Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
As the Divine Ms. M.Z. noted the other day (and Mark did, as well), many mainstream reporters who are covering the controversies about Mormonism seem to accept, as fact, that disagreements between traditional Christians and Mormon Christians are rooted in misunderstandings or bigotry.
For four decades, opponents of the death penalty have waited for the moment when a state would abolish the practice.
Newsweek editor Jon Meacham’s cover story on what the magazine calls “A New American Holy War” reads less like a news report than a sometimes exasperated prep-school instructor’s departmental memo about a pair of bickering students named Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney. A quick aside about Newsweek‘s headline: Calling a lively religious debate in primary season “A New American Holy War” is like referring to door-to-door evangelism — whether by Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses or Southern Baptists — as “Spiritual Waterboarding.”
When it comes to covering the Youth With A Mission shootings, journalists in the mainstream media are still searching for a template to use.
Okay, so I hate delving into more political coverage, but recent stories about Mike Huckabee are just begging for criticism. To lay my cards on the table, I’m opposed to most all government encroachment and as such find Huckabee to be my worst nightmare. I know many readers here love Huckabee and others love every other candidate along the spectrum. More power to you all. However, we should remember to keep discussion focused on media coverage of this religion story rather than the political issues themselves.
News accounts about the shooter who killed four people at a Christian missionary center and church in Colorado have been quoting anti-Christian rants he posted on the Web. Using the name “nghtmrchld26,” Murray spilled out increasingly disturbing diatribes on a forum where former Pentecostals discuss any number of issues.
Reporters spent Monday covering much-needed ground in the tragic killings at the Youth With a Mission campus and New Life Church in Colorado. It turns out that there are even more religious angles. I’ve been really impressed with all of the Colorado papers and television stations, and there’s way too much to highlight here, but let’s look at the two newest angles. The first is information on what may have motivated the gunman, Matthew Murray, as described by the local ABC affiliate:
A missionary center and a church were the scenes of fatal shootings yesterday in my native state of Colorado. It’s always hard to write good copy following chaotic events, and I noticed there were some inconsistencies in coverage such as fluctuating totals for those wounded and killed. This post will make a few random observations about the coverage.
