Nicole Greenfield: The Washington Post completely missed the religion part of a religion story published in today’s paper. “In the Looking Glass,” about author Alice Walker’s recent appearance in DC to promote her new book, focuses on Walker’s politics and activism, but ignores the actual “spirituality” that informs those politics and drives that activism. Although the reporter notes that Walker’s current activism “comes in a more self-reflective and overtly spiritual package,” she makes a costly mistake by not explaining what that means. She writes that Walker’s “lifelong opposition to war” and “belief that the ‘current political situation is so gruesome'” informs and influences her work, but fails to recognize the spiritual foundations for those beliefs, even though they are teased throughout the article. This is a major oversight not only for the obvious reason that Walker’s political activism is inherently connected to her spirituality, but also because it demonstrates an ineptitude among reporters to successfully link liberal religious beliefs to national politcal issues. “In the Looking Glass” is yet another example of how the press deals with such stories by forgetting the religion and focusing on the political.