Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
One of the more interesting articles I’ve read on Obama’s religious views — and one that would have been welcome during the campaign — was Eli Saslow’s piece in the Washington Post on Sunday titled “Obama’s Path to Faith Was Eclectic.”
Did I miss the poll on the status of the other ordained participants in this festival of public-discourse?
Sitting in my house a few blocks from the Capitol, I’ve heard sirens blaring for days. Parking is difficult to find. The bridges are closed. Many of my friends have fled to Miami for the week. The mainstream media, which gave fawning coverage to President-elect Barack Obama throughout his campaign for president, is continuing with the love fest. I became a reporter during the George W. Bush presidency so the difference is notable.
My sick daughter/frozen pipes/burst pipes trifecta-of-chaos this weekend prevented me from fully enjoying the pre-inaugural festivities here in Washington. But I watched a bit of the celebrity concert that got things going (I can’t get enough of Mary J.) and was sorry to see that HBO did not broadcast the opening prayer by Bishop Gene Robinson.
Allow me to jump in here quick with a shameless plug for an essay by a friend of mine, producer Alice Rhee of MSNBC, who has posted a lengthy guide to “evangelical” — whatever that word means today — reactions to the reality that is the nation’s new Liberal Oldline Protestant In Chief.
The following bit of local news may not be the best evidence of a declining newspaper industry, or the media’s overall challenges in covering religion, but I must say a word about The Indianapolis Star‘s decisions to cut the short prayer on page A2 next to the chuckle and horoscope and then bring it back a couple of weeks later.
It’s hard to write about a minister without talking about what the man believes, in terms of the Christian faith. At the same time, I imagine that it’s hard for folks at the edgy Style section of the Washington Post to write about faith issues, period, especially when dealing with a Civil Rights Movement giant who is now in the orbit of President-elect Barack Obama.
I live in the same neighborhood as the U.S. Capitol where we will inaugurate Barack Obama as our next president. You would not believe the chaos — some real, some manufactured — as we head into this Tuesday. There are massive parking restrictions, road closures and bridge closures not to mention restrictions on what even pedestrians can carry within the security perimeter.
The New York Times Magazine has wandered into the testosterone-heavy world of Pastor Mark Driscoll’s Mars Hill Church and emerged with a feature story that mostly does justice to both Driscoll and his critics. The coverage is by Molly Worthen, who has also written a previous New York Times Magazine story on classical Christian education and a feature about L’Abri Fellowship for Christianity Today. She is no stranger to the subcultures of evangelical Protestantism.
