Monday, April 4, 2016

Harry Deitz’s religiosity embarrasses Berks County

by Steve Reinbrecht

Why does the Reading Eagle have a man so focused on his narrow religiosity at the helm of its newsroom, leading a struggling newspaper in a community rich in diversity – including diverse faiths?

And why does it let editor Harry Deitz wave his narrowness in our faces? I don’t mind at all his deep faith, if he’d keep it private. Many of my heroes* are and were very religious.

But using his bully pulpit as a pulpit to comment on Christianity offends me. He could use his weekly spot on Page A2 to comment thoughtfully on real issues. As the leader of an award-winning newsroom for so many years, he must have a lot he could say.

He missed his calling as a preacher – he’s shown he can write a sermon every week. But when the Eagle is the face of Berks County, Deitz’s topic on Sunday presents us as closed-minded and backward, even bigoted.

“I still pray that there will be a revival in the church that reaches into the world around us,” he writes.

But in his 1,000-word screed Sunday about the importance of religion, he never mentions Islam or Judaism, and I know that some Jews and Muslims live in Berks County and might be reading his opinion piece.

It’s clear Deitz is speaking only to Protestants and that “the church” here is very constrained. He’d argue that his religion is the only correct religion.

He writes: “Where there was a church building in a neighborhood, there was sanctuary.”

But how could a newsman thinking about “church” these days not consider that for many children, churches were houses of horror where they were abused, shamed, and frightened? 

And Deitz is personally insulting every Berks County atheist and agnostic with his preaching, implying that we’re missing out on a lot of life.

Why does Deitz want to alienate and divide so much of the community? As editor, he could spend his week writing his Sunday piece about local politics or economic development or the arts scene.

Deitz doesn’t realize that in the public sphere, religion is not the answer. In fact, it’s more often the problem. That’s one way faith becomes extreme, when the powerful overtly or covertly press it on people, perhaps in editorials such as this.

Executive journalists should focus their work on the needs of the community, not insulting people by using their position to push their superstitions.

And there is always Matthew 6:5:

“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.”

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* Jesus, my Latin teacher, my in-laws, Einstein, J.S. Bach, G.M. Hopkins, T.S. Eliot, F. O'Connor, J. Coltrane.

3 comments:

  1. I'd like to hear how this alleged man of faith rationalizes "laying off" longtime loyal employees for made-up reasons. With no severance package whatsoever. Guess that's a column we're never going to read.

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  2. I am not religious by any means, but I disagree that Dietz has overstepped any boundaries in this column. It is a personal column, not an editorial, and thus he is not speaking for the paper as a whole. When I wrote a regular opinion column for the Eagle, I was told everything was fair game, although I was expected to adhere to standards of good taste. He has the same right to express his opinion. He believes that a return to the religious social structures of the past would be a boon to society. I would say, it ain't necessarily so, but he has every right to speak his mind nonetheless.

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  3. Maybe Deitz and Nemirow can alternate columns on A2.

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