The following is an article I wrote on August 16 and posted on The Way I See It Blog hosted by the Christian Post. Within a few hours, the post was removed from the website and I was denied access to my blog. You can still get to my articles on Christian Post if you use their search engine. However, all of my blog posts on The Way I See It blog have been delisted from the blog page.
The reason given by Michelle Vu, managing editor, for removing my article, dropping me as a writer, and delisting all of my past blogs was that I had disrespected their news staff by writing about the August 15 article before they had a chance to address it. I did contact them prior to writing the article but the editors felt I had not given them adequate time to response. Since then, I have been in contact with the CP managing editors to resolve the situation but there has been no change.
This is distressing to me. I have written for Christian Post since near the beginning of the website. In 2004, I wrote a benediction for the initial print run of CP. Until recently, I was listed on their website as a senior editorial consultant.
I will acknowledge that the title of the piece was more inflammatory than necessary. However, the editors of CP did not disagree with my analysis or that the Romney campaign or a Romney supporter should have been allowed to comment.
Having read additional coverage of the campaign at CP since mid-August, I do wonder if CP leans toward Perry (or at least away from Romney). In a fairly balanced piece on Wednesday, CP Executive Editor Richard D. Land was quoted raising Romney’s Mormonism as a concern for voters to consider. The article did not disclose that Land is the Executive Editor of CP but cited instead his role with the Ethics and Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptists. And Perry’s Ponzi Scheme comments about Social Security were sympathetically analyzed in this piece. As far as I know, the piece attacking Romney on social issues has not been addressed.
I suspect many readers will see this as inside baseball. I decided to go with this because of a broader question: Will Mitt Romney be able to get fair coverage from Christian media? Some evangelicals support Romney (at this moment in time, myself included) but he is battling a considerable establishment that may include the sources from which many Christians get their information.
Some readers may disagree with my approach; I encourage you to speak your opinion. Here is the blog post in question. To evaluate this piece you will also need to read the original article:
……
Christian Post runs hit piece on Mitt Romney
(posted on CP August 16, 2011)
Yesterday, the Christian Post’s politics editor, Paul Stanley posted an article sharply critical of current GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney based on a book by Mass Resistance’s Amy Contrada. The book purports to uncover Mitt Romney’s positions on social issues which, according to Contrada, demonstrates that Romney is “not a constitutionalist nor is he a man of deeply rooted values.”
In my view, the article comes across as an attack on Mr. Romney and did a disservice to CP readers in several ways. First, the article presented Contrada’s book as a new release, when in fact the book was released in February of this year. Why is CP just now running an article on the charges Contrada makes, implying that these are new or newly discovered?
Second, CP does not provide any context to help readers assess the stance of the author or the actual positions held by Romney. Amy Contrada is a writer for Mass Resistance, a group that has been at odds with Romney politically for years and one that is listed as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center due to their incendiary rhetoric towards gays as a class of people. Many conservatives dismiss the SPLC but nonetheless, in an objective news report, the fact would be noted. Romney would not be considered pro-gay by any gay activist, but because he is not sufficiently anti-gay for Mass Resistance, he has been a target of their ire.
An illustration will help. Contrada contends that Romney has not condemned same-sex marriage as immoral. Quoted by Stanley she says,
I examined every statement I could find that he [Romney] made about homosexuality and nowhere could I find where he condemned same-sex marriage. He will never call it immoral. Every Mormon I know personally … the rank and file Mormons … I know … are very clearly opposed to homosexuality and see it as a moral issue. The church on the other hand seems to be a bit wishy-washy on the issue. I think Romney is the same way and wants to please everybody by playing every issue down the middle.”
Contrada wants Romney to not only oppose same-sex marriage, she wants him to morally condemn gays who want to form unions. Romney spoke to this issue to the Associated Press several years ago, saying
“I don’t think that a person who’s running for a secular position as I am should talk about or engage in discussions of what they in their personal faith or their personal beliefs is immoral or not immoral,”
In the same interview, Romney repeated his opposition to gay marriage but believes that all should be treated with respect.
“I oppose discrimination against gay people,” Romney said. “I am not anti-gay. I know there are some Republicans, or some people in the country who are looking for someone who is anti-gay and that’s not me.”
He said he is opposed to gay marriage because it’s not in the best interest of children.
Shouldn’t CP readers have this context?
Romney’s position is similar to the stance that Ronald Reagan took as California governor and then later as President. In California, Reagan opposed the Briggs Amendment which would have allowed schools to fire or refuse to hire gay teachers. As President, Reagan was on record opposing job discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Finally, the CP article does not bring in any contrasting view of Romney’s positions from any other observers, nor as far as I can tell, sought comment from the Romney campaign.
In short, this article, if published at all, should have been better placed in the Opinion section of CP. As it is, the piece probably hurts Romney with evangelical voters unaware of the context of his views and definitely hurts the perception of CP’s objective reporting with those who do. Through the campaign, I hope that CP will do a better job of providing balance in future articles.
………
As ken says it was not a book that topic alone. You may be getting the LBB incident confused with the Fistgate incident which was awful. That was eventually acknowledged as wrong.
My point here is not to exonerate GLSEN on everything they have done. Nor is it to say that they are wrong about everything. It is to say that in my experience with MassR, they pick the worst about gays and publicize them as if they are representative of the entire group. THis is unfair and dishonest. I don’t want people doing that to Christians so why would I do it to someone else?
Gene – They were correct about one thing that I know about – they recorded an inappropriate workshop for teens where fisting was discussed. GLSEN later apologized for that.
The Little Black Book was inadvertantly placed on a table at a school event several years ago. I interviewed the GLSEN staffer who said that a health care agency brought them by mistake along with more age appropriate materials. The person in charge of the GLSEN event initially denied they were there because he did not authorize them and did not know they were there. When he learned that another group brought them he apologized and reprimanded the group who brought them.
Mass Resistance uses Paul Cameron’s work and any other person who wants to see gays criminalized. The few things they get right are offset by the venomous rhetoric they hurl at gays daily.
Imagine an anti-Christian group who followed Christians of all kinds around and photographed and recorded every bad thing they did. Then they launch a website revealing these and saying that all Christians are like these examples. They pick any statistics which portray Christians in a bad light and ignore the big picture or the general trend. That would be Mass Resistance, Aftah, etc.
Warren# ~ Sep 10, 2011 at 8:24 am
“Gene – They were correct about one thing that I know about – they recorded an inappropriate workshop for teens where fisting was discussed. GLSEN later apologized for that.”
That’s not quite what happened. the workshop was basically a sex-ed class for glbt teens. Fisting was NOT part of the prepared discussion. However, during the question/answer period, one of the teens asked what fisting was and the presenters answered. Personally, from everything I read about the workshop, I don’t think it was inappropriate.
You wrote a piece on Christian Post attacking something Christian Post wrote a day earlier?
Fair does, I wouldn’t expect them to do anything less. That’s not taking your side or their’s (I think you make some very valid points) just being brutally realistic.
Amazing. True, the title was a bit strong, but titles can be easily changed. Editors at publications and newspapers do that all the time. I see nothing in the body of the piece itself to warrant its removal. And to remove accessibility to ALL posts is petulant. I’m not a Mitt Romney fan (If I were a Republican, I’d probably be more inclined to support Jon Huntsman, who also happens to be Mormon), but I think CP did at least answer your question.
FYI CP Blogs now has a stated goal: “The goal for The Christian Post Blogs is to develop a worldwide community of Christians sharing ideas with different viewpoints in a manner that will challenge people to grow mentally and spiritually”
http://blogs.christianpost.com/time-for-everything/2011/09/cp-blogs-comment-policy-30
FYI CP Blogs now has a stated goal: “The goal for The Christian Post Blogs is to develop a worldwide community of Christians sharing ideas with different viewpoints in a manner that will challenge people to grow mentally and spiritually”
http://blogs.christianpost.com/time-for-everything/2011/09/cp-blogs-comment-policy-30
Stanley’s piece *was* a hit piece, so the title of your post was accurate at worst. Its deletion alone is censorship, for whatever reason, vindictive, unprofessional, unethical and punitive. At the very least it demonstrates an abject lack of loyalty in view of previous service. The CP has effectively eliminated it credibility and authority as an objective OpEd source.
Finally, the only relevance Romney’s LDS membership retains is as applies to anybody who depends on and makes life decisions based on myths, hearsay, old wives tales and superstition. Add to that his lack of stability on any issue, and he is bereft of any manner of qualification to administer a lemonaide stand, much less a state or country.
As ken says it was not a book that topic alone. You may be getting the LBB incident confused with the Fistgate incident which was awful. That was eventually acknowledged as wrong.
My point here is not to exonerate GLSEN on everything they have done. Nor is it to say that they are wrong about everything. It is to say that in my experience with MassR, they pick the worst about gays and publicize them as if they are representative of the entire group. THis is unfair and dishonest. I don’t want people doing that to Christians so why would I do it to someone else?
Gene Chase# ~ Sep 10, 2011 at 11:25 am
“Oh, I see, so booklets on fisting are appropriate for college students? Are appropriate to be funded by public funds? Can slip by GLSEN unnoticed?”
It was not a “booklet on fisting”, it was a safe-sex guide (regarding HIV risk) aimed at the college-age glb community.
Personally, I think how little you know about the guide and the incident is a pretty good indication that the MassResistance web site is distorting the facts of the incident. Wouldn’t you agree?
@Warren re Little Black Book. You say you interviewed
Oh, I see, so booklets on fisting are appropriate for college students? Are appropriate to be funded by public funds? Can slip by GLSEN unnoticed?
I wonder how long a booklet on Jesus would have slipped by unnoticed.
Stanley’s piece *was* a hit piece, so the title of your post was accurate at worst. Its deletion alone is censorship, for whatever reason, vindictive, unprofessional, unethical and punitive. At the very least it demonstrates an abject lack of loyalty in view of previous service. The CP has effectively eliminated it credibility and authority as an objective OpEd source.
Finally, the only relevance Romney’s LDS membership retains is as applies to anybody who depends on and makes life decisions based on myths, hearsay, old wives tales and superstition. Add to that his lack of stability on any issue, and he is bereft of any manner of qualification to administer a lemonaide stand, much less a state or country.
Warren# ~ Sep 10, 2011 at 8:24 am
“Gene – They were correct about one thing that I know about – they recorded an inappropriate workshop for teens where fisting was discussed. GLSEN later apologized for that.”
That’s not quite what happened. the workshop was basically a sex-ed class for glbt teens. Fisting was NOT part of the prepared discussion. However, during the question/answer period, one of the teens asked what fisting was and the presenters answered. Personally, from everything I read about the workshop, I don’t think it was inappropriate.
Gene – They were correct about one thing that I know about – they recorded an inappropriate workshop for teens where fisting was discussed. GLSEN later apologized for that.
The Little Black Book was inadvertantly placed on a table at a school event several years ago. I interviewed the GLSEN staffer who said that a health care agency brought them by mistake along with more age appropriate materials. The person in charge of the GLSEN event initially denied they were there because he did not authorize them and did not know they were there. When he learned that another group brought them he apologized and reprimanded the group who brought them.
Mass Resistance uses Paul Cameron’s work and any other person who wants to see gays criminalized. The few things they get right are offset by the venomous rhetoric they hurl at gays daily.
Imagine an anti-Christian group who followed Christians of all kinds around and photographed and recorded every bad thing they did. Then they launch a website revealing these and saying that all Christians are like these examples. They pick any statistics which portray Christians in a bad light and ignore the big picture or the general trend. That would be Mass Resistance, Aftah, etc.
Gene Chase# ~ Sep 10, 2011 at 11:25 am
“Oh, I see, so booklets on fisting are appropriate for college students? Are appropriate to be funded by public funds? Can slip by GLSEN unnoticed?”
It was not a “booklet on fisting”, it was a safe-sex guide (regarding HIV risk) aimed at the college-age glb community.
Personally, I think how little you know about the guide and the incident is a pretty good indication that the MassResistance web site is distorting the facts of the incident. Wouldn’t you agree?
@Warren re Little Black Book. You say you interviewed
Oh, I see, so booklets on fisting are appropriate for college students? Are appropriate to be funded by public funds? Can slip by GLSEN unnoticed?
I wonder how long a booklet on Jesus would have slipped by unnoticed.
“Amy Contrada is a writer for Mass Resistance, a group that has been at odds with Romney politically for years and one that is listed as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center due to their incendiary rhetoric towards gays as a class of people.”
“Contrada wants Romney to not only oppose same-sex marriage, she wants him to morally condemn gays who want to form unions.”
“Through the campaign, I hope that CP will do a better job of providing balance in future articles.”
——————————————————————-
Warren,
First off my sincere apologies at the unjust posture that CP has taken. When I saw the 3 quotes that I referenced above, I could see that they, did not, in all likelihood, care for these 3.
Moreover, what struck me as poignant, which I did not know, Richard Land is in the top seat there. That alone, speaks volumes. Land would graciously add upon his chest another supporter in his quest to abolish homosexuality. I get a kick out of Preachers, who will always supply the inferences, yet, truly never outright say it. Ergo, Contrada. They have perverted their positions to a mere politician. Naturally, Mass Resistance is the more vocal of the same mindset.
I believe they felt they were slighted smacked in the face by your article and expected you to fall in line with their myopia. You simply, went against the grain, and, in their narrow-minded view of Christianity have ostracized you.
Their loss is, is the gain of the more rational, and to the gain of Christianity.
Back to the topic of this post. I think CP made a huge mistake scrubbing you from their site. If this were to get picked up by a large news source CP could get a lot worse of an image problem than anything you may have pointed out in your article.
Warren wrote:
That’s because you expected the Christian Post to be Christian, and not a species of IngSoc.
I know this must be disheartening for you, Warren. It’s one thing to fight against an opponent, be they misguided or just plain nasty; another to find an organisation or group one is in being corrupted and going astray. Or find out that at the core, there always was corruption, it just wasn’t evident to you.
Please take heart. If need be, go read the “Screwtape Letters” again. You’re not alone, and you’re an example that I use every time my radical atheist friends condemn Christianity in toto, to show that the evidence does not support that condemnation.
There’s times for me to talk about the Big Picture, matters of great worth and moment. But there are times for me to acknowledge that a friend, a man I admire, has been hurt, and subject to injustice by those he trusted, those he believed were ethical and moral, who he believed practiced what they preached.
Maybe this too will pass, an over-reaction done in the heat of the moment, a mere human failing of theirs. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t bet on it, this is what they are, this is what they do. But that’s them. As long as you attempt to live life in accordance with Christ’s teachings, what others do is really their business.
I’m sorry you were hurt. You didn’t deserve to be. For what it’s worth, one weird, confused and confusing non-christian woman on the other side of the planet would like to sooth that hurt, the very personal hurt you received. Injustice offends me, and I try to remedy it as best I can. Love – caritas – helps.
Too often “activists” like me are so wrapped up in The Cause that they forget to be human. I hope I never fall into that trap. Please accept a little human sympathy and compassion from me, Ok?
Gene Chase# ~ Sep 9, 2011 at 10:29 pm
“For example, is MassResistance wrong in saying that GLSEN made booklets available to high school students that described how one has sex by fisting?”
I would say it is a good example of how MassResistance distorts the fact for its own purposes. 1st, that booklet was written for college aged adults. 2nd, GLSEN did not distribute it. It was a community outreach program that brought it to a GLSEN conference and had it available at their table.
I’ll say the same thing to you, Jayhuck, as I said to Warren: Can you try to be specific? Please restate your observation without scare quotes and in straightfoward language.
For example, is MassResistance wrong in saying that GLSEN made booklets available to high school students that described how one has sex by fisting?
Which is more “out there”? MassResistance for reporting it, or GLSEN for doing it?
Wow. I’ve heard of Mass Resistance but had no idea how “out there” they were until I visited their site. Wow!
Sounds like a generality to me. I’d be much happier with a reply that went something like this: “The entry on that web page for November 2004 is wrong because …” I was led to believe that the footnotes substantiating that timeline would appear in Contrada’s book. Let’s not discuss this further until I’ve checked the footnotes.
The reasons that I, a Republican, am not in favor of Romney at this early stage in the Presidential race do not rest on that alone. I also wonder why he is critical of Obama’s heath care legislation, which Obama patterned after Romney’s pride and joy, the Massachusetts health care legislation.
I’m pretty dour on politics in general, and probably won’t engage until it’s time to vote in the primary election. So don’t take anything I say about politics at face value.
“Amy Contrada is a writer for Mass Resistance, a group that has been at odds with Romney politically for years and one that is listed as an anti-gay hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center due to their incendiary rhetoric towards gays as a class of people.”
“Contrada wants Romney to not only oppose same-sex marriage, she wants him to morally condemn gays who want to form unions.”
“Through the campaign, I hope that CP will do a better job of providing balance in future articles.”
——————————————————————-
Warren,
First off my sincere apologies at the unjust posture that CP has taken. When I saw the 3 quotes that I referenced above, I could see that they, did not, in all likelihood, care for these 3.
Moreover, what struck me as poignant, which I did not know, Richard Land is in the top seat there. That alone, speaks volumes. Land would graciously add upon his chest another supporter in his quest to abolish homosexuality. I get a kick out of Preachers, who will always supply the inferences, yet, truly never outright say it. Ergo, Contrada. They have perverted their positions to a mere politician. Naturally, Mass Resistance is the more vocal of the same mindset.
I believe they felt they were slighted smacked in the face by your article and expected you to fall in line with their myopia. You simply, went against the grain, and, in their narrow-minded view of Christianity have ostracized you.
Their loss is, is the gain of the more rational, and to the gain of Christianity.
Gene – I don’t take anything on Mass Resistance website at face value.
Back to the topic of this post. I think CP made a huge mistake scrubbing you from their site. If this were to get picked up by a large news source CP could get a lot worse of an image problem than anything you may have pointed out in your article.
Warren wrote:
That’s because you expected the Christian Post to be Christian, and not a species of IngSoc.
I know this must be disheartening for you, Warren. It’s one thing to fight against an opponent, be they misguided or just plain nasty; another to find an organisation or group one is in being corrupted and going astray. Or find out that at the core, there always was corruption, it just wasn’t evident to you.
Please take heart. If need be, go read the “Screwtape Letters” again. You’re not alone, and you’re an example that I use every time my radical atheist friends condemn Christianity in toto, to show that the evidence does not support that condemnation.
There’s times for me to talk about the Big Picture, matters of great worth and moment. But there are times for me to acknowledge that a friend, a man I admire, has been hurt, and subject to injustice by those he trusted, those he believed were ethical and moral, who he believed practiced what they preached.
Maybe this too will pass, an over-reaction done in the heat of the moment, a mere human failing of theirs. I’m sorry, but I wouldn’t bet on it, this is what they are, this is what they do. But that’s them. As long as you attempt to live life in accordance with Christ’s teachings, what others do is really their business.
I’m sorry you were hurt. You didn’t deserve to be. For what it’s worth, one weird, confused and confusing non-christian woman on the other side of the planet would like to sooth that hurt, the very personal hurt you received. Injustice offends me, and I try to remedy it as best I can. Love – caritas – helps.
Too often “activists” like me are so wrapped up in The Cause that they forget to be human. I hope I never fall into that trap. Please accept a little human sympathy and compassion from me, Ok?
Gene Chase# ~ Sep 9, 2011 at 10:29 pm
“For example, is MassResistance wrong in saying that GLSEN made booklets available to high school students that described how one has sex by fisting?”
I would say it is a good example of how MassResistance distorts the fact for its own purposes. 1st, that booklet was written for college aged adults. 2nd, GLSEN did not distribute it. It was a community outreach program that brought it to a GLSEN conference and had it available at their table.
I’ll say the same thing to you, Jayhuck, as I said to Warren: Can you try to be specific? Please restate your observation without scare quotes and in straightfoward language.
For example, is MassResistance wrong in saying that GLSEN made booklets available to high school students that described how one has sex by fisting?
Which is more “out there”? MassResistance for reporting it, or GLSEN for doing it?
Wow. I’ve heard of Mass Resistance but had no idea how “out there” they were until I visited their site. Wow!
Sounds like a generality to me. I’d be much happier with a reply that went something like this: “The entry on that web page for November 2004 is wrong because …” I was led to believe that the footnotes substantiating that timeline would appear in Contrada’s book. Let’s not discuss this further until I’ve checked the footnotes.
The reasons that I, a Republican, am not in favor of Romney at this early stage in the Presidential race do not rest on that alone. I also wonder why he is critical of Obama’s heath care legislation, which Obama patterned after Romney’s pride and joy, the Massachusetts health care legislation.
I’m pretty dour on politics in general, and probably won’t engage until it’s time to vote in the primary election. So don’t take anything I say about politics at face value.
Romney has an unusual way of showing his opposition. I haven’t read Amy Contrada’s book, but the kinds of source material on which she draws to argue that Romney supports same-sex marriage is publicly available, as for example at this MassResistance.com site.
Gene – I don’t take anything on Mass Resistance website at face value.
What I thought I had conveyed was that while the title was a bit strong, it should not have been a barrier to publication, let alone cause for the post’s removal along with practical access to everything else you’ve written. And I would have to disagree with the assumption that this was one of the possible consequences of writing the piece. CP has had a reputation (until now) of upholding respect for differing viewpoints within the framework of conservative Christianity, and I don’t see how Warren’s piece stepped outside it one bit. The overreaction speaks volumes.
Thanks Jayhuck.
Peter – I did not think CP would pretend I never existed. I did not think they would do anything else but discuss the situation and maybe ask me to change the title. I have blogged other places where they simply ask you to change something or respectfully decline to print a particular article.
I am truly sorry that happened Warren! It sounds like they are indeed being petulant and unfair. I hope things are resolved but if not, its truly their loss. One more reason not to read the CP in my book!
Romney has an unusual way of showing his opposition. I haven’t read Amy Contrada’s book, but the kinds of source material on which she draws to argue that Romney supports same-sex marriage is publicly available, as for example at this MassResistance.com site.
Please don’t get me wrong – I don’t think they should have done it. The most they should have done is taken that individual piece down and had a conversation with Warren. All I’m saying is that given the stance of CP, it’s not something that I wouldn’t expect them to do – i.e. it was one of the possible consequences that I’m sure Warren considered when he wrote the piece.
Jim – I offered to change the title…
At the University of North Carolina, the Christian singing group Psalm 100 expelled a senior after the student acknowledged that he is gay. Even though he had been a friend and an asset to the group for three years, he found himself tossed out like yesterday’s garbage. The head of the group assured the school newspaper that he “acted out of love.”
So here we have the case of Warren Throckmorton and the Christian Post:
– Written work deleted without consultation
– Shut out of a site to which he had contributed for 7 years
– 7 years’ of written contributions made largely invisible
– Stripped off the masthead
– Blamed for all of the above
Sounds to me like the editors of the CP have a lot of Christian love for you. My condolences.
And to Ould and Burroway: neither the piece nor the headline were “too strong” or out of line. Throckmorton’s blog reflects Throckmorton’s views. He isn’t required to self-censor criticism of the CP and his piece is no more harsh than a self-critical column that one might read in the Washington Post by the paper’s ombudsman. And as I read it, the CP editors are not claiming that the headline or the piece itself were an issue; their complaint is that Throckmorton should have given them some more lead time. Granted that sounds like a pretext, but taking the CP at its word, it means that Ould’s and Burroway’s sniping at the piece’s content is irrelevant.
What I thought I had conveyed was that while the title was a bit strong, it should not have been a barrier to publication, let alone cause for the post’s removal along with practical access to everything else you’ve written. And I would have to disagree with the assumption that this was one of the possible consequences of writing the piece. CP has had a reputation (until now) of upholding respect for differing viewpoints within the framework of conservative Christianity, and I don’t see how Warren’s piece stepped outside it one bit. The overreaction speaks volumes.
Amazing. True, the title was a bit strong, but titles can be easily changed. Editors at publications and newspapers do that all the time. I see nothing in the body of the piece itself to warrant its removal. And to remove accessibility to ALL posts is petulant. I’m not a Mitt Romney fan (If I were a Republican, I’d probably be more inclined to support Jon Huntsman, who also happens to be Mormon), but I think CP did at least answer your question.
I am not going to go into depth here but there were no guidelines for bloggers or prior notice that one could not critique CP.
You wrote a piece on Christian Post attacking something Christian Post wrote a day earlier?
Fair does, I wouldn’t expect them to do anything less. That’s not taking your side or their’s (I think you make some very valid points) just being brutally realistic.
Thanks Jayhuck.
Peter – I did not think CP would pretend I never existed. I did not think they would do anything else but discuss the situation and maybe ask me to change the title. I have blogged other places where they simply ask you to change something or respectfully decline to print a particular article.
I am truly sorry that happened Warren! It sounds like they are indeed being petulant and unfair. I hope things are resolved but if not, its truly their loss. One more reason not to read the CP in my book!
Please don’t get me wrong – I don’t think they should have done it. The most they should have done is taken that individual piece down and had a conversation with Warren. All I’m saying is that given the stance of CP, it’s not something that I wouldn’t expect them to do – i.e. it was one of the possible consequences that I’m sure Warren considered when he wrote the piece.
Jim – I offered to change the title…
At the University of North Carolina, the Christian singing group Psalm 100 expelled a senior after the student acknowledged that he is gay. Even though he had been a friend and an asset to the group for three years, he found himself tossed out like yesterday’s garbage. The head of the group assured the school newspaper that he “acted out of love.”
So here we have the case of Warren Throckmorton and the Christian Post:
– Written work deleted without consultation
– Shut out of a site to which he had contributed for 7 years
– 7 years’ of written contributions made largely invisible
– Stripped off the masthead
– Blamed for all of the above
Sounds to me like the editors of the CP have a lot of Christian love for you. My condolences.
And to Ould and Burroway: neither the piece nor the headline were “too strong” or out of line. Throckmorton’s blog reflects Throckmorton’s views. He isn’t required to self-censor criticism of the CP and his piece is no more harsh than a self-critical column that one might read in the Washington Post by the paper’s ombudsman. And as I read it, the CP editors are not claiming that the headline or the piece itself were an issue; their complaint is that Throckmorton should have given them some more lead time. Granted that sounds like a pretext, but taking the CP at its word, it means that Ould’s and Burroway’s sniping at the piece’s content is irrelevant.
I am not going to go into depth here but there were no guidelines for bloggers or prior notice that one could not critique CP.