This AP story is a nearly perfect example of everything that’s wrong with reporting on religion. It implies that God and his teaching can best be determined by a poll of absolutely everybody. It quotes only church liberals or church people saying liberal things. (Don’t believe it when people say the news about John Paul is all roses: note his appearance here as an out-of-touch grampaw.) Nowhere in it is any reference to Jesus Christ or the Bible. It implies that the fate of the church lies in their willingness to “win back” people by setting traditions aside and ruling by a finger in the wind.

I can just imagine the people polled for this story appearing for eternal judgment before God and saying at the pearly gates, “You failed to win me back by giving me a greater say.” It’s God’s job to impress you?