What else would you expect? The LA Times has a long time religion editor that does not like religion.
"On Saturday, Sept. 18th, the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara, California will proudly be hosting a talk by Mr. Lobdell on his book, "Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting On Religion In America". Having heard him before, this reporter can testify that it should be a fascinating experience.
Lobdell is an intelligent, soft-spoken man and when he talks, you'll want to lean forward and listen because his story will resonate with anyone who's ever regarded themselves as a seeker of truth, whether they are religious or not. His attitude towards religion was fairly casual until his mid-20s when family and professional problems threatened to overwhelm him and he found solace with an evangelical church and was born again."
Why did he "lose" his faith? "It wasn't simply the stories of sexual abuse of children by priests that bothered him. It wasn't just the heart-rending stories of the victims whose lives were forever altered by those they'd trusted either. It was the discovery that, in case after case, these priests' superiors had known of the problems and tried to cover them up through denial, shifting pedophile priests to new parishes ...and by bullying victims and their families into silence or vilifying them in the courts and the media if they wouldn't keep silent. Lobdell began to wonder how these people and institutions, supposedly inspired by God, could be so corrupt?
Other stories made him realize that this kind of corruption was not exclusively an institutional Catholic problem. Investigation of the treatment of lapsed Mormons by their former brethren revealed a most un-Christian lack of charity; corruption within the televangelist community was exposed but no prominent pastor could be found who was willing to denounce it. Worse than that was the realization of how those who trusted these people to help them; those who were asked to "give 'till it hurts" or who had forgone medical treatment for the illusory promise of divine healing, had been betrayed and harmed by these people. At some point, William Lobdell realized that he had lost his faith and could no longer remain a reporter on the religious beat."
He only looked at the bad folks in religion, instead of the good. What do you expect; he worked for the LA Times.
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"On Saturday, Sept. 18th, the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara, California will proudly be hosting a talk by Mr. Lobdell on his book, "Losing My Religion: How I Lost My Faith Reporting On Religion In America". Having heard him before, this reporter can testify that it should be a fascinating experience.
Lobdell is an intelligent, soft-spoken man and when he talks, you'll want to lean forward and listen because his story will resonate with anyone who's ever regarded themselves as a seeker of truth, whether they are religious or not. His attitude towards religion was fairly casual until his mid-20s when family and professional problems threatened to overwhelm him and he found solace with an evangelical church and was born again."
Why did he "lose" his faith? "It wasn't simply the stories of sexual abuse of children by priests that bothered him. It wasn't just the heart-rending stories of the victims whose lives were forever altered by those they'd trusted either. It was the discovery that, in case after case, these priests' superiors had known of the problems and tried to cover them up through denial, shifting pedophile priests to new parishes ...and by bullying victims and their families into silence or vilifying them in the courts and the media if they wouldn't keep silent. Lobdell began to wonder how these people and institutions, supposedly inspired by God, could be so corrupt?
Other stories made him realize that this kind of corruption was not exclusively an institutional Catholic problem. Investigation of the treatment of lapsed Mormons by their former brethren revealed a most un-Christian lack of charity; corruption within the televangelist community was exposed but no prominent pastor could be found who was willing to denounce it. Worse than that was the realization of how those who trusted these people to help them; those who were asked to "give 'till it hurts" or who had forgone medical treatment for the illusory promise of divine healing, had been betrayed and harmed by these people. At some point, William Lobdell realized that he had lost his faith and could no longer remain a reporter on the religious beat."
He only looked at the bad folks in religion, instead of the good. What do you expect; he worked for the LA Times.
More...