good and bad reporting

Good and Bad Reporting

Contrast this article from yesterday's National Post about the rise of

atheism with this series by local religion "reporter" Denyse O'Leary.

The National Post article points out that the non-religious in America

have grown from 8% to 14.3% of the population between 1990 and 2001,

and that a 2006 study shows 20% of young adults are non-religious, up

from 11%. The article discusses the recent atheist books by Sam

Harris, Richard Dawkins, and Christopher Hitchens, and quotes

prominent atheists such as Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor of the

Freedom From Religion Foundation, and Herb Silverman, an atheist

mathematician who successfully challenged a South Carolina law that

established a religious test for public office, in conflict with the

US constitution.

Now, any sensible person would conclude from the statistics in the

National Post article and the wave of best-selling atheist books that

interest in atheism is increasing, and the Post reporter has a brief

analysis why: former UW professor Michael Higgins is quoted as saying

"There is a profoundly anti-religious sentiment that exists in the

culture-at-large as a result of 9/11" and "There is a souring against

religion. There is a general perception that most political and social

problems have been generated by religion [and] this comes from the

danger people fear as a consequence of 9/11."

Now look at O'Leary's "reporting". She calls the rise of atheism an

"anti-God crusade". (Isn't it strange that when theists want to insult

atheism, they resort to using explicitly religious language that

recalls the bad aspects of religion?) And she suggests that the rise

in the interest in atheism is really due to the failure of

materialism. She even denies that atheism is on the rise, claiming

"atheism ... is stagnant or withering away". Of course, no actual

statistics are provided to support this claim. I wonder what it would

be like to live in O'Leary's topsy-turvy world.

In her series, O'Leary doesn't do any actual reporting. You will look

in vain to find O'Leary actually interviewing anyone, particularly an

atheist, to find out what they believe. No, O'Leary resorts to quoting

the work of real journalists, journalists who have actually bothered

to do the legwork required for an article. Instead, the series

consists mostly of sneers and insults directed at atheists and amateur

psychologizing:

"...Materialist science is in trouble. And the trouble does not stem

from traditional religions, though materialists are - as one might

expect - quick to blame their troubles on traditional religions and to

reassure themselves that - despite all the evidence - traditional

religions are doomed. But, materialists are also smug and thus cannot

imagine or respond to any source of trouble arising from their

interpretation of the evidence.

They have apparently decided instead to target the Christian religion

as the source of their problems. One outcome is that, as we shall see,

many materialists want to start a new religion to compete with the

traditional ones, including a Darwin Day (Christmas, Eid al-Fitr, and

Chinese New Year all rolled into one?)..."

Along the way, O'Leary manages to plug her books. (No article by

O'Leary is complete without self-promotion.) She resorts to the

hoariest clich�s, calling atheists "militant" and "dogmatic".

There is an interesting parallel here between O'Leary's parasitic use

of other reporters' work to construct her series, and the behavior of

creationists. Like creationists, O'Leary didn't do any actual research

of her own. Like creationists, O'Leary isn't interested in exploring

her subject, the evidence, or why people believe they way they do.

Like creationists, O'Leary spends most of her time denigrating a view

she doesn't accept.

My parents were journalists. Some journalists are friends of mine. Ms.