One of the lead stories in today’s New York Times is about the visit of an important spiritual leader, someone looked to by millions as a source of wisdom and guidance. His books, and books about him, sell by the truckload. He can fill stadiums. He wears a really big hat.

No, not the Dalai Lama. He doesn’t wear hats. The other one. Pope Benedict XVI ^[1]. He’ll be in D.C. and New York next week, as noted by yesterday’s P-I ^[2].

The New York Times has been mostly ignoring the Dalai Lama’s visit to Seattle, with the exception of an article on Friday so reductive and simplistic as to be almost hilarious. [NY TImes] ^[3] Choice quotes:

Spirits here are soaring these days. In a town where oms often drone out hallelujahs, more than 150,000 people are expected to flock to hear the Dalai Lama during a five-day conference starting Friday.

The expectation…is that [the Dalai Lama] will stick with what got him here, “dialoguing” about the importance of an inclusive kindness and compassion: pitch-perfect preaching for an area with one of the country’s lowest rates of church attendance and a notable lack of interest in mainstream American religion.

Much of Seattle has long had Sunday mornings free. Some Lutheran churches in the old Scandinavian fishing neighborhoods of Ballard have been converted to housing. Churches downtown have been sold. The Episcopal cathedral, on a hill overlooking the city, has struggled with budgets and internal politics.

Spirituality and self-help sections in bookstores do well, neighborhood farmer’s markets thrive, and craigslist is the place to go this week if you want to buy tickets from scalpers to see the “simple monk” from Tibet.

Because, of course, there are no churches left in this city and our idea of spiritual enlightenment is a copy of Why Is It Always About You? The Seven Deadly Sins of Narcissism.

The view from Ninth Avenue ^[4] has not changed.

William Yardley, the article’s author, ought to know better. He’s been the Seattle-based reporter for the TImes for awhile now, writing on everything from sinkholes ^[5] to former Senator Larry Craig ^[6] to Alaska fishing deaths ^[7] to local politics ^[8] and Idaho silver miners ^[9]. Hey William: Be a reporter. Go visit a local church or two. Or synagogue. Or monastery. Or mosque.