Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
A group of 13 clergy in Ohio petitioned the IRS to investigate the organization that owns a red brick townhouse on Capitol Hill. The C Streeters claim a tax exemption as a church but the clergy group say it’s more an “exclusive club for elected officials” than a church. I wasn’t elated with the early reporting I saw on the claim but this NPR story is particularly notable. Here’s how it begins:
O Canada. Thanks to the Winter Games, I know more about the maple leaf country than I ever did before. Who knew, for instance, that Winnipeg is just one state and a border west of my house? On occasion, it’s fun to look at Canadian coverage of issues that pop up from time to time in the U.S. For instance, take a look at this Vancouver Sun article about how a Winnipeg politician said no federal money should go to a Christian group called Youth For Christ.
Just last month I wrote about the “gospel of easy money,” and in that post were a few links to stories of pastors living unusually lavish lifestyles. If you read that post, and easily discerned my contempt for such behavior, you’d expect that similar stories immediately grab my attention. Stories like this one from WFAA News 8 in Dallas/Fort Worth:
Remember that recent burst of coverage about the Vatican being interested in aliens and, thus, the question of whether little green men would, or would not, have eternal souls?
I have tried to avoid writing — again — about the interesting, and very late, mini-surge of interesting, nuanced mainstream coverage of the hit movie “The Blind Side.”
I’ve previously come across kung fu ministries. When I worked in the Inland Empire, I even attended a church event where former wrestlers and football players broke burning stacks of bricks instead of breaking bread. But did you hear the one about MMA — not watching it but actually doing it — was the latest trend to take over evangelical America?
As I prepare this morning to go through the indignity that is modern air travel, I can’t help but nod my head in agreement with this article about how new body scanners violate some religious sensibilities. These are the scanners that show your naughty bits to the friendly TSA agents who are trying to detect bombs.
The Rt. Rev. Douglas LeBlanc, co-founder of this here weblog, is not writing for GetReligion at the moment, but he’s still out there in media land — seeing things through GetReligion eyes.
