Media Bias and Religious Tests for Public Office, by Russell Shaw 

By Russell Shaw, Catholic World Report, November 30, 2023 

Russell Shaw was secretary for public affairs of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops/United States Catholic Conference from 1969 to 1987. He is the author of 20 books, including Nothing to Hide, American Church: The Remarkable Rise, Meteoric Fall, and Uncertain Future of Catholicism in America, Eight Popes and the Crisis of Modernity, and, most recently, The Life of Jesus Christ (Our Sunday Visitor, 2021).

Evidently, the time is ripe for some basics on religion in a religiously pluralistic country.

After Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana was elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, the New York Times pronounced him part of the Christian nationalist movement. Then it hastened to find a sociologist who agreed that Johnson fit the pattern, including “being comfortable with authoritarian social control and doing away with democratic values.”

I have no idea whether Johnson is comfortable being called a Christian nationalist. My point is simply that the Times was guilty of journalistic malpractice in gratuitously linking him to the views just quoted. Johnson opposes abortion and same-sex marriage, but the New York Times avidly supports both. That does not entitle the paper to smear the man. …

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