Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
The best thing reporters can hear from editors is that they can have as much space as they need to tell the story. In an era of online publishing, this should be the case every time, but I don’t see reporters or their editors using that opportunity all that often.
The Washington Post ran a short story on page A17 Friday about the religious makeup of the 110th Congress that highlighted the record-high number of Jewish lawmakers.
For the second time in a week, Time blogger Andrew Sullivan is highlighting what could be a huge religion ghost story. At the end of his nationally televised speech last night, President Bush said goodnight from the library of the White House personal residence using these words:
The big religion story at the start of the 110th U.S. Congress last week focused on Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., who was ironically and ceremonially sworn in on a Koran once owned by President Thomas Jefferson. Frederic Frommer of the Associated Press was thorough enough in his report published Tuesday to note that Ellison’s mother is Catholic. But she supports her son, of course, and thinks the controversy is a good thing.
Judy Woodruff has us kids figured out. In her documentary Generation Next: Speak Up, Be Heard, the veteran broadcaster took a segment to explore the issue of religion with 16- to 25-year-olds. I can’t say I am a big fan of the documentary’s methodology, but it has its redeeming qualities.
This weekend marks the beginning of the best two weeks of football of the year. As a native Hoosier, I’m hoping for the Indianapolis Colts to defeat the Kansas City Chiefs, go into Baltimore and defeat the Ravens and extend the fun into the third week by defeating the New England Patriots and going to the Super Bowl. Now that would be ironic, and don’t we love irony around here?
Let’s give a big round of applause to The Washington Post‘s gossip columnists, Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts, for cornering an ironic bit of religion news Wednesday regarding the swearing in of the first Muslim in Congress. The irony of the story was not fully fleshed out, which is a pity because there is plenty of it.
The passing of Gerald Ford, the 38th president of the United States, brings us the usual slate of obituaries about the man who led the country after the scandalized President Richard Nixon resigned. Some of the articles break new ground and are affecting current debates — think The Washington Post‘s Bob Woodward — while others are there just as historical reminders and are great for those of us too young (or still unborn during the 1970s) to remember Ford’s presidency or public life.
What is the significance of Saddam Hussein holding a Koran as he headed to the gallows Saturday morning? It’s not the first time a brutal tyrant reached for religious symbols as the people he formerly ruled sent him to his Creator. And it won’t be the last. The job of the journalist is to tell us what it means and how the Iraqi people perceived the symbol.
