Chuck Smith Heralded as Jesus in Backwards California County

Tehama County, California, is one of the Golden State's more-backward counties, with a population of about 60,000 and a local economy predicated on tourism and...uh, not much else. The main newspaper in town, the Red Bluff Daily News, is a Dean Singleton-owned rag, and thus we can't expect much of it.

But the Daily News' advance story last week to publicize an appearance by homo-hating Chuck Smith (founder of Santa Ana's Calvary Chapel) goes even below the depths of mainstream journalism. "He has remained a student of the word of God, as well as being gifted by God as a teacher of the word," the unsigned story gushed. "He has been given the ability to teach God's word in a simple, low-key, yet powerful manner that listeners of all ages can easily learn and apply to their daily lives."

Unless the Nazarene is the Daily News editor, the "story" sounds more like a Calvary Chapel press release or an evangelical writer trying to impose their views on Tehama County's yokel populace. No comments yet on the Daily News website--although we can't imagine any complaints considering the paper's most popular story at the moment is about a biting dog.

Pictured: Smith