Evangelicals

Weiss on (a few) crucial SBC news trends

As Bobby “Bible Belt” Ross Jr. noted the other day, this summer’s meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention did all kinds of interesting stuff. I choose to write about the Gulf of Mexico resolution for Scripps Howard, but, frankly, the divorce resolution was just as interesting and I still hope to dig into that one. It is rare to see conservative believers (or liberal believers, for that matter) point the finger of judgment at themselves.


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Coach Bliss and God, with no details

When it comes to issues of sports and faith, your GetReligionistas have one basic rule and here it is. If journalists are going to let a sports figure play the “God card” — especially if this person is in any way controversial (think Michael Vick) — then the publication owes the reader at least one paragraph of information that actually attempts to report some basic facts about this alleged religious influence in his or her life.


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Supreme Court takes on "all comers"

The Supreme Court handed down a decision on Monday that dealt with the gay rights and religious freedom by looking at how non-discrimination clauses can come into conflict with the freedom of association. We’ve looked at Christian Legal Society v. Martinez before here, here, here and here.


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When "diversity hires" attack

On Friday, Washington Post reporter Dave Weigel — who covered conservative groups — resigned his position after incendiary partisan emails he had sent were published by the Daily Caller. The day before, some of his intemperate emails were published by Fishbowl DC. He had apologized already for those and chalked them up to a bad day.


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Breaking the confessional seal?

I once knew a member of the clergy who warned parishioners that if they told him about anything illegal, he’d be compelled to report them. Now, usually when I confess my sins they’re of the variety where the state doesn’t have an interest. But it’s probably a good idea to clarify whether your confessor is bound to secrecy or not.


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Got news? Religious freedom edition

Religion Dispatches, a progressive blog for religion news and analysis, has a post about President Barack Obama’s newly appointed religion ambassador. The headline sums up the story very well:


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Sin-free softball? Not really

Tmatt posted last week on the saga of a lesbian softball coach whose team was kicked out of an adult women’s league by a Southern Baptist megachurch. He pointed out that “too many gaps and unanswered questions” characterized the coverage by The Commercial Appeal in Memphis, Tenn. If you missed that post, please read it first or this one won’t make any sense.


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