One of the reasons so many big stories in our mainstream press are “haunted” by religion ghosts is that many reporters are confused about what is and what is not “religious.”
Ken Woodward colors our world
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Hell isn't for real?
Some people look at Newsweek‘s precipitous decline as an example of how to destroy a magazine. (Its most recent issue had six ads.) Other people apparently want to emulate it. Or so I’m led to believe by TIME magazine’s decision to have former Newsweek editor Jon Meacham write its cover story celebrating Rob Bell and his views on hell.
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Fun, fun, fun ... at Ghanaian funerals
If everyone reading this GetReligion post could be very quiet, we’re going to explore a New York Times feature on Ghanaian immigrant funerals in the Big Apple. I ask you to pipe it down because the Ghanaians are partying like it’s — well, like someone is dead — and we sure wouldn’t want to interrupt the dancing, laughing and drinking with something so benign as discussion of spirituality and/or religion.
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A tin ear for religion
Last month, I highlighted media coverage of campaigns to get worshipers to confession. I needled the Miami Archdiocese a bit for using Bach’s Prelude No. 1 in C Major to accompany their television advertisement. Johann Sebastian Bach is my favorite Lutheran composer, in a very crowded field. I was surprised that a couple of commenters didn’t know he was Lutheran, on account of how well regarded he is as a musician, composer and theologian.
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Muslim Night at the ballpark?
Back in 2003, a friend of mine named Brent High made national headlines when he started organizing “Faith Nights” — Christian faith nights, that is — at minor-league baseball games in Nashville, Tenn.
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Tables turned: Our Sarah on 'ghosts'
When it comes to the day jobs held by your GetReligionistas, Sarah Pulliam Bailey is the team member who is probably in the most interesting, or even delicate, position.
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Dylan works around China's bosses?
Is there anyone in American popular culture who intrigues and frustrates journalists of a certain age — the Baby Boomer elites — than Bob Dylan? The man is a walking history book, when you combine the landmark events in his life with the confusing but gripping map that is his canon of songwriting.
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Jesus 'too controversial' for Silver Screen?
The Christian Post, which bills itself as “the largest Christian newspaper in the world featuring world,” is not known for original reporting. It’s certainly no Christianity Today in terms of journalistic quality. They are largely scrapers, rewriting the news as reported by other media outlets and appropriately given credit. It is, however, a decent clearinghouse for Christian news.
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The dim market for single pastors
Occasionally a piece sits for a week or two before one of us realizes it needs to be addressed. Straight from that guilt file folder, we have a New York Times front-page article on pastors who struggle to find jobs because they are single.
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