The Times often finds Glenn Beck's outbursts newsworthy, like religion reporter Laurie Goodstein did in Friday's story "Outraged by Glenn Beck's Salvo, Christians Fire Back [1]," attacking Beck for remarks Beck made on his radio show March 2 about religion and "social justice." But what about hosts on the left like Keith Olbermann?
Goodstein cued up a left-wing Christian activist, Jim Wallis, to speak on behalf of the faith:
Last week, the conservative broadcaster Glenn Beck called on Christians to leave their churches if they hear preaching about social or economic justice, saying they were code words for Communism and Nazism.
This week the remarks prompted outrage from several Christian bloggers. The Rev. Jim Wallis, who leads the liberal Christian antipoverty group Sojourners, in Washington, called on Christians to leave Glenn Beck.
"What he has said attacks the very heart of our Christian faith, and Christians should no longer watch his show," Mr. Wallis wrote on his blog, God's Politics. "His show should now be in the same category as Howard Stern."
In attacking churches that espouse social justice, Mr. Beck is taking on most mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, black and Hispanic congregations in the country - not to mention plenty of evangelical churches and even his own, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Goodstein's initial blog post [2] Thursday afternoon was even harsher toward Beck:
Mr. Beck, in vilifying churches that promote "social justice," managed to insult just about every mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, African American, Hispanic and Asian congregation in the country - not to mention plenty of evangelical ones.
Even Mormon scholars in Mr. Beck's own church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, said in interviews that Mr. Beck seems ignorant of just how central social justice teaching is to Mormonism.
The Times has yet to mention a recent inflammatory comparison by MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, when he compared a Jewish staff member at The Media Institute, a D.C. nonprofit, to Nazi collaborator Vidkun Quisling.
As Lachlan Markay explained [3] at Times Watch's sister site, NewsBusters, Olbermann called First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams of The Media Institute, who is Jewish, "the Quisling of freedom of speech in this country" during a January 21 screed attacking the Supreme Court for striking down a ban on corporate and union spending on political speech within 60 days of an election.
Quisling collaborated with the Nazis in Norway. The Media Institute released an open letter [4] this week asking for an apology, yet not even that stirred the Times interest either in print or online.