Censorship at the Boston Globe?

A Boston Globe article this morning reported the Vatican complained that the international community is ignoring the plight of Christians in the Middle East, who are being persecuted as a result of the “extremist current’’ unleashed by the rise of “political Islam’’ as a threat to Christians. That complaint is true and raises a real problem that in my opinion goes well beyond religious persecution, but it does not tell the whole story.

I read several national papers regularly, and I make comments on their websites on matters that interest me if I have anything relevant to say on the issue. The Boston Globe is unusual in that it “removes” my comments from time to time. No other paper has ever removed my comments. I’ve noticed a pattern to these removals that is troublesome. All of the comments that have been removed have related either to policies of Israel or to the Catholic Church’s inadequate response to its sexual abuse problem. All were well-written (more extended versions of those comments appear on my blog) and properly-sourced, always polite, but often sharply critical. As is the case whenever comments are allowed there are mean-spirited, vicious comments that remain on the site even after mine is removed.

Boston is an interesting city, with strong Jewish and Catholic communities, and there are always defenders of Israel and of the Catholic Church who weigh in on any issue relevant to their community. I have concluded (without anything other than circumstantial evidence) that my comments are removed so as not to offend either group. If that is true it is an indictment of freedom of the press and a matter of concern. There is a “button” on the Globe website where readers can report “abuse” of policy—spam, profanity, personal attacks, etc. and I suspect that those who object to my viewpoints just hit the “abuse” button and it is removed so as not to offend. I now fight back, and each time it is removed I file a complaint, and each time the comment is then put back.

Am I paranoid? Am I being wrongly critical of the Globe? Maybe. Judge for yourself.

Here is my comment on the story about persecution of Christians in the Middle East, posted about noon today.

Two comments: [a] Religious persecution, wherever it occurs is objectionable. [b] The article, and the Vatican, expresses concern about persecution in the Middle East by Muslims, but it fails to discuss persecution by Israelis.

According to a number of websites, usually Christian fundamentalist, there is overt and repeated persecution of Christians in Israel. This item from NewsBlaze:

“Even though Israel signed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that says in Article 18, Everyone has the right to…change his religion…and freedom…to manifest his religion or beliefs in teaching, practice, worship and observance, persecution of Christians and Jewish converts to Christianity, continues in Israel…. According to the Jewish Telegraph Agency, “Israel has an estimated 8,000 so-called messianic Jews. In effect they are crypto-Christians, practicing their faith discreetly for fear of stoking hostility among mainstream Jews. Reprisals can sometimes be violent.” The intimidation and violence against the Jewish population who are Messianic was recently seen in a vicious attack on a Jewish Messianic pastor’s home. CNN’s Mark Bixler reported that the teenage son of a Messianic pastor was severely injured when a package delivered to his home exploded.

A second source reports that Christians working in Israel have been denied renewal of their visas. While no official reason was given, it appears obvious that there is a religious objection to “Christian missionaries” by the Israeli government. My personal opinion is that the whole concept of missionaries is objectionable and insulting, but since it is not illegal and there is an accord on religious freedom and exchange of religious personnel between US and Israel, it is pretty clearly a violation of religious freedom. Christian missionaries should be allowed to be fools for Christ.

There is no reason why Israel should get a pass on this issue.

About 45 minutes after it was posted, the comment was removed. I discovered it about an hour later. I complained to the Globe’s web editor. Then wrote another comment:

OK, I will try this again. My comment was removed. I will try to reproduce it from memory. I said that this news article indicated the Pope’s concern about discrimination against Christians in the Middle East but he only mentioned discrimination by Muslims. I noted that discrimination for religious reasons was objectionable no matter who does it and that Israel also discriminates against Christians, and I quoted two news sources with illustrations (and gave their links). I said that the Israeli discrimination was against Christian fundamentalist missionaries, and that while I thought sending religious missionaries was insulting it was allowed under an agreement between Israel and the US and they should not be interfered with. I closed quoting St. Paul, to the effect that they should be allowed to be “fools for Christ.” [I Corinthians 4:10]. Someone, possibly the editor, did not understand the biblical reference and must have taken offense. So much for intelligence at the Globe.

The Globe wrote back, as they usually do, and said that the removal was a mistake, due to a “technical glitch.” I got the same reply the last two times my comment was removed. So is this merely a response for having got called on this, or am I paranoid, that my comments are going to get removed by the Globe when someone there doesn’t like what I said?

Addendum 6:10 pm–

This story just got more intriguing. At 6 pm I checked that story on the Globe for updates and was surprised to discover that my second comment, outlining what I had said in the comment that had been removed and complaining about the Boston Globe having removed the comment, was itself removed. Obviously someone is reading these comments and arbitrarily deciding to remove those they don’t like. This looks like a confirmation of my suspicion—comments the Globe does not like for its content are being arbitrarily removed. A once fine newspaper seems to have lost its bearings.

The Christian Humanist