Worth the read. It's a book review that expands in a general consideration of the hazards and responsibilities of covering religion in America.

An informative, balanced article providing evidence of the importance of journalism in maintaining, not eroding, the protection provided by the Establishment Clause. All world views are to be respected in the public discourse, but no faith can be held harmless from inspection when dogma of that faith encroaches upon the civil liberties of others. The anecdotal information about the author's personal encounter with bloggers determined to shut him down should give cause for pause to any person who believes in all Americans', and even journalists', constitutionally guaranteed vision of freedom.

It's good because it explores issues that don't get explored in the mainstream media very often, and discusses the role media can/should play in 'religious' issues. But historically there's always a tendency for troubled times to bring out religious orthodoxy and rigidity. The attitudes of several state and national elected officials have just encouraged this, but right now it's a worldwide phenomenon. And the media are fearful enough about reporting political and social issues, let alone religious ones. The exception seems to be if the religion is that of our chosen overseas enemies.

the article which begins as a review of a book about the dover pa. science classroom trial, goes on to a discussion of christianiy's religious intolerance beginning here with the puritans, and implies its inevitability. i hope not; i seem to remember, perhaps naively, periods in my lifetime when it seemed relatively quiescent. there is irony in how much the description of the hundreds of violent responses to a factual column regarding a mosque is like muslims' reaction to the danish cartoon.

The piece begins like a book review, but takes an interesting turn a few pages in. To fully appreciate it where the author is coming from, read to the end.

I covered religion as a reporter for several years albeit for a much smaller daily paper, and my articles only ran once a week. But I did encounter some of the intolerance that Townsend describes, mostly from very conservative Christians -- not surprising where I was working -- but occasionally from represenatives of other faiths. The most interesting thing was that intolerance rarely surfaced in conversations with a member of the clergy. It convinced me that the more familiar one becomes with whatever text he accepts as holy scripture the more tolerant they are moved to be of their fellow men. I found that interesting and instructive. It would seem other reporters covering the religion beat have gained similar insight and that ... More »

This reminds me of the old Ray Stevens song about Jesus wearing a Rolex on his TV show--if some of the bozos depicted here are religious, they have a funny way of showing it!

An excellent piece regarding the need for journalists to remain unbiased in reporting on religion but objective in presenting facts and science -- wrapped in a description of the abuse they receive from some of the righteous as they attempt to do so.

Excellent piece. An important examination of how competing ideologies have to coexist in a functioning democracy.

This is journalism at its best by a brave and seasoned reporter close to the subject. Townsend's "epiphany" at the end of the review offers readers an important take-away message not just as it applies to religion but just about every aspect of life: What we see, read or hear must be critically evaluated "against a larger truth."