Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Those who watched the Republican debate Thursday night might have noticed the lack of religious content. The debate was about the economy for the most part. The economic downturn is what is on everyone’s mind this week, and it could end up being the primary issue this election season.
The big, hot, all-consuming story these days inside the Beltway is the war of words between Barack Obama and Bill and-or Hillary Clinton. Things are getting really rough out there and, frankly, this is to be expected when one of the candidates — that would be Clinton — has such a high negative rating with the public. Close races cause heat.
The former Tennessee senator and actor Fred Thompson has withdrawn from the 2008 presidential race, and leading candidates are lining up to try on the big shoes of the only candidate who once played the president in Hollywood. More than half of Thompson’s support came from Christian evangelicals. Where will those voters go? Both Romney and Huckabee are laying claim to that support. Does McCain have a chance at picking up that support?
It is time to open up our Associate Press Stylebooks and read that entry, once again, about what is, sadly, one of the most popular words in modern journalism:
Trying to figure out how and why Senator John McCain triumphed over his competitors Saturday in the South Carolina primary is like trying to figure out why professional football teams have success in the playoffs. In other words, the calculus is not easy, but there are factors worth discussing.
I love the way the Wall Street Journal covers religion. Rather than focus on political-religious stories as so many other media outlets do, the Journal frequently looks at stories about actual religious life. Many readers sent along Alexandra Alter’s fascinating analysis of church discipline:
When I was growing up, two of my favorite books were In Cold Blood and Dead Man Walking. Both exposed the desolation, inhumanity, and cruelty of capital punishment — and both were hugely popular. But did either of them make the death penalty less popular? The data is not encouraging.
In 1960, Catholic Democratic leaders were fractured over the presidential candidacy of John F. Kennedy. On the one hand, governors David L. Lawrence of Pennsylvania and Pat Brown of California had not thrown their mighty support behind the young Catholic senator. On the other hand, Connecticut state party chairman John M. Bailey and Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley had come out for Kennedy. The rift seems to expose the decline of Catholic voters in the United States.
