We were surprised to see a New York Times headline this week:

 His Reasons for Opposing Trump Were Biblical. Now a Top Christian Editor Is Out.

A clash over culture and politics comes to World, a groundbreaking journalistic that covers evangelical Christians.

Marvin Olasky, our recent Great Defender of Life honoree, editor of WORLD magazine since 1994, and now editor in chief, submitted his resignation on the first of November.  Why?

From the Times story:

As the longtime editor of World, a Christian news organization that has a website, a biweekly magazine and a set of podcasts, Mr. Olasky has delivered a mix of hard news and watchdog articles about the evangelical realm under a journalistic philosophy he calls “biblical objectivity.”

It involves taking strong stands where the Bible is clear, which has led World to oppose abortion rights and support refugees, he says, and to follow reportable facts where the Bible doesn’t provide clear guidance.

 However:

He had, he said, received an effective “vote of no confidence” from World’s board, which had recently started a section of the website, World Opinions, without fully consulting him. The new section offers opinion essays on religious issues with the kind of commentary on secular topics like mask mandates, inflation, race and President Biden’s spending plans that can be found on any number of other conservative websites.

GetReligion’s editor, Terry Mattingly, an Olasky friend, had this to say:

There is, of course, no way to leave Donald Trump out of this story, with Olasky submitting his resignation (he was planning to retire next summer) after a coup in the World board after several years of tensions. Among the hot-button issues, readers learn, were COVID-19 masks and voter fraud (#DUH).

His commentary on the story is well worth a read, here.

It sure seems lacking in integrity for the WORLD board to circumvent their longtime editor as reported; ironic, because if there is anything Olasky stands for, it is integrity, in journalism and in character.

At our Great Defender of Life Dinner on October 7^th, Olasky’s personal character was praised by a famous friend, David Bahnsen, who said Marvin was the “kindest, most patient, most sincere, most well-intentioned, most sacrificial Christian thought leader I’ve ever encountered.”

You may watch Bahnsen’s introduction and Olasky’s address—transmitted remotely—on the importance of journalistic integrity!–at about 40 minutes in, here.