Ah, the New York Daily News. How I remember that tabloid journal from my boyhood. That was the newspaper that splashed across its front page photos of the bloody barbershop where Mafia don Albert Anastasia met his end. It was then–is it still?–the largest circulation newspaper in America. In Britain, the tabloids (“tabs”) were called penny dreadfuls. That’s because they cost a penny and they lacked the magisterial tone of the Times of London. Every morning they sold out and every evening they were used to wrap fish and chips.

Now, our Daily News is still plugging away. They conceive it as their duty to inform New York’s “working stiffs”–the subway straphangers–what they should think about the world. Don’t bother going inside to find the editorials. They’re all right there–on the front page. And so is the bias of the Daily News. I wouldn’t say the paper leans to the left, ideologically. The Leaning Tower of Pisa leans. This newspaper’s bias is flat-out, prone, supine.

Sometimes, the bias is so pronounced as to be hilarious. Did you know that John 3:16 is “Tim Tebow’s Verse?” The Daily News thinks it is. It’s almost as if the young quarterback spent his early years in the Philippines as a Wycliffe Bible Translator. If you consider this story, you are warned that–whoa! watch out here–Tim Tebow did a Super Bowl ad for the “anti-abortion” group, Focus on the Family. Focus on the Family is probably anti-Mafia, too. And anti-rubbing out dons in barbershops.

But the fact that they are anti-abortion is information you gotta know. It needs to be front-and-center for discerning readers of the Daily News. Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

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The front page of this morning’s USA Today features articles on two very different men, both of them champions of the gridiron: Tim Tebow, the devout Evangelical Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Florida,and Ben Roethlisberger, pro quarterback for the Pittsburg Steelers.

Roethlisberger, suspended for six games by the NFL for credible allegations of sexual assault against a 20 year-old woman in Milledgeville, Georgia, received a letter from League Commissioner Roger Goodell stating that “there is nothing about your conduct in Milledgeville that can remotely be described as admirable, responsible, or consistent with either the values of the league or the expectations of our fans.”

In contrast, USA Today notes that Tebow’s Christian faith has motivated him to travel “to impoverished hamlets, prisons and hospitals around the world.” Tebow’s unapologetic commitment to the sanctity of unborn life became widely known when, during this year’s Super Bowl broadcast, he was featured in an ad with his mother. As USA Today reports, “Pregnant with Tim in the Phillippines (where the Tebows were missionaries), his mother became ill, suffering internal bleeding … Doctors, fearing for her life, recommended an abortion. She decided to have the baby.” Now that baby has been selected in the first round of the NFL draft.

Tebow makes no pretension of moral perfection, but his dedication to living a life of integrity, purity and conviction, all on behalf of his Savior, is a striking reminder that Christian witness and servanthood can inspire and encourage.

As to Mr. Roethlisberger, we can pray that he will, in the words of the prophet Haggai, consider his ways. The way Mr. Tebow is following – the Way, in fact – is worth emulating.

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In the wake of the controversy surrounding the Tebow’s pro-life commercial during the Superbowl, I have to admit that my immediate reaction when it finally aired was: Really? What was all the hype about?

Let me be clear that I was very impressed by the Tebow ad. Rather, my reaction was in response to the numerous op-eds written about this short little spot in addition to the major campaign waged by pro-abortion groups against CBS and the Tebows over the last few weeks. Perhaps the most humorous (and disturbing) comment about the Tebow commercial yet is Terry O’Neill of NOW accusing the Tebows and CBS of promoting violence against women. “I am blown away at the celebration of the violence against women in it,” she said. I think CBS should be ashamed of itself.”

Why the hype?

I thought the Tebow commercial was beautiful, simple and understated. It was attractive in its simplicity and deep message. It definitely was not aggressive, ugly or manipulative:

Perhaps the greatest threat against abortion-rights has nothing to do with people like Pam Tebow or Focus on the Family, but is simply the message itself: truth. Truth is inherently attractive and has no need for sensationalizing

On that, in response to Terry O’Neill’s comment about the ad promoting violence against women, I might suggest that she would consider watching a little unborn girl undergo the “medical procedure” that abortion is. Indeed, in doing so she will witness firsthand the reality that abortion is one of the most heinous acts of violence that could ever occur to a little girl (or little boy).

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