"Religion beat became a test of faith"

I heard the tail end of this guy's interview on NPR. His essay is long, but worth reading - it made a big impression on me. Below is a couple of excerpts:

July 21, 2007
LA Times
Religion beat became a test of faith
A reporter looks at how the stories he covered affected him and his spiritual journey.
By William Lobdell

WHEN Times editors assigned me to the religion beat, I believed God had answered my prayers. As a serious Christian, I had cringed at some of the coverage in the mainstream media. Faith frequently was treated like a circus, even a freak show. I wanted to report objectively and respectfully about how belief shapes people's lives. Along the way, I believed, my own faith would grow deeper and sturdier. But during the eight years I covered religion, something very different happened.

snip

IN early 2002, I was assigned to work on the Catholic sex scandal story as it erupted across the nation. . .I couldn't get the victims' stories or the bishops' lies — many of them right there on their own stationery — out of my head. I had been in journalism more than two decades and had dealt with murders, rapes, other violent crimes and tragedies. But this was different — the children were so innocent, their parents so faithful, the priests so sick and bishops so corrupt. . .I understood that I was witnessing the failure of humans, not God. But in a way, that was the point. I didn't see these institutions drenched in God's spirit. Shouldn't religious organizations, if they were God-inspired and -driven, reflect higher standards than government, corporations and other groups in society?

http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-me-lostfaith21jul21,1,6745960.story