The way I see it, Rupert Murdoch is, all by himself, one of the most interesting puzzles in all of journalism.
Marriage or funeral for Beliefnet?
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Army of Muhammad returns?
As I was working throughout the early hours of Monday morning, I had a front-row seat to the unbelievably tragic conflict unfolding in the Mediterranean Sea between Israeli commandos and pro-Palestinian activists. Except that most of the networks were limited by the holiday and the wee hours. That meant I was getting a lot of information by searching the flotilla hashtag on Twitter. What popped up was a fascinating mix of heartbreak, passionate outrage, shocking anti-Semitism and information of varying veracity.
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Symbolic details for Memorial Day
Anyone who has spent more than a few hours in Arlington National Cemetery has probably seen, from a distance, a military funeral of some kind. For me, it’s impossible not to get caught up in the specifics of these rites, the symbolic details that offer details of the life, rank and service of the deceased. If Arlington is a cathedral in American civil religion, then these details are part of its high-church liturgical rites.
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Incense, hats and humor -- oh my!
I’m sorry. I try not to pick on any reporters, especially one who is a former Bruin and is fighting the good fight on one of the more besieged religion beats in the country. But I have to ring this bell again.
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Down South, God's ballet company
Years ago, the features editors at The Oklahoman decided they wanted a fresh take on “The Nutcracker.” So they asked someone who had never gone to the ballet to attend and write a review of the holiday classic. That someone — me — wrote a generally positive review filled with witty observations that I am certain would have merited a scathing review on GetBallet.org (if such a site existed).
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Newsflash: L.A. parish has Latinos!
First the Los Angeles Times nonchalantly reported the news that Cardinal Roger Mahony, head of the largest Catholic community in the nation, would not be asked by the pope to stay on, as is common, after reaching the mandatory retirement age of 75. In a glorified news brief, no less.
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The ecumenical patriarch does what?
Every now and then I get email from regular GetReligion readers protesting the fact that we — well, me in particular — keep writing about the same subjects too much. In other words, we complain about some of the same errors in the mainstream press over and over and over (think Anglican Timeline Disease).
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Religion NIMBYs
The Tennessean published a pretty good article from Bob Smietana over the weekend that dealt with a Muslim groups defeated mosque-permit application. The article discusses familiar themes of NIMBYism and is laced with Islamophobic sentiments from the most vocal opponents of the project:
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Revisiting the Church of Baseball
Washington Nationals fans are having a great time right now. I know it’s only May, but the team has an above .500 record and locals are elated. Last year they ended the season with the worst average in baseball: .364. And the most exciting news is related to pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg. He’s expected to make his Major League Debut here pretty soon and, well, let’s just say I’ve already bought my tickets.
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