Only one paper understood religion — and still does

National Post, 27 October 2018

One column is rather small real estate, but it indicated a different approach to the news, an approach that made room for those who see the world through the eyes of faith

20 Years: The National Post’s supporters, detractors, insiders on the paper’s founding and its impact.

This coming Saturday the National Post marks 20 years since our first issue. Twenty years in the life of a great newspaper is not that long, but 20 years for a new print daily in the Internet age is significant. One might consider digital years to be like dog years — a year of survival in the Internet age is like seven in the years of print dominance. So we are rapidly approaching our sesquicentennial.

Last week, I wrote of my own beginnings at the National Post in 1998. A regular presence in these pages though is an indication of something larger, namely that the Post came along at just the time when understanding the news required a better understanding of religion.

My column is not a religious affairs column. It is column of general commentary, with a particular attention to our culture as seen from a perspective which attempts to see all things in the light of the Christian faith. Many times that might be very much in the background; sometimes it is up front.

But that the Post would make room for such a column was most timely. One column is rather small real estate in a daily broadsheet, but it indicated a different approach to the news, an approach that made room for those who see the world through the eyes of faith.

It was timely because it is not possible to understand world affairs today without giving prominence to the role of religion.

That has been most evident in the malevolent face of fundamentalist extremism, from which violence and terrorism arise. Since 1998, global affairs — 9/11, the war in Iraq, the Arab Spring, the rise of ISIL, the transformation of Turkey, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Iran nuclear arms deal — cannot be understood without an appreciation of the religious identity and motivations of the principal actors.

Continue reading at the National Post: https://nationalpost.com/opinion/father-raymond-j-de-souza-only-one-paper-understood-religion-and-still-does