A USA Today columnist claims that NBC isn’t mentioning it in their coverage. I was going to disagree, but then I remembered that Bob Costas’ ill-informed declaration that he wanted to get over there and see the Shroud (since it’s on display..what..every 20 years?) was in a piece on the NBC Nightly News.

And, over five days of coverage so far, NBC (with the exception of Today) has yet to mention the Shroud of Turin. Whether you venerate the Shroud as the actual burial cloth of a crucified Jesus of Nazareth or dismiss it as a clever medieval forgery, it’s odd NBC has ignored one of world’s most mysterious, and controversial, religious artifacts.

With rioting continuing in some Muslim countries over Danish cartoons portraying the Prophet Mohammed, Catholic League President Bill Donohue believes a "hypocritical" NBC is deliberately avoiding religion. "If you asked the average American to name something about Turin, Italy, they’d name the Shroud," Donohue said. "It’s like having the Olympics in Fort Knox and not mentioning gold."

David Neal, executive producer of NBC’s Olympic coverage, said the network trains its talent at seminars to be consistently fair, neutral and objective. "We are here to document the Olympics; we’re not here to be cheerleaders," Neal said Tuesday from Torino. Coincidentally, NBC is routinely accused of pushing U.S. propaganda. "Every two years," Neal said, "some columnist will write NBC is being jingoistic."

As for the Shroud, NBC is working on a feature, Neal added. The reason it hasn’t aired yet is simple, Neal said. The network is cutting back on features to concentrate on event action. Stay tuned.

Sigh. I am not sure how my civil rights as a Catholic are being violated by this, but…