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My colleague Jeremy Lott has observed that when you argue with puppets you are bound to lose. Andy Havens of Church Marketing Sucks has argued a broader point: Never argue with a fictional character.
One of the most damning film portrayals of media hordes came years ago in Philip Kaufman’s The Right Stuff, which repeatedly made the sound of whirring cameras sound like so many locusts. Those scenes came to mind when I saw this detail in the Los Angeles Times‘ coverage of the scene at Christ Lutheran Church in Wichita, which Dennis Rader, the accused BTK serial killer, has attended for more than 30 years:
No obituary this week can do full justice to Dr. Gene Scott, the most contrarian Christian ever to have his own TV show. His hometown papers, the Los Angeles Times and the Pasadena Star-News, cover the wildest highlights.
Back in the 1980s, while working as the religion editor for the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, I interviewed a man who was a chaplain to NASCAR racers and their families. The chaplain was kind, and patient with my astonishment that NASCAR drivers would feel any interest in his services.
John L. Allen Jr., the National Catholic Reporter‘s Vatican correspondent, makes a four-point case for why Pope John Paul II should not resign.
The New York Times‘ coverage of Patty Bouvier’s coming out party on The Simpsons follows a familiar script — the religious right is the sole aggressor in the culture wars — and, in a breathless search for Ultimate Meaning, manages to drain the episode of every moment of humor.
David Kirkpatrick of The New York Times is doing yeoman’s work on the conservative beat, especially in observing conservatives saying and doing the darndest things.
The 80th anniversary issue of The New Yorker includes a report by Nicholas Lemann on how some editors of the nation’s most prestigious daily newspapers are feeling beleaguered by criticisms by both liberals and conservatives — but especially by conservatives. The essay opens with Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, talking at length about how President Bush’s adviser Karl Rove “pounded on us for two cocktails’ worth of conversation.” (Keller had made the mistake of asking Rove what he thought of the Times‘ political coverage.)
G. Jeffrey MacDonald of The Christian Science Monitor has tapped into a goldmine of a topic: What happens to churches when they must be sold to people who have something other than worship in mind.
