Peter Steinfels is the perfect religion editor for the New York Times. He has the two basic requirements:
1. He knows nothing about religion.
2. He doesn’t believe in God.
Also, 3. he shares the NY Times’ hatred and contempt for Catholicism.
So, it’s kind of a trifecta.
It appears that Steinfels is a Catholic, a professor at Fordham U. and was associated with Commonweal the liberal Catholic opinion magazine. As backup he disputes the auhority of the National Association of Catholic bishops statement on abortion and quotes from the lefty Jesuit magazine America.