Religious double standards on the front of Thursday's New York Times: "The Pope, the Clerk and Culture Wars Revisited." During his U.S. tour, the Times celebrated Pope Francis's liberal tone on economic, environmental, and immigration issues. But when he reaffirmed his belief in religious freedom (and the Church's opposition to gay marriage) by secretly meeting with Kim Davis, the Kentucky county clerk who went to jail instead of issuing marriage licenses to gay couples, the Times adopted a puzzled, chiding tone, fretting that the Pope was reigniting the U.S. "culture war."
Homosexuality
After Fawning Over Pope's Economic Stands, NYT Accuses Him of Reigniting 'Culture Wars' by Meeting Kim Davis
By Clay Waters | October 1, 2015 | 11:44 PM EDT 
By NB Staff | October 1, 2015 | 3:35 PM EDT
"Pope Francis also visited the White House last week. But his Holiness was confused by Vice President Biden, who congratulated the Pope on the Cardinals having the best record in the league."
By Curtis Houck | October 1, 2015 | 7:14 AM EDT
It was quite the scene on Wednesday night as the viewers of MSNBC’s All In and The Last Word saw extensive meltdowns by two different panels over the revelation that Pope Francis took time during his visit to the United States to secretly meet with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis with panelists decrying how “deeply disappointed” they were at the “bizarre” meeting.
By Curtis Houck | October 1, 2015 | 2:07 AM EDT
ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel took time out of his opening monologue on Wednesday’s Jimmy Kimmel Live to grumble over the news that Pope Francis secretly met with Kentucky clerk Kim Davis last week during his visit to the U.S. and quip that it would have been better if he met with Kim Kardashian or murderous North Korea dictator Kim Jong-un instead.
Lefty Blogger Plans to Pray For Pope, Whose Meeting With Kim Davis Was a ‘Hamhanded Blunder…A Sin Against Charity’
By Tom Johnson | September 30, 2015 | 9:09 PM EDT Esquire’s Charles Pierce is a graduate of a Jesuit university (Marquette). It’s among the many reasons he’s been a big fan of Pope Francis, the first-ever Jesuit pontiff, and it’s probably one factor in his vehement disappointment that Francis met with, and apparently encouraged, gay-marriage objector Kim Davis last week in Washington.
Pierce referred to the pope’s behavior regarding the “nutball” Davis as “a fcking [sic] blunder,” “a sin against charity,” and “the dumbest thing [he] ever has done.” He concluded, as if addressing Francis, “I will pray for you, because, damn, son, you need it.”
By Kristine Marsh | September 30, 2015 | 1:06 PM EDT
What started as a rumor was confirmed by the Vatican mid-morning Wednesday: Kim Davis, the Kentucky County Clerk who went to jail for refusing to give same-sex marriage licenses, met with Pope Francis secretly last Thursday.
By Brad Wilmouth | September 27, 2015 | 11:49 PM EDT
On Sunday's Fareed Zakaria GPS, host Zakaria opened the show complaining about American Christians having "heated debates over abortion, abstinence, contraception, and gays," as he argued that Christianity is primarily supposed to be about "be[ing] nice to the poor."
By NB Staff | September 25, 2015 | 11:57 PM EDT
NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham appeared Friday night on The Steve Malzberg Show on Newsmax TV to discuss the Pope and President Obama.
First they discussed the U.S. News website trying to argue the pope “echoed” Obama in attacking Christianity in his speech to Congress. That wasn’t true, Graham said.
Law Professor: ‘Tantrum’-Throwing Religious Right ‘In the Grip of Gay Marriage Derangement Syndrome’
By Tom Johnson | September 25, 2015 | 9:41 PM EDT Variations on the term “Bush Derangement Syndrome” are common on both the right and the left (a Google search for “Clinton Derangement Syndrome” yielded roughly 180,000 results). Therefore, it wasn’t surprising to see Indiana University law prof Steve Sanders modify Charles Krauthammer’s famous coinage in order to trash religious conservatives.
“The Christian right is deep in the grip of gay marriage derangement syndrome,” wrote Sanders in a Thursday article for The Washington Monthly. “Conservative Christians grew accustomed to hegemony in a world where judges and lawmakers frequently deferred to their preferences…But as Americans become markedly less religious, things are changing, and the law’s treatment of homosexuality is a cutting edge of that change. So far the Christian right is reacting exactly like an indulged child throwing a particularly stormy tantrum.”
By Curtis Houck | September 25, 2015 | 11:41 AM EDT
Promoting a new movie on Thursday’s CNN Tonight, View co-host Whoopie Goldberg gushed that Pope Francis has made her “reinterested and reinvigorated” in the Catholic Church because she believes that he’s told parishioners they “don’t...need to be obsessed with gay people” and should “quit hurting women’s feeling about having gotten an abortion.”
By Alexa Moutevelis Coombs | September 24, 2015 | 11:55 PM EDT
The 12th season of Grey's Anatomy has begun and my, how it is showing its age! Apparently the episode was titled “Sledgehammer” to indicate that they are going to beat us over the head with the same liberal themes all season long.
By Curtis Houck | September 24, 2015 | 10:39 PM EDT
In the litany of network news coverage Thursday night on Pope Francis’s address to Congress, ABC’s World News Tonight largely stayed away from the Pope’s comments about abortion and traditional marriage by relegating them to vague references while CBS and NBC did their due diligence and mentioned them amidst their continued obsession over the Pope’s liberal positions.