Oh dear, where to begin?

First, in 1976 the Christian Right had not yet emerged. Attempts to organize a Christian political resistance began after the Supreme Court’s 1974 ruling in Bob Jones v. Simon. But nothing of size or influence emerged until 1979, when Jerry Falwell founded the Moral Majority.

Far more disturbing to this reader is the suggestion that Christianity Today mocked the First Lady’s prayer for a dying rabbi.

Note this: One of the hallmarks of evangelical piety is ex tempore prayer. Christianity Today reported the First Lady’s impromptu prayer verbatim. That was a sign of the magazine’s respect for the way she displayed a typically evangelical kind of spiritual initiative.

Indeed, the magazine's brief news item did finish by reporting the rabbi’s death “a short time later,” but there was no mockery in that. Reporting the essential facts of a story is what reporters do. The end of the story was the natural place to locate that fact.

Read for yourself this brief news item from the July 18, 1976 issue of CT:

IMPROMPTU PRAYER

Rabbi Maurice S. Sage, 59, president of the Jewish National Fund of America, was about to present a Bible to Betty Ford during a dinner fete last month when he collapsed. As Secret Service agents and others tried to revive him the First Lady stepped to the podium at New York’s Hilton Hotel and asked the stunned audience to stand and pray for Sage. “I’ll have to say it in my own words,” she said.

She prayed: “Dear Father in heaven, we ask thy blessing on this magnificent man, Rabbi Sage. We know you can take care of him. We know you can bring him back to us. We know you are our leader. You are our strength. You are what life is all about. Love and love of fellow man is what we all need and depend on. Please, dear God. “

Then she asked everyone to join together in silent prayer for the rabbi.

The program was concluded abruptly. Sage, apparently the victim of a heart attack, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital a short time later.

That the prayer was not answered with a miraculous healing is a simple matter of realism, something all praying Christians know can happen. It says nothing about the spirit or the sincerity of the prayer.

* * *

Hat tip to Morgan Feddes for tracking down the original CT news item.

CT news has been keeping a journalistic eye on the Reader's Digest Association for months now due to the association's growing financial problems and its close ties to Saddleback's Rick Warren, editor in chief of RDA's Purpose Driven Connection, soon to release its third print edition.

Today, RDA announced...

[It] has reached an agreement in principle with a majority of its senior secured lenders on the terms of a restructuring plan to significantly reduce its debt burden and strengthen the company financially for the future. The restructuring agreement provides that the company’s senior secured lenders will exchange a substantial portion of the company’s $1.6 billion in senior secured debt for equity and provides for a transfer of ownership of the company to the lender group.

The company has elected not to make a $27 million interest payment due today on its 9 percent Senior Subordinated Notes due 2017. Instead, the company is using the 30-day grace period available on the interest payment to continue discussions with its lender group and other stakeholders regarding the terms of final documentation and to gain additional support for the consensual de-leveraging transaction. Use of the 30-day grace period does not constitute a default that permits acceleration of the Senior Subordinated Notes or any other indebtedness. In addition, RDA continues to be in compliance with its financial covenants. The company’s business operations remain strong, with anticipated Fiscal 2009 revenue declines (not yet reported) in the low single digits, currency neutral, despite the global recession.

The press statement did not discuss details about individual media titles. But it did indicate the following:

Mary Berner, RDA’s President and Chief Executive Officer, said the company will continue to operate normally throughout the restructuring process. “This agreement in principle with our lenders follows months of intensive strategic review of our balance-sheet issues to financially strengthen the company,” she said. “We are gratified to have this support from our secured lender group. The company has strong brands and products, a leadership position in many markets around the world and a solid plan for the future. Restructuring our debt will enable us to have the financial flexibility to move ahead with our growth and transformational initiatives.”

Without reading too much between the lines, these comments from CEO Berner suggest that Purpose Driven Connection will remain central to RDA's "transformational initiatives."

The New York Times reports today that Rick Warren's quarterly magazine Purpose Driven Connection, published by Reader's Digest Association and Warren's Saddleback Church, is "the project that signals Reader's Digest's future."

"That is the model going forward," RDA president and CEO Mary Berner tells the paper. Reader's Digest itself will likely have more "spiritual content," and the company may spin off other titles focused on religious leaders.

"As far as I'm concerned, I don't care what the religion is, what the spirituality is, as long as it's legitimate, there's a built-in community and it's global," Berner told the paper. "We don't choose our partners to change the world, we choose them because we're running a business. I guess it sounds cynical if you believe that to run a business to make money is cynical. But that's what I'm paid to do."

Times reporter Stephanie Clifford seems skeptical, especially in this paragraph:

"[RDA's titles] are brands that may not be considered cool by the often elitist and self-absorbed standards of New York media," [Berner] said. She had taken a car from Manhattan that morning, and wore a pink wool shirt-dress, patent leather Manolo Blahnik heels, and diamond hoop earrings.

Update: Never mind?

PBS officials voted June 16 to not allow new religious programming at member stations, but allowed select PBS stations to continue broadcasting their current faith-based line-ups.

The PBS Board of Directors took the action Tuesday after concerns were raised that religious programming could violate the organization's nonsectarian status.

The board unanimously elected to grandfather in the handful of existing shows that are directly religious in nature; the ruling does not affect news shows or documentaries.

"The board has basically voted to insure that the religious programming that stations currently provide and that communities have come to rely on are able to stay on air," said PBS spokesperson Jan McNamara.

Only six of over 350 member stations broadcast religious programming, according to McNamara. At stake for at least three of the stations were long-running Sunday Masses, broadcast mostly to the elderly.

Christianity Today seeks to revitalize the church by helping Christian leaders understand and assess the people, events, and ideas that are shaping evangelicalism's life, theology, and mission. We examine both the culture of the church and the culture in which the church swims.

We are a magazine of both formation and information, and in both functions we believe in the ability of our readers to think for themselves. We don't muddy the waters simply for the sake of doing so, but we don't believe truth and complexity are opposites, either. As a magazine of reform, we believe many beliefs need to be challenged - but always in service of the biblical truths on which we stand.

To help our readers better understand the world and the church, we use all kinds of journalism. Sometimes people get confused about "what we're trying to say." Occasionally we find ourselves having to explain how different kinds of articles work.

News article
CT thinks: Here's what happened, with particular attention to its importance to the church.
CT agrees with: The journalist's effort to report as accurately as possible.

Interview
CT thinks: The person is interesting or has influence in a cultural sphere and should be asked about the ways in which their faith informs their views and actions.
CT agrees with: The questions (often, but not always).

Column: An opinion piece written by one of our regular columnists.
CT thinks: The person has influence somewhere, is an orthodox Christian, and is worth listening to.
CT agrees with: Various things the person has written over the years. But the specifics of each column are the columnist's opinions alone, not those of the magazine.

Review: An opinion about a book, film, album, or other cultural artifact.
CT thinks: This cultural artifact is or should be influential.
CT agrees with: The choice to review the cultural artifact and the ability of the reviewer to review it for our readership. Various editors and other CT reviewers often disagree with aspects of the review.

Editorial: An unsigned opinion piece reflecting the views of the magazine.
CT thinks: Here is our view on an important issue of our day.
CT agrees with: The whole editorial.

Our "Joe the Plumber" interview has provoked a lot of comments and questions about why we would interview such a person who is not known as an evangelical leader, and why we did not explicitly state our beliefs about homosexuality, those who struggle with same-sex attraction, and emerging Christian leadership.

The fact is that our views on such matters are quite plainly available for anyone to read. The point of an interview with "Joe the Plumber" was to query someone who has become a household name, who is influential as a speaker and author, and who identifies as an evangelical Christian. Do we agree with everything he said? We believe that you can read what we've written on the subject and come to your own conclusions on that point.

Just two years after The Dallas Morning News cut its religion section, editors have decided to cut its local religion beat by moving two religion reporters to covering suburban schools.

It's unclear whether the religion blog will still be updated, but Sam Hodges said in an e-mail that he probably won't be able to keep it up. He and other writers are still posting interesting items, including this today:

The swine flu scare has prompted at least one Texas church to order a shipment of individually wrapped communion wafers and juice packets, thus cutting down on handling that could spread the disease.

Columnist Rod Dreher writes more on his blog:

Depressing very local news: there is no longer a religion beat at the Dallas Morning News. Our last two religion reporters have been reassigned to covering suburban schools. I have no idea why this decision was made, and I am in no position to question it, certainly. All newspapers, and certainly my own, are in serious trouble during this economic crisis, and we can't cover everything. But it is a shame, and indeed more than a shame, to think that the DMN's Religion section used to be routinely acclaimed within the profession as the best religion section in the country. And given how passionately religious Dallas and its environs are, this is to be expected, and welcomed.

Fresh podcasts about the best books and movies of the year are available here. New CT programs are going up regularly, so check back often. Better yet, subscribe. It's all free!

David Briggs, the religion reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer for the past decade, was among those laid off by the paper this week, the Cleveland Leader reports. His writing also appeared often in Religion News Service, and he had served as president of the Religion Newswriters Association. Before coming to the Plain Dealer, Briggs was a national religion writer for The Associated Press in the 1990s.

We've lost a lot of full-time religion reporter positions lately, as well as a lot of longtime religion journalists. I'm not sure if The Orlando Sentinel, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, San Diego Union Tribune, East Valley (Ariz.) Tribune, and other papers have replaced the religion reporters there who have been laid off or bought out, but I don't think so.

In related news, U.S. News & World Report religion reporter/pundit Jay Tolson has left the magazine to become director of central news at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

New Yorkers today found a special copy of The New York Times today -- from the future! The July 4, 2009, edition shouts: "Iraq War Ends" along with headlines like "Court Indicts Bush on High Treason Charge," "All Public Universities To Be Free," "
"New York Bike Path System Expanded Dramatically," and "Maximum Wage Law Passes Congress." It's kind of like the Focus on the Family Action letter from 2012, only liberal, happy, and less bloody. (Gawker says it's the work of The Yes Men, a liberal prankster group.)

A bit of an odd note was struck, however, but this item: "Evangelicals Open Homes to Refugees: Up to a million Iraqi exiles -- nearly half the total -- will find sanctuary in Christians homes throughout the U.S., vows the National Association of Evangelicals. Other denominations are expected to follow suit."

Get it? Evangelicals caring about refugees -- especially Iraqi refugees -- is about as likely as a 100% car recall! Tee hee.

Let's put aside for a moment the fact that the NAE is not a denomination but a network that includes a number of denominations, among other groups. The parodists seem a bit in the dark about just how much personal advocacy and public policy work the NAE has done on refugee settlement (including and especially Iraq refugees since the beginning of the invasion). But it's not just public policy work. World Relief, launched by the NAE in 1944, has been working with churches to house, settle, and welcome refugees since 1979. It's not close to a million refugees yet (it works with about 10,000 refugees a year), and it's generally settling refugees in their own homes rather than in church members' homes. But church members are indeed giving sacrificially to help refugees.

Oh, and as for "other denominations expected to follow suit"? Yep, yep, yep, and yep.

Joke's on you, Yes Men. The future is not yet fully realized, but it's already here.

Mark Pinsky isn't the only Orlando Sentinel employee notified this week that he's being laid off (nor is the Sentinel alone in its cuts).

But as of August 1, his byline will be missed by religion reporters around the world. Over his 13 years on the religion beat, first at the Los Angeles Times then at the Sentinel, Pinsky established a reputation for being one of the best reporters on the beat. His beat was broad, but in the hometown of Campus Crusade for Christ, Wycliffe Bible Translators, and Strang Communications, Pinsky developed a particular expertise in evangelical Christianity. He recounted his experience and reporting in a book, A Jew Among Evangelicals, and in a 2005 Columbia Journalism Review article.

Pinsky also established himself as must-read reporter on the nexus of faith and entertainment culture. Westminster John Knox recently published an expanded version of his 2001 The Gospel According to The Simpsons, and in 2004 published his similar book, The Gospel According to Disney.

CT readers will remember his February 2001 cover story on Ned Flanders, or some of the other reporting he's done for us over the years.

Last month, Reed Business Information announced that it was laying off another great religion journalist, Publishers Weekly senior religion editor Lynn Garrett, whose coverage of religion publishing was second to none. Regardless of whether we're starting to see a trend of cuts in religion journalism, it's sad to see that two indispensable bylines on religion and culture have been dispensed with.

Tonight at 9pm Eastern, PBS's Frontline/World will air a documentary (a joint project with the Tribune) on Christianity in China.

The Chicago Tribune today published its second cover story in a row on "Jesus in China." Their articles this week hit on many of the recent issues in Chinese Christianity, including the rapid rise in attendance, the compromises of membership in the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (the state church), and the fact that this wave of Christianity is not led by foreign missionaries.

Evan Osnos, the Tribune's Beijing bureau chief, draws a lot of material from Zion church in the first installation, "Jesus in China: Christianity's rapid rise":

Rev. Jin Mingri peered out from the pulpit and delivered an unusual appeal: "Please leave," the 39-year-old pastor commanded his followers, who were packed, standing-room-only on a Sunday afternoon, into a converted office space in China's capital. "We don't have enough seats for the others who want to come, so, please, only stay for one service a day."

A choir in hot-pink robes stood to his left, beside a guitarist and a drum set bristling with cymbals. Children in a playroom beside the sanctuary punctuated the service with squeals and tantrums. It was a busy day at a church that, on paper, does not exist.

The piece also gets into some of the Chinese church's cultural aspirations, such as encouraging basically ethical behavior.

"Jesus in China: Life on the edge" began by showing Christians taking the offensive in claiming religious rights in China. "Christians form a diverse lobby that is rare in a nation split by class, opportunity and geography" and are often inspired by the American Civil Rights movement, Osnos reports. (CT covered this movement - and its admiration for Martin Luther King Jr. - in 2006) One non-Christian rights advocate even called Christianity "China's largest non-governmental organization."

The Tribune also posted videos on church life and China's "Bible Empire."

Our recent coverage of China includes a May cover story on urban Christianity.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is said to be the only unforgivable sin. I've never understood exactly what that looks like, or met anyone who could explain it to me, but I'm fairly certain that if you were the unfortunate, you wouldn't pay the price until death.

Sadly, the same can't be said for those who blaspheme Islam in the Muslim world. Just ask Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh, the 23-year-old Afghan journalist, sentenced to death for his words, of which the exact nature I can't find online. He's appealing, and Reporters Without Borders said he caught a break yesterday when his case was moved to Kabul.

"His request for transfer to Kabul has finally succeeded, allowing Sayed Perwiz Kambakhsh to be separated from other detainees in the vast Pul-i-Charki jail, in the east of the capital. His transfer to Kabul has given rise to hopes that his appeal will not be influenced by religious fundamentalists, as was the case when he was sentenced to death for "blasphemy" by a court in Mazar-i-Sharif, on 22 January 2008."

Leon Podles, senior editor at Touchstone, has a new book out: Sacrilege: Sexual Abuse in the Catholic Church.

Richard John Neuhaus, editor of First Things, which is not unlike Touchstone, didn't like it. In the recent issue, he called Podles's book rambling and shrill. "Even righteous anger does not justify the author's suspension of caution and charity in attributing motives," Neuhaus wrote.

Today, on Touchstone's blog, senior editor S.M. Hutchens struck back on Podles's behalf. He callsFirst Things "the finest journal of its type" and Neuhaus "genuinely likeable and for whom I have the highest regard," but then comes a poem that begins:

Ah, good Father Richard, on hearing screaming boys,
Is just as right as ever in keeping out the noise.
No rambling rants like Podles’ should ever make one think
The faith is made of suffering more than stately rows of ink.

The poem goes on. As do the comments. Perhaps it's better if, on this item, you comment there rather than here.

Each year readers of the Chicago Tribune's "Tempo" section are treated to the editors' list of 50 favorite magazines. Few religious magazines make their list. And this year, no religious perspectives appeared on their June 26 honor roll.

Yesterday, the Tribune ran a list of readers' favorites to balance the shortsightedness of their list. Not surprisingly, the Atlantic and Real Simple were among those faves that the readers chided them for omitting. And here at CT, we were pleased to see our efforts were also given recognition.

Here's what they wrote about us:

Christianity Today: "Covers a broad range of issues with an open-minded and inclusive point of view for the evangelical reader, acknowledging that 'evangelical' can mean many different things."

Not sure how to parse "open-minded and inclusive for the evangelical reader," but I think that qualifies as a left-handed compliment. And as a southpaw, I'll take it.