Harry Jackson

Headline wording choice can set the tone for liberal bias, and a November 18 Washington Post Style front-pager is a classic example.

Profiling Pentecostal preacher Bishop Harry Jackson, the Post titled staffer Wil Haygood's story "Seeking to put asunder," an obvious allusion to Jesus's declaration about the holy nature of matrimony (Matthew 19:4-6 KJV):

And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made [them] at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

Of course, that scriptural passage succinctly illustrates Jackson's point: Christian doctrine regarding marriage is that "from the beginning" God's design was one man and one woman in a "one flesh" union, but the effect of the headline's allusion is the same. The paper is portraying Jackson as a man who aims to "put asunder" loving, committed gay couples who are "married."

"Geez, when will this guy go away?!" That's the tenor of the lede to Washington Post staffer Tim Craig's story "Pastor Redoubles Efforts vs. Same-Sex Marriage" (emphasis mine):

Bishop Harry Jackson is refusing to relent in his campaign to stop same-sex marriage in the District, despite the drubbing he took before the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics this summer. 

What Jackson is trying to do is put the following initiative before voters:

Only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in the District of Columbia.

Earlier this year the D.C. Council passed a bill to recognize gay marriages performed in states where they are valid. Craig noted before closing with an admonition for Jackson from a liberal activist: