Since issues often develop over days, weeks, and even months, I read newsmagazines. Every week I read Time and The Economist, and I sometimes read Newsweek and The Nation as well. I also like to read articles in the New Yorker, Harpers, and Mother Jones, magazines that do terrific investigative journalism.
I also like to watch The Daily Show, which does a great job of detecting lies and screening the news, in an entertaining way. But, as Jon Stewart would be the first to admit, it is a comedy show, not a news show, although it serves a useful function as B.S. detector.
I also watch Fox News and listen to Rush Limbaugh. Not much. But not never.
I read the National Review. I listen to right-wing talk shows, for as long as I can stand to. I read conservative blogs and articles from the Washington Times, although I don't think it's a very good paper, because there are thing in the Times I don't find in the Post, or anywhere else, for that matter.
I read articles from al Jazeera, which is actually a really fine news organization.
And in doing so I step out of my white liberal Christian ghetto and listen to the world.
I don't always like or agree with what I find out there, but I learn what concerns people, what scares people, what angers people.
And, I hope, I learn a little bit about how I might talk to them so we can get back to that place of authentic conversation and contact.
Next week, I'll talk about the other dimension of my work, reading the Bible and studying theology as they apply to the world, and I'll suggest methods and resources that may help us better come to grips with the religious and ethical problems of our post-9/11 world. Until then, my prayer for us is that the God who is the source of Truth and Knowledge will bless our attempts to know the truth so that we may serve Him better, and that we may love and forgive each other even when we understand the truth differently, for we often do.
See you next week.
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