How a Newspaper Headline Became a Sermon—And What That Says About Our Culture
I saw the headline and had to look twice.
“Heaven gained three beautiful angels.”
This wasn’t posted by a church or a grieving relative. It came from The Huntsville Times, a professional media outlet, as it promoted a story from AL.com about a tragic plane crash in Montana that killed a father and his two daughters.
And with that headline, journalism stopped being journalism.
✝️ Not Reporting—Preaching
It’s one thing to quote a grieving mother who says, “They’re with Jesus now.” That’s personal. It’s human. It’s part of the story.
But when the headline declares that heaven gained three angels, the paper isn’t quoting—it’s asserting. It’s adopting a specific theological worldview and presenting it as if it were fact.
Imagine the outcry if a headline had said:
“Three lives lost. No god answered.”
That would be labeled offensive. Cold. Atheistic propaganda.
But when religious language is used—especially Christian language—it somehow slides past our filters. It feels “normal.” It feels “comforting.”
And that’s precisely the problem.
🧠 The Comfort Trap
Why did AL.com choose that headline? Because it comforts. Because it fits the mold. Because it avoids the unbearable reality of what happened:
- A young, vibrant flight instructor died.
- Her sister, still so full of life, died with her.
- Their father, a man who raised and flew with them, died too.
- One woman—their mother—is left behind with a silence no prayer vigil can fill.
Saying they became angels in heaven is not truth. It’s a story we tell because the real story hurts too much. But pain doesn’t justify abandoning truth. And journalism, of all places, should not be where truth goes to die.
🔍 But What’s the Evidence?
Let’s ask the obvious question:
What evidence is there that these three are now angels in heaven?
The answer is none.
No data. No observation. No credible, testable claim. Just inherited beliefs and cultural rituals. Repeated so often that we confuse them for reality.
If we truly care about honoring the dead, we should honor the truth of their lives—not overwrite it with fantasies.
😔 What This Headline Reveals
This headline exposes something deeper about our culture:
- We are terrified of death.
- We’d rather believe in invisible comfort than visible suffering.
- We confuse sentiment with truth—and elevate the former over the latter.
Journalism should not reinforce that confusion. It should challenge it.
Because every time a newspaper becomes a pulpit, the public loses an opportunity to think. To reflect. To face what’s real.
And in a society addicted to soft lies, we need more clarity—not more comforting illusions.
🧾 Final Thought
I don’t know what happens when we die. No one does.
But I do know this: it cheapens our grief when we skip past the sorrow and reach for a heaven we can’t see, a god we can’t prove, and wings that were never there.
If The Huntsville Times wants to share hope, let it do so through human compassion, through truth, and through the incredible life stories of those we’ve lost.
Not through preaching.
Not through platitudes.
And not by pretending.
God or Delusion? 