I picked up a copy of the Los Angeles Times today. It's shrunk! Like the Wall Street Journal and soon (I believe) the New York Times, it's narrower than it used to be. It feels like a toy paper. And when you try to do that complicated annoying page-turning thing, folding it inside out, all the fun is gone. I suppose you're less likely to hurt someone standing nearby, but it feels cramped, like being stuck in a crowd, even when there's nobody around. All the bother with none of the grandeur. Never again will holding the newspaper open let you stretch your arms out wide. Gone forever that delirious moment where the newspaper opens up like a spinnaker to completely efface the world around you...Speaking of the Los Angeles Times (which I generally consult online), a few days ago they carried a long and fascinating article by William Lobdell, a reporter who covered religion for the paper for eight years - he was excited at the possibility of showing the generous heart of religion and not just the scandals usually covered by the mainstream media - but has now asked for another beat. In the article Lobdell recounts how having to cover the shenanigans of prosperity gospel televangelists undermined his faith as an Evangelical, and how covering the clergy abuse scandal in the diocese of Los Angeles and beyond slowed and finally arrested his movement towards becoming a Roman Catholic.
It's a story of disillusionment and sadness - there's no triumph in his new-found scepticism - which, in today's issue (but not yet online), generated some quite interesting responses from readers. It shows that even a well-intentioned journalist will end up focusing only on religion's ugly side, says one. It's an honest confession that a thinking person cannot stay religious, says another. It's proof that human institutions will always disappoint us, but that God uses them to test our faith, says another...
