Joe Klein and Religious Bigotry in TIME Magazine

In a cover story for TIME Magazine, political columnist Joe Klein (@JoeKleinTIME) takes a gratuitous and factually incorrect swipe at secular humanists.  The focus of this article is on helping returning troops regain their sense of purpose; that veterans’ groups are proving that public service is therapeutic.  Yet, for no apparent reason, Mr. Klein feels compelled to toss in an anti-secular jab:

But there was an occupying army of relief workers, led by local first responders, exhausted but still humping it a week after the storm, church groups from all over the country — funny how you don’t see organized groups of secular humanists giving out hot meals — and there in the middle of it all, with a purposeful military swagger, were the volunteers from Team Rubicon.

These remarks are factually wrong.  Mr. Klein clearly made no effort to fact check this.  He might have spent at least before injecting his religious bigotry into a national publication.

Joe Klein’s remarks perpetuate the bigotry against non-religious individuals and organizations.  (Can you imagine the reaction if, instead of “secular humanists”, Mr. Klein would have taken an unfounded swipe at “Muslims”? “Women? “Gays”? “Latinos”? “Democrats”?  Or, just about any other identifiable group?)  He and TIME should issue a correction for factual errors and an apology for the religious bigotry that should never appear in the pages of TIME.  If you agree, consider mentioning this to Mr. Klein and submitting a letter to the editor.