
In the aftermath, the Athletic Director and the President of the University lost their jobs, as did coach Paterno. All of these things have been talked about in details elsewhere...indeed, EVERYWHERE else. I'd like to take a moment to look at the media's reaction to the story, and especially the nature of our news media itself, and then relate the "news" we want from our newspeople to the "news" we get from Christianity.
This post put me in mind of FOX News' oft-touted tagline, "We report, you decide." Whatever you might think of FOX's ability to abide by its slogan, isn't it a noble goal for a news organization? Should a news organization tell you what to think about an event (You should be outraged that Joe Paterno didn't call police) or simply tell you what happened, and allow you to decide for yourself what to do with that information? Has "analysis" trumped "news?" Bill O'Reilly, when challenged about the unbalanced nature of his show, often reminds critics that's he's an "analyst" and that FOX's "hard news people" aren't biased. In watching ESPN throughout the Paterno/Penn State coverage, I realized that the number of analysts outweighs the number of "hard news people" by a huge factor.

Even if it's the church.
Because that's what the church is: a news organization. We've been given an announcement, a press release, if you will. "The Gospel," as you may have heard once or twice, means "Good News." It's NEWS! The church needs only to announce it, again and again. It shouldn't steer the story. It shouldn't tell people what to do with the news. Just as ESPN, The New York Times, and other news organizations need to trust people to do with the news what they will, the church needs to trust people, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to live their lives with the knowledge of the News.
People turn off a church that tells them what to do for the same reason they turn off FOX News or MSNBC for telling them what to think. It's oppressive. It's judgmental. Churches ought to be true news outlets, announcing their press release for all the world to hear: Christ Jesus has come into the world to save sinners!
Thanks for the definitely new take on this story Nick. It's very insightful and greatly appreciated.
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