NPR is a very favorable place for atheists. Richard Dawkins, the harsh leftist author of “The God Delusion,” was smothered in air-kisses on the Diane Rehm Show on Tuesday (distributed across the country from WAMU-FM in DC). Fill-in host Katty Kay of the BBC began: “This year Richard Dawkins was voted the world's top thinker in Prospect Magazine's poll of 10,000 readers in more than 100 countries.”
 
As he touts the first half of his memoirs in a book called “An Appetite for Wonder,” Kay oozed: “I wanted to start by asking you if it's a prerequisite for the world's top thinker to have an appetite for wonder?” This followed:

For all of those networks and newspapers who annually pretend the March for Life does not exist, we shall see if a Washington rally by thousands of atheists is considered equally as "newsworthy." Don't empty your wallet betting on that. Advertised speakers at the March 24 "Reason Rally"  include Congressman Pete Stark, author Richard Dawkins ("The God Delusion"), comedians Paul Provenza and Jamie Kilstein, "Mythbusters" co-host Adam Savage, the rock band Bad Religion and the hip-hop artist "Rational Warrior a.k.a Tombstone Da Deadman," and Jamila Bey ("former editor and producer for National Public Radio").

NPR and MSNBC have already noticed. The CBS DC website carried this promotional headline: "'We Are Stronger’: Atheists To Hold Massive Rally On National Mall Next Month.” One would hope reporters would ask where the bar is set when the Reason Rally website boasts: “Join us for the largest gathering of the secular movement in world history.”

 

CNN correspondent Max Foster’s short report about Richard Dawkins on Tuesday’s Situation Room played more like a commercial which promoted the militant atheist’s new book. Despite Dawkins’s past inflammatory statements about Christianity, Foster only labeled him “an outspoken critic of creationism....[whose] atheist views have put him at the center of controversy” [audio clip available here].

Anchor Suzanne Malveaux’s introduction for the correspondent’s report highlighted the 150th anniversary of the printing of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” and how Dawkins was a “controversial successor [to Darwin] carrying the torch for evolution.” Foster gave a very basic description of Dawkins’s career during his report, only mentioning his controversial stances only in passing. Video straight from the Richard Dawkins Foundation ran on-screen as Foster, an anchor for CNN’s sister network CNN International, gave his voice-over.

In all the brouhaha last week over the incendiary comments made by Barack Obama's pastor the media seemed to forget to partake in their traditional Holy Week Christian-bashing excercise.  There were a few entries in the "Easter Hit Parade," like the Comedy Central show "Root of All Evil" which my boss, Brent Bozell, wrote about in a column recently, and an episode of "Law and Order" which featured another Christian-stones-someone storyline. I suppose it's good news that there was less faith flagellation courtesy of the liberal media, and yet at the same time it's sad that I was expecting to find it at Easter time.  But the fact remains that Christmas and Easter are generally times when the media attacks on Christians are more pronounced.For atheists it's a different story.