Here's a hopeful note, for those who care about high-quality religion coverage in the mainstream press. The name of this blog is GetReligion, because we believe that many journalists do not "get religion." However, you could run another blog called GetJournalism, because there are many, many, many leaders in religious organizations -- left and right -- who have zero appreciation for the role that journalists play, or should play, in this culture. Many people with "Rev." and especially "the Right Rev." in front of their names want public relations, not journalism.

So I was encouraged when I saw this commentary on Baptist Press entitled "The perverse logic of abortion," by Dr. R. Albert Mohler Jr., one of the most brilliant minds on the rock-ribbed right side of Southern Baptist higher education. The subject of his commentary is that gripping feature story on abortion by Los Angeles Times reporter Stephanie Simon.

Now, as young master Daniel Pulliam noted earlier this week, this article is brutal in its candor and in its almost evangelistic use of "born again" language in describing the work of abortionist Dr. William F. Harrison of Fayetteville, Ark. Obviously, Mohler is sickened by much of what is reported. But, and here is the crucial point, he praises the journalist for the information reported, even though he is appalled by these very same details. Far too often, religious leaders lash out at the journalists in a classic damn-the-messenger manner.

This is progress.

Perhaps the most shocking dimension of Dr. Harrison's candor is the manner in which he cloaks his practice of abortion in religious language. In the Los Angeles Times article, Harrison refers to women who have terminated their pregnancies as being "born again" through the experience. In his statement published in the Reproductive Freedom Task Force newsletter, Harrison claimed to have heard "a still, small voice asking, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' to which I was at last compelled to reply, 'Here am I, send me.'" Here we confront the breathtaking delusion of a man who would cite God's call to the prophet Isaiah as a parallel to his "calling" to be an abortionist.

The debate over abortion is often reduced to a battle over statistics and politics. Stephanie Simon's article should remind us all that the reality of abortion is unspeakably ugly, undeniably tragic and morally corrupting. The statements made by these women seeking abortions -- and by the doctor who so gladly performs them -- reveals the true nature of the challenge we face. The culture of death is rarely revealed with such clarity.

Amen. May other hierarchs pay heed. It is good to praise journalists when they do their jobs with excellence. This will also pay off, when it comes time to put a hot spotlight on journalistic heresies.