Lifesite news is far from being Christian, let alone Catholic. If you comment against their writers view, they ban you from commenting without the professional courtesy of explanation, or the ability to defend your comment, or even retract it. The Nazis did the same thing with their press, and found people guilty without a fare trial.
Recently, LifeSiteNews featured an article on former pornography performer Shelley Lubben, making her out to be a hero. It was written by Jonathon van Maren. As a Christian, I posted a comment that there is plenty of evidence that Lubben is not the righteous person she claims to be, and that there is a two-part article on the Web by April Garris, one of her former co-workers and also a Christian, who essentially calls Lubben a false prophet and a con artist. My comment was promptly deleted. So, I posted another comment, expressing surprise that my honest comment was deleted and mentioning that God would never approve of such behavior. This was deleted too.
I also posted a link to the article by Garris on Mr. van Maren's Facebook page, and it was deleted as well. That was shocking.
I then searched the Web and found out the e-mail address of the president/director Steve Jalsevac. So, I sent him an e-mail and told him what happened. He said that he actually told Mr. van Maren to delete my comments. Then he offered a half-baked explanation about why. I responded to his e-mail, explaining my position further and giving more information that refuted Mr. van Maren's article.
Well, Mr. Jalsevac was downright arrogant and unfriendly. He was not willing to look at any of the information I offered him concerning Lubben. His stubborn attitude was basically, "Don't confuse me with the facts—I've already made up my mind!" It's like he wouldn't listen to a thing I was saying, and he was very defensive. He just rationalized their insensitive behavior, offered absolutely no apology, and in fact actually became quite accusatory and hostile, trying to shift the blame (as verbal abusers often do). For instance, he implied that my comments were untrustworthy and that I had some sort of "personal agenda" against Lubben, which was completely false. And in response to my dismay over having my comments rudely deleted twice without any explanation, besides minimizing my feelings and making the lame excuse that they don't "have time" to offer explanations for deleting comments, he tried to turn the tables on *me* and imply that *I* was the one who was being rude and un-Christlike!!! I guess his philosophies are, "The best defense is a good offense" and "The customer is always wrong." Anyway, the Bible says in James 3:17 that we should be "easy to be entreated," but Jalsevac was the total opposite of that—as well as the rest of the qualities mentioned in that verse. The Bible also says, "By their fruits you will know them." I just got a very weird, cold vibe trying to have any kind of reasonable discussion with him, and I feel sorry for anyone who has him as a boss.
This supposedly Christian organization seems to care nothing about the truth, and in fact actively suppresses it. Instead of having the servant spirit that Jesus described as a mark of greatness, they seem to be unloving and completely lacking in gentleness and humility. They are not open to any kind of correction or constructive criticism about inaccurate content in their articles, so please don't waste your breath—it is like casting pearls before swine. Their attitude seems to be, "How DARE you question anything we publish! We are always right—and never make mistakes!!!" As Proverbs 12:15 points out, "The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice." I think my treatment from them would qualify as "spiritual abuse." No doubt many others have experienced it from them as well. In fact, here are a couple of quotes from an article about spiritual abuse that seem to describe their behavior exactly:
"Abusive leaders are preoccupied with looking good. They labor to keep up appearance. They stifle any criticism that puts them in a bad light."
"Most abusive religious systems are very well rationalized and well-defended. Abusive leaders are unlikely to respond well to your rational objections and constructive criticisms. Spiritual abuse is never the result of confused thinking. It is caused by a lust for power."
In a nutshell, this place is just plain scary. Please avoid it like the plague.
I went on reading an article today called "Tiny pro-life activist making big waves" and I made a comment that was in no way offensive, even agreeing with them, but adding some more sobering issues that they should be concerned about. My post was not published, and when I wrote another one asking why, I had this note delivered tome: "We are unable to post your comment because you have been blocked by LifeSiteNews.com. " So much for their honesty and transparency. One can really grow weary by those self righteous do-gooders!