The saga of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford keeps getting stranger. Today we learned that when Sanford ostensibly came clean at his tearful press conference last week that he was, in fact, still lying.

In another tearful talk with the media, Sanford said Maria Belen Chapur wasn’t the only woman he’d “crossed lines” with, though, he claims, she is the only one he had sex with. Sanford also admitted he saw Chapur, whom he called his soul mate, more than he previously claimed.

“This was a whole lot more than a simple affair, this was a love story,” Sanford said. “A forbidden one, a tragic one, but a love story at the end of the day.”

But that’s not what makes today’s Sanford installment so strange. It’s the conclusion to the Associated Press’ story:

In early 2009, after Jenny Sanford discovered the affair, the couple went into counseling. She has told The Associated Press that he asked her several times to visit the mistress and she refused.

But the governor claims he wanted to end the affair in person and, with his wife’s permission, went to New York with a “trusted spiritual adviser” serving as chaperone. The three went to church and dinner together and parted ways the same night.

But he visited Chapur again in Argentina on June 18, the trip that brought the whole affair to light.

Now, I’ve never had an affair, so I don’t know how these things are supposed to work. (To my wife: I never will.) But I’m pretty sure the way these things end is a bit different than dating. Just because Sanford and Chapur had had five romantic rendezvouses instead of four doesn’t mean he is obligated to call it quits in person. Frankly, I think St. Paul would direct Sanford to man up, make a clean break and not be such a fool as to spend one more dinner with temptation.

These latest revelations will no doubt make for good fodder for the late night talk shows. That’s Sanford’s problem.

But what really irked me about the AP story is how casually the reporter mentions that Sanford traveled to New York with a “trusted spiritual adviser” and how the three — counselor and adulterers — went to church together. And that’s all the reader gets.

We’re not told why they went to church together or where or, most importantly, whether this is a common thing for Christians to do when they are repenting of past sin and, in this case, ending an adulterous affair.

Let me answer that last question: It’s not.

Here’s a question that we have asked here at GetReligion — more than once, in fact — and, now, it’s being asked at the Wall Street Journal.

That question is: What is the meaning and the purpose of the word “devout” when inserted in front of the name of a religious group or movement? You know, as in, “Neighbors were stunned to learn that this quiet man, a devout evangelical fundamentalist, was secretly selling nuclear-weapons secrets to Texas.”

At the Journal, this was discussed in the online “Style & Substance” newsletter, Here’s the item in question:

Relevance of religion

In an account of a $3 billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by Tom Petters in Minnesota, we said, “Mr. Petters grew up the fifth of seven children in a devout Catholic family in St. Cloud, Minn.”

Especially in a story about wrongdoing, it is important to consider carefully whether a person’s religious persuasion is relevant enough to mention. If the fraud had centered on Catholic institutions (the way Bernard Madoff’s fraud often involved Jewish organizations and philanthropies, for example), a case could be made for the relevance of the religious reference. But the relevance in this instance wasn’t evident.

Moreover, hasn’t devout Catholic become a cliche, rather like oil-rich Kuwait? It would seem that only Catholics and Muslims qualify as devout, since devout Catholic has appeared in our pages four times in the past year and devout Muslim twice. Zero for devout Jews and Protestants.

Well, regular readers of many mainline news publications would certainly know that devout Jews are often called “ultraorthodox.” I’m sure that’s in a style manual somewhere. And we all know that devout Protestants are called “f _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _  _ _ _ _ _ s,” no matter what the Associated Press requests.

But the Journal raises a good question, one worthy of meditation there and among the members of the committee that controls the AP Stylebook, the bible of American journalists. Just saying …

Last week, an Iowa high school football coach was shot dead in the school’s weight room. Police charged a 24-year-old former player. The headline made Drudge but I quickly forgot the story and didn’t see much follow-up. Many people talk about the sports page as if it’s got the best writing in the whole newspaper. And they’re probably thinking of reporters like Josh Peter, an enterprise reporter with, of all outlets, Yahoo! Sports. He looked at the shooting and came up with a story about theodicy, forgiveness and the strength of tight-knit communities. Here’s how he began:

PARKERSBURG, Iowa - Not far from the cornfields, in the cool of the morning, Gary Hinders stood waist-deep in a grave. He held a shovel, just like the other four men who took turns digging, first through a foot-and-a-half layer of black dirt, then a mix of sand and clay and finally the stubborn hardpan.

Hinders paused.

“Never thought I’d be digging this one,” he said.

“Not in a million years,” one of the other men said.

“At least not for this reason,” added a third.

Not a bad way to set a scene. The story has plenty of civil religion — of the sports variety. For instance, the football field where Aplington-Parkersburg High School football players competed is called The Sacred Acre. That might have something to do with the storm from last year. In May 2008, a tornado destroyed 288 homes — including Coach Thomas’, killed 9 people and ripped through the school, including the football field. After the storm, people congregated on the field.

But it also has actual religion. Let me highlight a few of those parts. Peter explains that the coach’s murder will test the community even more than it was tested by the tornado that ripped through town:

Hinders, a God-fearing man in a God-fearing town, is among residents who believe it’s no accident the tornado spared all eight churches in Parkersburg. Nor does he believe it’s a coincidence that Thomas - a man known as much for his deep faith in Christianity as for his two state championships and record of 292-84 over 37 seasons - was gunned down.

“You couldn’t pick anybody bigger in this town to shoot,” said Hinders, 60, who has been the town clerk here for 27 years. “That’s evil… .

“It’s spiritual warfare. Satan and God are fighting, and in the end I believe God will win.”

The man who is charged with shooting Thomas, Mark Becker, is a crystal meth addict. His family and the coach’s family attend the same church. They’re all friends, in fact. The coach had been trying to help the young man with his troubles in recent months.

Peter visits First Congregational Church where Thomas served as an elder:

Sunday morning, police chief Chris Luhring stood watch outside of First Congressional [sic] Church - where the Thomas and Becker families attended. Usually, there were two services. But now there was one - at 9 a.m.

Five rows from the back, there they were, the Beckers.

The back pew was open until moments before the service started. That is when the Thomas family arrived.

Brad Zinnecker, the head pastor, called on God’s mercy for a congregation that had its “guts ripped out.” He spoke of Thomas, recalling a man who could be so fiery on the sideline and yet so measured in church. And some of the worshipers quietly wept.

He prayed for the Thomas family. He prayed for the Becker family. He prayed for forgiveness during the hour-long service, and it already had come. The Thomases and Beckers had spoken earlier in the week, people close to the families said. And the coach’s younger son and wife urged people to pray for the Beckers, who would gain no closure when Ed Thomas’ casket was lowered into the ground.

Elsewhere in the story people are quoted talking about how Thomas emphasized forgiveness.

The piece is long. It covers a lot of ground. But Peter naturally (and seemingly effortlessly) weaves the faith of this town’s inhabitants throughout the story. He not only gets the meaty religious quotes but he puts them in context so that readers unfamiliar with the religious views can still understand. Excellent work.

Image of First Congregational Church, Parkersburg.

One of concepts that causes my journalism students the most grief is finding the line between making statements of personal opinion and making statements that draw logical conclusions from facts that have been stated on the record or verified in a document. It’s the line between editorial writing and news, when you get right down to it.

As I tell my students, there are times when journalists are allowed to take the publicly stated equation 2+2 and make it add up to 6 — as long as the reporter can show, in the story, where the additional information is coming from. Here is a perfect example of how this works, in a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette lede written by the Godbeat veteran Ann Rodgers — who has enough experience to get away with this kind of thing. Brace yourselves for blunt language:

BEDFORD, Texas — The spiritual leader of the Orthodox Church in America offered to begin talks aimed at full communion with the new Anglican Church in North America, then named a series of obstacles whose removal could tear apart the hard-won unity among the 100,000 theological conservatives who broke from the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

“What will it take for a true ecumenical reconciliation? Because that is what I am seeking by being here today,” Metropolitan Jonah said to a standing ovation from 900 people assembled in a tent on the grounds of St. Vincent Cathedral in Bedford, Texas.

Now there’s history behind those words and we’ll get back to them in a minute.

The key to that lede — with its claim that Metropolitan Jonah both praised the new conservative Anglican body in North America and, at the same time, attacked its foundations — is based on simply, clear statements of doctrine. There is no way to write a news story about this long and very complex speech without knowing a thing or two or three (or more) about church history and doctrine. Without that, the Orthodox leader was speaking in an unknown tongue.

Rodgers noted that, with a smile, Metropolitan Jonah openly admitted that he was coming to deliver bad news, as well as good news. This was an offensive speech, but not a hateful one.

The good news was that the Orthodox Church in America was no longer interested in ecumenical talks with the liberal hierarchy of the U.S. Episcopal Church. The bad news — sure to offend many in the room, but not others — was that Orthodoxy believes that it’s impossible to mix Protestantism and ancient forms of Orthodoxy and Catholicism. Them’s fighting words to people who accept the great “Anglican Compromise.”

Thus, we read:

Metropolitan Jonah named several issues that he said the two churches needed to “face head on” and resolve before they can achieve full communion. Among the most volatile on his list were the Calvinist theology taught by many evangelical Anglicans and the ordination of women as priests, which the new church allows each of its dioceses to accept or reject.

“Calvinism is a condemned heresy,” he said, to a smattering of applause from some Anglo-Catholics in the new church.

“For … intercommunion of the Anglican Church and the Orthodox Church, the issue of ordination of women needs to be resolved,” he said, again to applause from many of the same people.

“I believe women have a critical role to play in the church, but I do not believe it is in the [priesthood or as bishops],” he said. “Forgive me if this offends you.” He called for an effort to “creatively come together to find the right context for women’s ministry in the church.”

Now, I understand that it’s hard to get a handle on who is and who is not applauding during a speech. However, playing “spot the Anglo-Catholics” is not the key element of this story.

The key is that Rodgers was able to back up that bold lede.

If you reject Calvinism, then you reject almost everyone in the low-church, Morning Prayer, red-and-black vestments wing of the global Anglican Communion. You are saying that the Protestant Reformation was, in large part, a tragic mistake, at least from the perspective of the Christian East. That’s a landmine if there ever was one, in a Communion built on the claim that John Calvin and the likes of St. John Chrysostom can thrive in the same pew (actually, the issue of pews would be problematic for the Orthodox anyway).

But what about the “good news” in this speech? You see, there is history at work there, as well, history in which the roots of Orthodox in North American were — briefly — intertwined with those of Anglo-Catholics. There was a moment in time when Orthodoxy came very close to recognizing the validity of Anglican orders, in a manner similar to state that currently exists between Rome and the East. These ancient churches recognize each other’s orders, even while living in a tragic state of broken Communion. That’s a complicated matter and Metropolitan Jonah’s speech provided a short sketch of the history.

Journalism being what it is, Rodgers has to hit at all of this terrain in even fewer words. The St. Tikhon she mentions was Bishop Tikhon, who came to America to start a multi-ethnic Orthodox body on this continent. However, he was called home to Moscow to become Russia’s patriarch — leading to clashes with the rising tide of Marxism and, eventually, his martyrdom. But that’s another story.

(Metropolitan Jonah) spoke of St. Tikhon, a 19th-century Russian Orthodox missionary to the United States who initiated a close relationship with the Episcopal Church that later cooled.

“We need to pick up where they left off,” he said. “I occupy the throne St. Tikhon held as the leader of the Orthodox Church in America. Our arms are wide open.”

The Anglican Church in North America hopes to be recognized as a new province of the 80 million-member global Anglican Communion, of which the 2.1 million-member Episcopal Church is the U.S. province. The new church believes the Episcopal Church failed to uphold biblical authority and classic doctrines about matters ranging from the divinity of Jesus to biblical morality, a criticism that the Orthodox share.

The Orthodox Church in America is a self-governing daughter of the Russian Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Jonah, who was elected last year in Pittsburgh, is a convert who was raised as an Episcopalian. He spoke with humor about both traditions, warning, “I’m afraid my talk will have something to offend just about everybody.”

Like I said, it’s hard to write about complex historical issues in public newspapers. This is an example of how you go about doing that. Amen.

Like many of our readers, I read this Associated Press lede and said: “Say what?!?”

ROME — The first-ever scientific test on what are believed to be the remains of the Apostle Paul “seems to confirm” that they do indeed belong to the Roman Catholic saint, Pope Benedict XVI said Sunday.

Archaeologists recently unearthed and opened the white marble sarcophagus located under the Basilica of St. Paul’s Outside the Walls in Rome, which for some 2,000 years has been believed by the faithful to be the tomb of St. Paul.

The problem, of course, is not with the narrow, factual nature of the statement that the Apostle Paul of Tarsus is a “Roman Catholic” saint. Of course he is. And the problem isn’t that these remains are buried in the Vatican, which makes the Catholic reference rather relevant.

But, well, St. Paul is also an Orthodox saint, along with the rest of the saints of the one, holy, catholic church before the Great Schism that tore apart the Christian East and West. And, you know, the Protestants think rather highly of the Apostle Paul, too. He’s right up there at the top of the New Testament hero list for everyone in Christianity — period.

So the question is why choose a narrow wording to identify Paul, as opposed to a broader wording that is just as accurate?

So, gentle readers, what wording would you have chosen in this context?

In my own writings, I simply refer to him as St. Paul, when writing about the ancient churches, and the Apostle Paul, when writing about events in a Protestant context.

I was also intrigued by the reference to the carbon dating proving that these relics are, in fact, those of St. Paul. Here is the full reference:

Benedict said scientists had conducted carbon dating tests on bone fragments found inside the sarcophagus and confirmed that they date from the first or second century.

“This seems to confirm the unanimous and uncontested tradition that they are the mortal remains of the Apostle Paul,” Benedict said, announcing the findings at a service in the basilica to mark the end of the Vatican’s Paoline year, in honor of the apostle.

Paul and Peter are the two main figures known for spreading the Christian faith after the death of Christ. According to tradition, St. Paul, also known as the apostle of the Gentiles, was beheaded in Rome in the 1st century during the persecution of early Christians by Roman emperors. Popular belief holds that bone fragments from his head are in another Rome basilica, St. John Lateran, with his other remains inside the sarcophagus.

The pope said that when archaeologists opened the sarcophagus, they discovered alongside the bone fragments some grains of incense, a “precious” piece of purple linen with gold sequins and a blue fabric with linen filaments.

Now, it seems to me that science has found evidence that the relics are from the proper time period, which adds weight to the ancient church traditions about their identity. But — pending some other DNA match — how would this prove the remains are those of a specific man, namely St. Paul?

Now hear me: What I have observed, in graduate school readings and in journalism, is that the claims of the early church are accurate on these matters a very high percentage of the time. The church of the martyrs tended to take these matters rather seriously. People died defending some of these holy sites.

I’m not arguing with the pope and the “seems to confirm” language in the lede is cautious. I simply wondered, again, if the wording could have been a bit more accurate.

Oh, a blessed feast day of Sts. Peter and Paul, to GetReligion readers who worship in churches that take seriously that kind of thing. You know — celebrating the lives and deaths of the saints, like St. Paul.

PHOTO: The saints of the day. Can you say who is who?

Since Barack Obama became President, the country has experienced a documented rise in sales of firearms and ammunition, not to mention concealed-carry permits. Recently Congress passed a bill allowing those of us who have permits and where the state allows concealed weapons to carry guns in national parks. And a columnist for Hernando Today says that he’s found an attempt by the National Rifle Association to link health care reform to an assault on gun rights.

While practically silent on the issue of gun-control as President, Obama was known to favor it as a state legislator.

In the past six months, gun-control advocates have suffered defeat after defeat. Apparently even the possibility of such action is a powerful thing. Twin this activism in the gun-owning community with American’s (check the rhetoric in articles here) semi-sacred attachment over the centuries to the right to bear arms — it was probably inevitable that there would be events at which worshippers and others of like mind were invited to bring guns into the sanctuary. And it was also inevitable that the media would cover them.

But why are they covering them like spectators in the Colisseum rather than as social phenomenon with profound cultural and religious origins? In this journalists are doing a deep disservice to their readers. Here are a few recent examples, ranging from the distressing to the not-so-bad but annoying.

Our first example is a story from the Los Angeles Times on what some churches are doing to prepare for potential gun violence. After mentioning several recent examples of church killings, the writer asserts that they are not unique instances:

Violence in churches is on the rise, experts say.

As more shootings at houses of worship make headlines, churches around the country are stepping up security, training their staff on how to detect and confront violent assailants, and asking congregants with licenses to carry guns during services.

That’s what brought 15 Southern California church leaders to Garden Grove last week to attend an “Interfaith Intruder Response” course.

Questions for Ms. Linthincum: did anyone mention why church violence is on the rise? Did anybody draw a distinction between security guards with weapons and congregants with pistols? How come you didn’t apparently interview anyone who thinks this kind of training for worshippers might not be a good idea?

Take a look at the kicker quote and tell me this article isn’t more about sensation than substance.

Meanwhile, over at the NYTimes.com website, Katherine Seelye has written a few articles on Ken Pagano, the pastor who recently hosted a “bring your guns to church event.” This story has gotten a fair amount of space in the New York Times. One of the good things about her articles on Pagano is that she does surface the connection often made by some owners between patriotism, God and their guns. That comes out clearly in the lede:

Ken Pagano, the pastor of the New Bethel Church here, is passionate about gun rights. He shoots regularly at the local firing range, and his sermon two weeks ago was on “God, Guns, Gospel and Geometry.” And on Saturday night, he is inviting his congregation of 150 and others to wear or carry their firearms into the sanctuary to “celebrate our rights as Americans!” as a promotional flier for the “open carry celebration” puts it.

Ken Pagano of New Bethel Church in Louisville, Ky. “God and guns were part of the foundation of this country,” he said. “God and guns were part of the foundation of this country,” Mr. Pagano, 49, said Wednesday in the small brick Assembly of God church, where a large wooden cross hung over the altar and two American flags jutted from side walls. “I don’t see any contradiction in this. Not every Christian denomination is pacifist.”

Not every gun owner uses religious rhetoric to discuss his or her gun collection. As one GetReligion reader noted, Christians who aren’t pacifists might object to bringing guns to church — but the Pagano quotes aren’t questioned or explained.

What is the Assembly of God position on bringing weapons in church (if they have one)?

In her second article on Pagano, Seelye describes the actual event — and she does include quotes from secular gun-owners. I also really like the careful way she documents the surge in gun sales — and why that might be happening. Did you know that of the 40 states with “right to carry” laws, 20 allow guns in churches?

And yet — Christians hold diverse positions on gun ownership. They debate whether Christians ought to bring guns to church. And many, like the Rev. John Phillips in Seelye’s article, have theological reasons for their opposition (although that’s a rather weak quote). But we don’t hear much beyond the flashy Gods and guns statements that make compellling quotes — but explain almost nothing.

So I’m wondering — is Pagano an enterprising huckster? How much of his Saturday night gig was done for fascinated reporters? Does he represent mainstream America?

I’d love it if even journalists with challenging deadlines would move beyond the spectacle and write about the prevalance of the American “gun culture.” Is gun rights an arena in which, like that of abortion, the American public displays volatility? And why do some feel this deep connection between faith and their right to bear arms? But given our bent towards covering events over the philosophy and faith that ignites them, I’m not looking for such articles anytime real soon.

When Amy Sullivan of Time wrote one of the finest articles about President Obama’s church options, she quoted a creative idea from Flo McAfee, former religious liaison for the Clinton White House. McAfee recommended worshiping in the chapel at the Army’s Fort Meyer, where security already is covered.

Now Sullivan, drawing on reporting by her colleague Elizabeth Dias, breaks the news that Obama will, like his predecessor George W. Bush, worship in Evergreen Chapel at Camp David, where Navy chaplains preside. The story offers some great details, not least that Obama can experience more decorum at an informal chapel than he did during an Easter visit to St. John’s Church, Lafayette Square: “Even at St. John’s, which is so accustomed to presidential visitors that it is known as the ‘Church of the Presidents,’ worshippers couldn’t help themselves from snapping photos of Obama on their camera phones as they walked down the aisle past him to take communion.”

My fellow Episcopalians are snapping cell-phone photos? On their way to Communion, no less? This needs to be a story in itself, under the tag “Signs of the Apocalypse.”

The Obamas will not worship alone at Camp David. “Each week, regardless of whether the President is on-site, Evergreen Chapel holds nondenominational Christian services open to the nearly 400 military personnel and staff at Camp David, as well as their families,” Time reports.

Another great detail: Obama’s new pastor is Lieut. Carey Cash, a Southern Baptist who has served as a chaplain in the Iraq War:

The 38-year-old Memphis native is a graduate of the Citadel and the great-nephew of Johnny Cash. He served a tour as chaplain with a Marine battalion in Iraq and baptized nearly 60 Marines during that time. Cash earned his theology degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth — and, yes, that means Obama’s new pastor is a Southern Baptist.

Cash and his wife also have five children, some of whom may find themselves acting opposite Sasha and Malia in the Christmas pageant. But if the experience of past Camp David chaplains is any guide, Cash won’t necessarily have the opportunity to form a pastoral relationship with Obama. “We used to tell people our job was to run like a five-star resort,” said Patrick McLaughlin, who was chaplain at Camp David from 2002 to 2005, in an interview with Religion News Service. “One of the things you value when you go on vacation is peace and quiet.” His contact with Bush outside worship services, McLaughlin said, was “very little.”

Sullivan does a solid job of explaining the security challenges and intrusions on a church’s weekly atmosphere involved in any presidential visit, especially since the 9/11 terrorist strikes. Obama’s choice is bound to be as disappointing for pundits as it is for any camera-weilding worshipers at St. John’s. I’m not sure there are many better options, unless Obama’s weekly worship choice becomes as chaotic and disruptive as his dropping in on Five Guys Burgers and Fries with Brian Williams.

Update: David Brody of CBN News quotes Jen Psaki, deputy White House press secretary, as disputing Time’s report.

Photo: The choir at Washington National Cathedral, which — despite the lobbying efforts of Sally Quinn, may not claim Obama as a new member.

If you run a Google News search for “Michael Jackson” and “idol,” you’ll get tens of thousands of hits. If you watched any news coverage of the death of MJ, “icon” was the go-to word for describing the King of Pop. Here’s Agence France-Presse, for instance:

Michael Jackson is dead after suffering a cardiac arrest, sending shockwaves sweeping across the world and tributes pouring in yesterday for the tortured music icon revered as the “King of Pop.”

Clearly the media use this term to mean someone who is the object of a lot of attention and devotion. But I can’t help but think, if that’s what they mean to say about Jackson, that “idol” would be a better term.

Both terms are religious or have religious overtones. Here’s how one Russian Orthodox web site describes icons:

In the Orthodox Church, icons are sacred images painted on wood, carved in stone, molded in metal, sewn on cloth, or made in any suitable material, which conform to a canonical non-naturalistic style, and which are venerated by the faithful with bows, kisses, incense and lights, with the understanding that the icon itself is not worshipped, but the honor given it is transferred to Christ, the Mother of God, or to whatever saint is depicted thereon.

Now, even if you just use a non-religious definition, I’m not sure it’s the right word. Here’s what Random House says:

-noun
1.a picture, image, or other representation.
2.Eastern Church. a representation of some sacred personage, as Christ or a saint or angel, painted usually on a wood surface and venerated itself as sacred.
3.a sign or representation that stands for its object by virtue of a resemblance or analogy to it.
4.Computers. a picture or symbol that appears on a monitor and is used to represent a command, as a file drawer to represent filing.
5.Semiotics. a sign or representation that stands for its object by virtue of a resemblance or analogy to it.

Which of those definitions covers the media’s use of the term?

National Review’s Jonah Goldberg didn’t enjoy the media rush to sanctify Jackson with the use of the term:

An icon, technically speaking, is a religious symbol deserving of reverence and adoration. The networks may not have intended to use the word that way, but they certainly showed an unseemly amount of reverence and adoration for the man.

What do you think of the use of the term icon for anything other than a representation of an object or person?

The Column One slot on the Los Angeles Times frontpage is, according to a compilation of these tales, “a daily jolt of all-engrossing storytelling without rival in American journalism.” Unfortunately, too much emphasis is occasionally placed on the storytelling and too little on the journalism.

Such was the case with a nice little feature earlier this month about Buddhist chaplains at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. Written by one of the Times’ best reporters, “Zen in their bedside manner” starts off quite promisingly:

It was 8 a.m., and the subject was death.

A 55-year-old man was wasting away from lungcancer and cirrhosis. His weight was plummeting and his brain was swelling. But he was in denial, refusing to discuss hospice care or consider a “do not resuscitate” order. …

“This has been really sad,” said the Rev. Robert Chodo Campbell, a large man with thick brows who was wearing what appeared to be a cross between a judo outfit and hospital scrubs. He told the group that when faced with a similar case in the past, he had decided to disclose his personal battle with alcoholism to the patient — also an alcoholic — in hopes of spurring a conversation that might help ease the man’s mental anguish and prepare him for whatever lay ahead. …

And Chodo operates under a different set of rules than most chaplains as he spreads the spirit of Buddhism through the halls of Beth Israel, a 1,368-bed medical center in Manhattan. “If it seems appropriate in the moment and one is sure of one’s motives — the well-being of the patient — then why not?” the Zen chaplain asked.

According to the American Hospital Assn., about 68% of public hospitals have a chaplaincy program. But few have Buddhist monks, and none compares with the program at Beth Israel — where more than 20 Buddhist chaplains and chaplains-in-training offer bedside meditation, interdenominational prayers and other assistance to pregnant women, dying cancer patients and even stressed hospital workers.

“There is one rabbi and two Catholic priests. They’re great people, but the rabbi sees Jewish patients. The Catholics anoint the sick. Then there’s everybody else,” said the Rev. Koshin Paley Ellison, co-founder with Chodo of the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care.

The rest of the article explains discuss the pros and cons, and debate, over alternate medicine and follows a chaplaincy student as he makes the rounds. One Jewish patient yells at the student, Bob Allen, for interrupting their meal and another, a Roman Catholic from the Philippines, says a Christian prayer with Allen.

What the article doesn’t do is explain why Buddhist chaplains at Beth Israel outnumber priests by a factor of 10 or why there is only one rabbi at a historically Jewish hospital in New York City. I’m sure a handful of Beth Israel’s patients are JewBus but they’re certainly not 20 times more common than Jews who still practice Judaism. And what about the effectiveness of chaplaincy programs? Do patients suffer at the 32 percent of public hospitals that lack chaplains?

To be fair to the Times, I was looking around online for some answers to these questions and found a handful of stories written just like this one. I think I may have even penned one at my first newspaper. When death is the subject, there seems to be an inclination to focus on the compelling scenes of compassion and suffering. Which makes the need for a story that looks at the value of hospital chaplains, as opposed to the work they do, all the more needed.

The Michael Jackson funeral story continues to loom in the background of the current coverage about his death, while an even more bizarre angle about the future of the superstar’s body has emerged over in Germany.

If you have a strong stomach, here is the report from the Daily Mail in England. Now, in subsequent media reports, this whole “Body Works” thing is being called a “rumor” (click here for TMZ). If so, that is an interesting definition of rumor. It seems to me that this story is based on an on-the-record quotation from a person — a logical person, yes, with a major PR motive to speak — who either is or is not telling the truth.

After a short discussion of the Muslim conversion angle, readers are hit over the head with this:

If a Muslim funeral took place, the body is usually buried within two days of death. However, it emerged last night that his body may not be buried at all, but could be preserved forever in his famous moonwalk stance.

The claim was made by German doctor Gunther von Hagens, who has gained notoriety for embalming corpses in polyurethane. His “plastination” process enabled him to create a London show featuring preserved human bodies, many displaying internal organs.

Last night, Dr von Hagens said: “An agreement is in place to plastinate the King of Pop.” He said he had agreed with representatives of Jackson’s family “months ago” that his body would be plastinated and placed next to the singer’s late chimp Bubbles, who was preserved after his death and is on display in the show at the O2 arena, where the singer was due to appear next month.

A spokesman for von Hagens said it was one of Jackson’s last wishes to be reunited with Bubbles, adding: “There is no better place than to do this at the venue where Jackson was to perform his 50-date tour. Whilst von Hagens is keen to keep the pose of the superstar’s plastinate under wraps, he hinted that the moonwalk position would naturally be favoured.”

Either this story by reporter Neil Sears is right or it is wrong. The Bubbles angle is one of those things that you just can’t make up. Right?

So, for those following the major players in this drama, we have the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who forbid funeral and burial practices that are not mentioned in the Bible. The we have the traditions of Islam at play, at the very least through the participation of brother Jermaine Jackson, who is a covert to Islam.

Now we have another approach to death that has created great controversy among religious believers of many kinds — the strong, literally materialistic worldview captured in the “Body Works” exhibits of an agnostic German doctor. It seems to me that this soars (or sinks) right past the whole “death by celebrity” story that has been gaining momentum.

I, for one, hope that this is a publicity stunt by von Hagens. If that is the case, then tells you all that you need to know about this man and his approach to entertaining the masses.