The Associated Press today published
a fashion piece about the Texas polygamist compound where
underage girls have been seized by federal authorities.
Readers are told that the women keep their hair long because
“they believe they will use it to wash Christ’s feet during the
Second Coming,” at which point the news agency sees fit to offer
the following:
Celebrity stylist Ted Gibson thinks it gives off a
“homely” impression: “It says, ‘I don’t really care very much. I
really don’t have time to worry about the way I look, because I
have 20 children.”
Anyone who wonders whether newspapers treat religious subjects more
or less antagonistically than other matters should ask themselves
whether they ever expect to see a religious proponent of modesty in
dress asked for a quote interpreting what Oscar night attire “says”
about its wearers.