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A couple of years ago, Eric Gorski — then at the Denver Post — ran a a three-part series on a local preacher of the Prosperity Gospel. What I loved about the piece, which exposed the pastor’s financial success, was that it also explored prosperity teaching in detail.
Most of this week, I am swamped with classroom work for the Oxford Centre for Religion & Public Life, which is holding a seminar in Washington, D.C.. So I have had very little time for reading newspapers and blogging.
I love reading Marc Ambinder and the rest of the folks over at the Atlantic, but one of his latest posts is just unbelievably wrong. I’ll go ahead and post the whole thing:
Lura Groen is a graduate of one of the seminaries that trains pastors for service in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. But because she refuses to adhere to a chastity requirement, she is not on the approved roster of the ELCA. But a Houston congregation called Groen, a lesbian who is bisexual, to be their pastor anyway.
Ralph Z. Hallow of The Washington Times wrote an intriguing story about elite evangelical opposition to Mitt Romney, a prospective GOP vice-presidential running mate:
Generally the newspaper coverage of the Justice Department report on illegal hiring practices has been really good. There is one glaring exception though: the lead in The Washington Post‘s A1 story. You have to wonder where the phrase “Christian lifestyle choices” came from.
A telling story about Iowa Christian evangelicals denying a request from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, for a spot on the state’s delegation to the 2008 GOP Convention has prompted interesting speculation in various news articles over the last week. Robert Novak was the first to suggest that evangelicals tossed Grassley overboard for leading a Senate Finance Committee investigation of televangelists followed by The Washington Times on Monday.
Like everyone else in the world, I love me some Chris Rock. Of his many memorable lines, this one from his “Never Scared” routine — as recounted by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer — is one of my favorites:
For someone who’s been on the mainstream media’s radar for decades, James Dobson sure has a rough time being understood by journalists. Usually they call the radio psychologist an ordained minister. And they do it over and over again. Sometimes they think the full-time liberal bogeyman is calling for exorcisms when he’s talking about people getting “exercised” — as in worked up about — sex scandals.
