The Rev Michael Livingston, president of the National Council of Christian Churches gave a bracing address to the NCCC’s Communications Commission this week. Here are two nuggets that caught my eye:
“Mainline Protestant and Orthodox churches have been pounded into irrelevancy by the media machine of a false religion; a political philosophy masquerading as gospel; an economic principle wrapped in religious rhetoric and painted red, white and blue. ”
“Why do we know so much about Pat Robertson and so little about Mark Hanson (Frank Griswold’s Lutheran counterpart)? He’s thoughtful, articulate, personable, (photogenic); he’s a great church leader with a compelling personal story. Isn’t what the Lutherans are doing in the world at least as worthy of public exposure as what Pat thinks about Islam? That’s a rhetorical question. What kind of news information outfit reports the one and not the other? Have we no ability to influence this insanity?”