Two well-known news magazines provided an interesting juxtaposition of religious stories during the Easter season. The Canadian Maclean’s carried a cover story with the headline "Je$us" while the American newsmagazine Newsweek cover depicted the crucified Jesus and carried the title "From Resurrection to the Rise of Christianity."

The Macleans story featured the “fraud of the century” involving the so-called ossuary of James, the brother of Jesus, which had been introduced to the world by an Israeli dealer in antiques, Oded Golan. The Canadian angle here was the use made of the ossuary by Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum to draw tens of thousands of viewers to an exhibition of the artifact. The Newsweek story gave a careful assessment of the claims to the resurrection of Jesus and how these provided strength to the witness of early Christians and fueled the church’s growth.

In some telling ways, these two pieces may illustrate how the media in our two countries like to illustrate religion and, specifically, Christian faith. Ours do it more superficially, more cynically, more dismissively, more one-sidedly–simply with fewer assumptions of its credibility. Significant numbers of the American media, on the other hand, will take the viewpoint of Christian spokespersons, scholars or religious leaders with greater respect and seriousness. The assumptions of people who voice their Christian faith will be granted the validity of those who don’t share those assumptions.

The story of the deathwatch of Terri Schiavo illustrates the differences precisely. Canadian media almost consistently reflected the viewpoint of Terri’s husband and those who supported withdrawing her feeding and fluid tubes. The CBC showed only “kooks” when it portrayed the opposition. American media, on the other hand, gave both sides sympathetic coverage. Can we say we are better served by our coverage? I don’t think so.