A debate, just not the one he envisioned

One of my best friends is what some would describe as a Christian

fundamentalist. He has a strong faith that leaves him, let’s say,

rigid in his thinking.

While we both share a faith in Christianity, my Catholic

upbringing gives me a sometimes sharply different view of the world.

For example, when I told him a few months back that I was going to

attend an interfaith prayer breakfast, he bristled at the idea of

something being “interfaith.”

Let’s just say his tolerance level for other religions isn’t so

high.

When we get to talking about religion, I find myself wincing and

biting my tongue and reminding myself that debates over religion and

politics are better kept to yourself.

That’s the advice I’d give some of our letter writers who sparked

that emotional tinderbox in recent days after we published a

photograph of a Newport Harbor football player deep in prayer after

the team lost its CIF championship game.

The arguments to and fro have questioned the Constitutional

separation of church and state, whether public school students should

be praying at all, and if God chooses sides at sporting events.

All are deep philosophical conundrums I agree, but the truth is

it’s highly unlikely one letter writer is going to sway another to

his or her way of thinking in matters of religion.

What I’d rather discuss is the precision of our language that

evoked all the discussion in the first place, and even the decision

to run the photo of young Steve Joslin in an emotional moment.

What we said about the photo was that Steve was crying as he stood

in the middle of the team’s final huddle after its loss to Orange

Lutheran.

Steve’s father wrote in to correct us and say that his son wasn’t

in a huddle, where a play was being called, but was surrounded by his

teammates in a moment of prayer after the game had finished.

I agree that we should have been more clear and said in the photo

caption that the players were praying, not in a huddle.

But I have to confess, I worried about the photo from the moment I

saw it, and not because of the aforementioned reasons.

I worried because I wondered if that was the right image for us to

show at the end of what was a great Newport Harbor football season.

It was definitely a moving picture, and I doubt young Steve gave

it much thought, but that’s the debate that I thought would happen

but never did.

I was waiting to get the phone calls. They never came.

Of course, it’s never too late to start that debate now and the

best part is we can keep religion out of it.

On a lighter note, I’d like to send a note of congratulations out

to former Daily Pilot editors Eric Marson and Rob Lyon on the 10-year

anniversary of the their publication OC Golf and the subsequent

announcement that the magazine will be combined with SD Golf and LA

Golf into one mega magazine for linksters called Southland Golf

starting on Jan. 1.

Marson and Lyon started the magazine while they were editors here,

then set off on their own after it became a financial hit. They later

sold it to Churm Publishing, Inc, which publishes OC Metro, OC Family

and other local periodicals.

It’s good news for a couple good guys.

The last year has brought a lot of change around here.

We moved from our longtime offices, our fearless leader, Publisher

Tom Johnson, got a new kidney care of his older brother (he’d doing

great by the way) and we’ve lost a number of longtime staffers.

I’m betting 2005 will be a little less momentous, but there are

definitely a few changes afoot, the biggest on the way will be a

relaunch of our website. Currently, our website is a just page on

www.latimes.com, but within the next month or so, that is going to

change as we launch an independent site with a whole new look and

feel.

As for the main newspaper, we are planning some new reader

features and columns that should be up and running by mid January.

Also in 2005, Tom Johnson and I look forward to playing host to

community members and giving them better access and lines of

communication with this newspaper.

In the meantime, I’d like to take this space to wish all of our

readers and all of the local leaders who make this newspaper work the

happiest of holiday seasons and a prosperous and safe new year.

See you all in 2005.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. You can contact him at (714) 966-4608

or by e-mail at [email protected] or by mail to 1375 Sunflower

Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626.