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Stephanie Simon had a fine Column One feature the other day in the Los Angeles Times about a battle that is brewing — avoiding this pun is impossible — down in Alabama between the Southern Baptists and the beer drinkers who view home-based microbrewing as a kind of sacrament. You gotta love the dateline, too — Harvest, Ala. — and the lede that takes us into the catacombs of some true beer believers.
For Christians who observe the liturgical calendar, the pre-Easter, 40-day penitential season of Lent is upon us. In Western Christianity, Lent began on Ash Wednesday — February 6 this year. In the East, Lent began yesterday.
It’s clear, to anyone who reads major newspapers, that one of the story templates of this election is the attempt by top Democrats to reach out to church people. I mean, search this here weblog for the words “Democrats” and “pews.”
ABC’s Good Morning America had a bit about author Anne Rice the other day that caught my attention. Rice is the best-selling American author of vampire tales who has recently written a couple of religious-themed books:
When former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee officially ended his bid for the presidency on Tuesday night, he said he’ll do whatever is necessary to get Republican nominee John McCain elected. But Washington Post reporter Perry Bacon — who has been on the Huckabeat — had an interesting story. Huckabee’s staffers have already begun preparing for a future run:
The Fort Wayne News Sentinel broke a fascinating story: Native Tim Goeglein, the White House’s liaison to conservative Christians, was guilty of plagiarizing columns for the paper. Here is what reporter Ashley Smith wrote in her lede:
I came across two stories within moments of each other yesterday. Both, ostensibly, deal with the same Barack Obama town hall event in Ohio. And that’s where the similarities end. Here’s the first paragraph (of three paragraphs!) from the Associated Press:
Someone needs to get a good in-depth interview with the staffer (or staffers) on Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley’s staff who is heading up the investigation of televangelists, which seems to be picking up lately. A couple of meager stories trickled out last week about a couple of ministers/evangelists who are responding to the senator’s inquiries.
The other day, I went to an interesting Pew Forum event linked to the new books by E.J. Dionne (“Souled Out“) and Amy Sullivan (“The Party Faithful“). They should have included another book on a related topic — “Why Democrats Are Blue” — but you knew I would say that.
