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Religion

• November 17 -- Religious Right, but "Religious Left"
David Kirkpatrick mulls post-election religious grumbling among Democrats: "Some Democrats are scrambling to shake off their secular image, stepping up efforts to organize the 'religious left' and debating changes to how they approach the cultural flashpoints of same-sex marriage and abortion." But why the quote marks around "religious left"?

• November 16 -- Maureen Feeling Mobbed by "Vengeful" Bushies
Maureen Dowd hasn't quite gotten over Bush's victory: "I'm getting more the feel of a vengeful mob -- revved up by rectitude -- running around with torches and hatchets after heathens and pagans and infidels."

• November 10 -- The Holy Sacrament of Caffeination
The New York Times is not known as a stronghold of traditional religion, but do they have to make Starbucks a “wayside chapel” for the morning coffee?

• November 9 -- Alfred Kinsey the Brave
Benedict Carey ignores sex researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey's dark side and dubious methodology to make a self-righteous case against American Puritanism: "In 1948, when Dr. Kinsey published 'Sexual Behavior in the Human Male,' he was called a pervert, a menace and even a Communist.…Much of the suspicion is rooted in religious belief. Many devout believers see any effort to catalog sexual behavior as akin to publishing a field guide to carnal sin, an invitation to deviancy."

• November 5 -- Bush Wins Big, But Faces Pressure from Christians
Richard Stevenson notes Bush's "decisive win" but wonders if he can withstand "pressure" from the evangelical Christians who helped him win reelection.

• November 4 -- Bush's "Code Words" to Christians
Bush's successful reelection strategy was based partially on transmitting "code words" to evangelicals, says Elisabeth Bumiller.

• November 2 -- More Conservative Christian Conservatives
David Kirkpatrick files two stories on conservative Christians and dredges up Pat Buchanan's Republican convention speech from 1992.

• October 28 -- Bush "Abandoning Rational Analysis" for "Iron Certainty"
Concerns about Bush's Christian faith on the Times' op-ed page.

• October 25 -- "Hard-Line," "Strident" Bishops for Bush
Ian Fisher employs some loaded labels to describe the reaction of some Catholic bishops to Kerry's pro-abortion stance.

• October 18 -- Bush's "Intolerance of Doubters"
The Times' Sunday Magazine features a cover story by Bush antagonist Ron Suskind: "Bush's intolerance of doubters has, if anything, increased, and few dare to question him now. A writ of infallibility -- a premise beneath the powerful Bushian certainty that has, in many ways, moved mountains -- is not just for public consumption: it has guided the inner life of the White House."

• October 12 -- No Hedging When It Comes to Pushing Lefties
Liberal reporter Chris Hedges again uses the Times to publicize a left-wing figure: "In the battle over Jesus, what he stood for, what he represents and how faith is experienced and sustained, the Rev. Dr. James A. Forbes Jr., the senior minister of Riverside Church, is determined to provide an alternative vision to the one offered by religious conservatives."

• September 21 -- Kerry Suffering "For Changing His Mind"
Damien Cave wonders why Kerry is being hurt by such a "ridiculous" term as "flip-flop": "Yet Senator John Kerry seems to be suffering in the polls for changing his mind. Republicans have tagged him a flip-flopper, and the mildly ridiculous term has somehow become a potent weapon."

• September 10 -- "If A Republican Had Said That…."
How would the Times react if Bush told an audience to "beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing"?

• August 16 -- Maureen Dowd, Sensitive as Ever
Maureen Dowd on Bush and stem cells: “…they've dragged poor Laura Bush out to go, for this, what Lee Atwater used to call the extra-chromosome conservatives."

• August 9 -- David Kirkpatrick's Churchgoing Habit
Another month, another story by David Kirkpatrick on the propriety of conservative churches voicing support for the Bush campaign.

• July 19 -- "Ethnic Cleansing Celebrated As the Height of Piety"
Nicholas Kristof's column is slightly less offensive than its title ("Jesus and Jihad") but it's close: "No, I don't think the readers of [the Christian apocalyptic novel] 'Glorious Appearing' will ram planes into buildings. But we did imprison thousands of Muslims here and abroad after 9/11, and ordinary Americans joined in the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib in part because of a lack of empathy for the prisoners."

• June 25 -- Kerry Centering Himself?
A front page story on John Kerry claims: "Kerry Messages Begins Leaning Toward Center," but doesn't provide any evidence of the shift.

• June 14 -- Making Room for Anti-Bush Barry
David Kirkpatrick pens another unflattering story on Bush and religious conservatives and gives more space to Barry Lynn, who has a steady job supplying anti-Bush quotes to Kirkpatrick.

• June 3 -- "Americans United" to Beat Bush
A front-page story by David Kirkpatrick puts the Bush campaign on the defensive over a campaign email asking for help from religious congregations--a revelation that appeared the day before on a liberal group's website.

• May 28 -- Anti-Christian Satire "Saved!" Not Cruel Enough
Movie critic A.O. Scott thinks the new Christian satire 'Saved!" is insufficiently cruel.

• May 20 -- The Denial of Communion "Tactic"
Laurie Goodstein's story on the threat by some Catholic bishops to deny communion to pro-abortion politicians reduces the theological issue to the level of cynical politics: "The tactic of denying the sacrament has been urged for years by anti-abortion groups…"

• May 12 -- Pro-Abortion, Anti-Gun "Tolerance"
An article Tuesday by New Jersey editor David Kocieniewski, "Newark Archbishop Pressures and Angers Officeholders Over Anti-Abortion Decree," hashes out the controversy over pro-abortion politicians taking communion.

• May 10 -- More Conservative Conservatives
Religion reporter Laurie Goodstein provides an amusing example of the Times' obsession with "conservatives," using the term seven times within the first 220 words of a story.

• April 23 -- Straight From the Pro-Abortion Stylebook
Robin Toner's abortion stories this week, while mostly bias-free, betray a pattern of labeling consistent with the Times liberal stylebook: Abortion supporters are given flattering titles ("abortion-rights supporters") while pro-life groups are stuck with negative labels ("anti-abortion").

• April 20 -- Stalking Ken Starr's Religious Beliefs
Deborah Solomon jabs at Ken Starr's religious beliefs: "Do you pray every night?....Do you believe that atheists go to hell?"

• April 5 -- "Passion" Corrected With Help From "Tolerant" Calvin Butts
TV critic Alessandra Stanley sees tonight's ABC documentary "Jesus and Paul" as a welcome corrective to "The Passion of Christ," and singles out the "more tolerant views" of the Rev. Calvin Butts. But what does the "tolerant" Butts thinks of Republicans?

• March 29 -- Labeling Bias Not "Left Behind"
Conservative beat reporter David Kirkpatrick previews the newest book in the popular "Left Behind" series of apocalyptic Christian novels. But he fails to identify the left-wing beliefs of a prominent critic.

• March 25 -- God -- I Mean Gosh -- I Admire You
Linda Greenhouse admires adamant atheist Michael Newdow's Supreme Court testimony: "…no one who managed to get a seat in the courtroom is likely ever to forget his spell-binding performance."

• March 9 -- The Times' Turnaround on Civil Disobedience
Conservative beat reporter David Kirkpatrick actually conducts a non-hostile interview with Judge Roy Moore, the Ten Commandments judge, for the Sunday Week in Review.

• March 8 -- Gibson's Movie a "Joy Ride for Sadomasochists"
Frank Rich sees "The Passion of Christ," a movie on which he has expended thousands of harsh words over the last several months. But that's nothing compared to the vitriol unleashed in his "review."

• March 2 -- Bigots and Bashers, Oh My!
The Times passes along "moderate" worries that Bush "might look like a gay basher."

• March 1 -- Uneducated Southern Fundies Against Gay Marriage?
David Kirkpatrick finds a Michigan evangelical community not particularly opposed to gay marriage. Is it because people are just more educated up North?

• February 26 -- Not Mad About Mel
Laurie Goodstein relays some thumbs-down reviews from an interfaith panel who watched "The Passion." "They said the movie…deviated in bizarre ways from the Gospel accounts, fell flat emotionally and was numbingly violent."

• February 26 -- Scold Mountain
A.O. Scott dislikes Mel Gibson's new movie on the Passion of Christ. Comparing Gibson's violent filmmaking to Quentin Tarantino, Scott notes: "It will be amusing to see some of the same scolds who condemned Mr. Tarantino's 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1' sing the praises of 'The Passion of the Christ.'" Scolds like…A.O. Scott, perhaps?

• February 20 -- The Religious Right Is Rising (Again)
TV critic Alessandra Stanley sees a rising of the religious right in the release of Mel Gibson's new movie.

• February 3 -- Religious Wrongs at the Times
Does the Times require religious guidance?

• January 30 -- Moving Gay Marriage Into the Mainstream
A front-page story by Laurie Goodstein, "Gay Couples Seek Unions in God's Eyes," is the latest example of the Times mainstreaming the idea of gay marriage, insisting gay couples are "monogamous homebodies."

• January 20 -- Reciting Left-Wing Environmental Talking Points
Michael Janofsky delves into left-wing criticism of the National Park Service in a story strongly reminiscent of an article that appeared on a far-left website last month.

• January 19 -- Pope "Unwittingly Hawks" Mel Gibson Movie?
Editor Frank Rich spins a conspiracy theory about the Pope giving Gibson's movie on Jesus a thumbs-up: "The ailing pontiff has been recruited, however unwittingly, to help hawk 'The Passion of the Christ.'"

• January 7 -- Jesus Christ, Big-Government Liberal
Nicholas Kristof takes Cheney, Dean and Bush to task for abuse and ignorance of religion--then cites Jesus to argue against Bush's tax cuts.

• December 29 -- Religious "Centrists" For Left-Wing Causes
Virginia Heffernan reviews the latest Bill Moyers' documentary, a profile of a purportedly "middle of the road" Manhattan minister who nonetheless "opposes bigotry, poverty and empire building" and "supports gay rights, job training programs and the alleviation of hunger."

• December 12 -- "Conservative Catholic Complicity with Nazism"
A movie review from Stephen Holden includes this bit of anti-Catholicism: "Instead of seriously addressing the issue of the conservative Catholic complicity with Nazism...."

• December 3 -- Blasphemous to Oppose Gay Marriage
Columnist Nicholas Kristof declares: "To me, the blasphemy is not in those who want to share their lives with others of the same sex, but rather in anyone presumptuous enough to vilify that love."

• November 24 -- Sexy, Uxorious Jesus
Book Review Editor Charles McGrath ponders the popularity of "The Da Vinci Code," sees a rise in religious fundamentalism in America, and takes a look at Jesus the family man: "...in the [Da Vinci book], there's that welcome notion of a sexy, uxorious Jesus; Jesus the family man."

• November 17 -- 'Speaking Up For the Middle," from the Far Left
The Times reports on a new anti-conservative religious coalition "that wants to speak up for the middle and the left"--but names only the liberal Interfaith Alliance and the left-wing National Council of Churches as members.

• October 24 -- Have Fear, The "Religious Right" Is Here!
Abby Goodnough's label-happy front page story on Terri Schiavo focuses on how religious conservatives intend to use the victory, and calls a Florida legislator "far-right."

• October 23 -- Gov. Bush's "Ghoulish Journey" to Save Terri Schiavo
A Times editorial takes Florida Gov. Bush to task for preserving Terri Schiavo's life: "The State Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush have mocked the courts' careful deliberations and embarked on a ghoulish medical journey by directing that her feeding resume." Apparently the Times finds nothing at all "ghoulish" in letting a brain-damaged woman starve to death.

• October 23 -- Keeping Terri Schiavo Alive a "Constitutional Crisis"
Adam Liptak's story on Terri Schiavo sees a constitutional crisis in allowing the brain-damaged woman to live: "The Florida Legislature has created a constitutional crisis, legal scholars said yesterday. "

• October 22 -- Linda Greenhouse Fights Godless Communism
Linda Greenhouse remembers "…having laboriously learned the Pledge without 'under God,' all of a sudden, 'under God' came in; it was a federal law. And I didn't realize at the time that I had become a foot soldier in the war against Godless communism."

• October 17 -- Times to the Pope: Happy Anniversary, You Conservative Alienator
Frank Bruni hammers home his theme of the Pope as hidebound alienator: "'This pope has done so much for peace and dialogue, but also for the unity of the church,' said Cardinal Cláudio Hummes, the archbishop of São Paulo, Brazil. On that last point, many Catholics would disagree."

• October 16 -- The "Reviled" Pope
Frank Bruni reports from Vatican City on the 25th anniversary of the reign of Pope John Paul II--but can't let the anniversary pass without taking potshots on how the "alienating" Pope is "reviled by many" for daring to uphold conservative church doctrine on gay marriage and birth control.

• September 22 -- Frank Rich’s Mel Gibson-baiting
Times Arts editor Frank Rich resurrects his charge that Mel Gibson is guilty of “Jew-baiting.”

• September 17 -- “Christ’s Girlfriend”
The Times Sunday magazine features a Deborah Solomon interview with the editor for “Revolve,” a fashionable Bible for teenage girls. Solomon calls one passage “positively regressive” and describes Mary Magdalene as “Christ’s girlfriend.”

• August 25 -- “Some Critics” = One Times Reporter
Southern-based reporter Jeffrey Gettleman follows up on the Southern Gothic saga of Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was suspended from the state Supreme Court for refusing to take down a granite monument of the Ten Commandments that he’d installed in the courthouse lobby.

• August 21 -- The Return of George Wallace?
Jeffrey Gettleman files two stories on the Alabama judge who installed a Ten Commandments monument at the state Supreme Court. In his early filing he compares the judge and his supporters to Alabama’s segregationist governor George Wallace. Later he finds an anti-religious activist to make the comparison for him.

• August 19 -- Christianity in a Positive Light? Now That’s Offensive
Bruce Weber reviewed some of the outré offerings at the NYC Fringe Festival, and one show offended his sensibilities so much he walked out. Was it “Daddy Kathryn,” “a comedy about a gay son's wacky relationship with his newly outed transvestite father?” No. It was “Discordant Duets,” the one avowedly pro-Christian work in the festival. (Weber admitted the “born-again crowd” might like the “simple-minded drama.”)

• August 13 -- Slammin’ Alabama
An editorial excoriates Alabama’s chief justice for “demagoguing about the Ten Commandments” and “ignoring the Constitution's mandates on the separation of church and state” (before comparing him to Gov. George Wallace). But there’s no “separation of church and state” mandate in the Constitution.

• June 20 -- David Firestone’s Religious Devotion to the Left
Reporter David Firestone’s story on the National Council of Churches’ response to Bush’s tax cuts shows the Times’ fear of the “religious right” is matched only by its fealty to the religious left.

• May 28 -- Times Writers (Don’t) Get Religion
Laurie Goodstein is disturbed by Christians looking for converts in the Muslim world: “Evangelicals have always believed that all other religions are wrong, but what is notable now is the vituperation.” Plus, the region of Israel that Ariel Sharon “calls” Judea and Samaria.

• May 1 -- Liberal Lieberman’s Non-Threatening Religion
In one sense, the Times story on Democratic presidential candidate Joseph Lieberman is heartening, a sympathetic look at the trials faced by a devoutly religious politician. But is the liberal Lieberman getting breaks because of the Times new respect for religion, or because he’s a less inviting target than conservatives John Ashcroft and Rick Santorum?

• April 4 -- Utah: Conservative, Religious, and (Naturally) Bigoted
Nick Madigan’s story on white supremacists in Utah takes some cheap shots: “Traditionally conservative, independent and avowedly religious, many Utahans have long tolerated what some people elsewhere consider to be extreme points of view.”