“I don’t remember the Book of Panama anywhere,” he said. control.Īn important issue, said Olasky, but not one the Bible spoke to. One of the issues included in the ratings was the fate of the Panama Canal and whether it should remain under U.S. He recalled reading a magazine early in his career that rated members of Congress on how Christian their views were on the topics of the day. Olasky told RNS he has long been concerned about Christian commentary that’s based on political concerns, not the Bible. “Ī variety of recent World Magazine covers. “That mindset runs counter to the message of the Bible as well as the on-the-ground reporting that we do in diverse communities in the United States and around the world. “To me, the issue is the belief that one narrow subset of Christians is in sole possession of the ‘correct’ ideology and are the only voices to be trusted,” Fulton said in her resignation letter, which she posted on Twitter. Perhaps more than that, they worried the conservative commentary would define World’s identity and the opinion section would claim to portray “the Christian view” on a topic, rather than one of many views held by Christians on a specific topic. RELATED: Mark Galli, former Christianity Today editor and Trump critic, to be confirmed as a CatholicĪll were concerned the new opinion section - which focuses on conservative political and cultural views - would overshadow World’s commitment to reporting. 31.Several other key World staffers have also resigned, including senior editor Mindy Belz, who had been with the magazine since the 1980s magazine managing editor Angela Lu Fulton and senior reporter Sophia Lee. In response, Olasky resigned, effective Jan. He viewed the decision to start World Opinion as a no-confidence vote by the board of God’s World Publications Inc., the magazine’s parent nonprofit. The decision to start the new World Opinion was made without Olasky’s approval - he had heard some discussion in the spring of 2021 about bringing in outside opinion writers but objected to the idea.
Those plans changed after World’s publisher announced the launch of a new online opinion section, overseen by Albert “Al” Mohler, a prominent Southern Baptist seminary president known for his conservative commentary. Olasky had hoped to end his tenure as editor-in-chief, which began in 1994, in the summer of 2022. And I’m very proud that we’ve been able to fulfill that calling for all those years.”
“But who else in Christian journalism is doing, on an issue by issue basis, that type of digging for specific details? That’s where I think World has a unique position. “There are a whole lot of publications I can read for various opinions,” he told Religion News Service in a phone interview from his home in Austin, Texas. That approach, he said, set World apart at a time when hot takes often drive more traffic than detailed, careful, intensive reporting. (RNS) - Marvin Olasky has long believed in the Bible and the power of journalism.įor nearly three decades, he put his faith in both to work as the editor-in-chief of World magazine, a theologically conservative publication that values street-level reporting over “suite-level” opinions.
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