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Thank you. Let's just say it's been a very busy new cycle for the last 10 or 12 days. So these headlines,

and they are legitimate headlines in big press outlets, might have missed your attention.

Suicide bombing at Damascus Church kills at least 20. Suicide bombing at Damascus Church,

25 killed, Syrian authorities say, and 20 killed in a suicide bombing at a Damascus church

from Reuters from the New York Times.

Well, what does this coverage tell us?

Greetings and welcome back to issues, et cetera.

I'm Todd Wilkin.

Joining us to talk about media coverage of this suicide bombing in Syria.

Terry Mattingly, Senior Fellow on Communications and Culture at St. Constantine College

in Houston, Texas. He writes Rational Sheep, a substack newsletter for faith family and mass media.

He's author of the National On Religion column for the Andrews McBeill Universal Syndicate, and for two

decades, he led the GetReligion.org website. Terry, welcome back.

Glad to be here. What is this bombing in Damascus have to do with the Book of Acts chapter 1126?

Well, that's a question, isn't it? I think the key thing, and I know you cannot take people from church pews and automatically assume that what is happening in their heads and what

they're feeling has anything to do with news value. If I've learned anything about journalism,

that's true. But if you read the following words to, I think, Protestant Christians as well as Catholic

...