Faith, Fiction, Friends: Saturday Good Reads

I mentioned last week that one thing that concerned me about the Russian invasion of Ukraine was how our national media was marching in lockstep on the subject. It’s reached the point where if you question the prevailing narrative, you are by definition a supporter of Vladimir Putin. The direction our media seem to be marching in is toward war. Even my own local newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, tipped in that direction this week. It’s been said that the media, particularly the national media, don’t report the news but instead report the ruling class’s prevailing narrative. Rod Dreher at The American Conservative turns that thought to the Russian invasion.

Ryan Burge is a mainstream Protestant who studies the state of religion in America based on research and data. He’s published a book, 20 Myths About Religion and Politics in America, that says most of what we “know” and what’s reported about religion is flat-out wrong. One myth: Evangelical faith is declining. Terry Mattingly at Get Religion interviewed Burge about the book.

Now we know it’s true, because The New York Times reported it. The Hunter Biden laptop story was not Russian disinformation; in fact, it was real. The big factchecking firm NewsGuard had to scramble to explain its original assessment two years ago. Jen Psaki, the White House press spokesperson, bobbed and weaved about her many tweets on the subject. Silence from Big Tech, which censored the story and the New York Post for reporting it. As the Washington Post says, democracy dies in darkness. Especially darkness of the news media’s own making.

More Good Reads

Ukraine

The Weakness of the Despot: An expert on Stalin discusses Putin, Russia, and the West – David Remnick at The New Yorker.

‘Faith With Feet And Hands’: Christians Bring Hope To Ukraine’s War Zone – Paula Rinehart at The Federalist.

Poetry

“A White Knight” and “Never to Wend This Road Again” – Phil Rogers at Society of Classical Poets.

Late Winter – Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper.

Emily Dickinson and the creative ‘solitude of space’ – Magdalena Ostas at Psyche Magazine.

Life and Culture

Go Vegan & Electric? Unlikely – I’m an Environmentalist – Matthew Hosier at Think Theology.

If We're Back to 'Normal,' Why Am I Still So Exhausted All the Time? – Dan Sinker at Esquire.

Saturn’s Children: The Culture of Inversion, Part 2 – Paul Kingsnorth at The Abbey of Misrule.