It would be hard to pick up the big newspapers right now and try to argue that the major, elite media are not trying to “get religion” right now. It’s like the editors have all walked the aisle at the President Barack Obama revival and made professions of faith.

Which leads me to another review of that new book from the Oxford Center for Religion and Public Life’s new book, “Blind Spot: When Journalists Don’t Get Religion.”

This book is directly linked to the mission of this weblog and, as you can tell from the title, we know that there are reporters who do get religion, because we are focusing on case studies linked to times when journalists failed get religion.

However, the crew over at the Culture11 website ran an edgy essay the other day by the conservative journalist Les Sillars, who teaches journalism at Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Va. The headline: “Target Practice — Why journalists won’t get religion anytime soon.” At one point, Sillars voices an argument often heard in conservative religious circles, which is that journalists tend to mess up religion news because they are prejudiced against religion and, to be specific, against Christianity.

This viewpoint was voiced at a forum promoting the book, which led to an exchange with Amy Sullivan of Time, who argued that her success at that magazine shows that there is a new openness and respect for Christians in many newsrooms.