NEWSWEEK'S CONVERSION TO A RIGHT-WING RAG

Yesterday I opened my mailbox and found my latest issue of Newsweek, a magazine I have been a loyal subscriber to for probably about 15 years now.  Then I saw the cover: a woman, who looks to be in some kind of trance, throwing her arms in the air with the sun silhouetting her head and almost giving her some kind of halo.  In large block letters are the words SPIRITUALITY IN AMERICA.  Follow the link for the cover photo and story.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9024914/site/newsweek/

Now I understand all things are open to interpretation but this went way over the line for me.  Stories about the pope, Bush's religious faith, etc. have never bothered me.  They are topics within the realm of public discourse.

To read the actual story, however, is to realize that Newsweek has joined the rest of the MSM in pandering to the conservative right.   What is billed as a story about America's religious beliefs is, in my view, an open endorsement of a specifically right wing ideology: that one MUST have some kind of religious belief to be a relevant or even decent citizen of this country.

The story makes one passing reference to Atheists:

"In America even atheists are spiritualists, searching for meaning in parapsychology and near-death experiences."

What?  So even us lowly, evil and filthy Atheists are really just looking for god like everyone else?  What the fuck is that supposed to mean?  I can't even begin to tell you how offensive I find that remark.  I have gone through every day of my life without the need for any kind of "spiritual" experience.  It's never been an issue for me.  Religion itself has only served to baffle me.  And what so many religious people interpret as some kind of superiority complex is, in reality, just indifference.  I don't care about religion or worship or god.  Yet I work hard, I pay my taxes, I love my family and I care about my community.  But apparently I'm just a second class citizen.

I have always chosen Newsweek over Time because Time is a right wing rag.  Why has Newsweek decided to become one as well?  Is that really where the money is?  I have yet to see one MSM newsource do a positive story about Atheists or Secularism in America.  Hell, I have yet to see any kind of recognition at all in mainstream culture.  But as an Atheist I just accept that as the hard reality of being in such a small, and apparently ignorable, minority.

I don't want to have to cancel my subscription to Newsweek but it seems I have no real choice.  Apparently even Newsweek views me and everyone like me as unimportant.  It was summed up for me in the closing line of the story:

"So let us say together: Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Sh'ma Yisrael. Allahu Akbar. Om. And store up the light against the darkness."

The darkness?  I'm afraid to even ask who or what "the darkness" is.  Shame on you, Newsweek.