Get Religion is a national and global journalism site focusing on how the mainstream press covers religion news in politics, entertainment, business and sports.
Last week Politico broke the news that $140 million of $787+ billion stimulus last year went to faith-based organizations. Reporters Ben Smith and Byron Tau’s piece “Obama’s stimulus pours millions into faith-based groups,” begins:
I don’t understand organizations’ rush to build iPhone apps when Android is clearly the better option. Before I anger the Apple enthusiasts (including my colleagues here), let me quickly move to an interesting story about how the iTunes store removed a Manhattan Declaration application. Change.org garnered 7,700 signers asking Apple to remove the “anti-gay and anti-choice” app. At the time of this post, about 24,000 people have signed the petition to restore the app.
Religion writer and reporter Mark Oppenheimer mentioned GetReligion on his worthwhile blog. He highlighted our critiques of two recent pieces — the Arizona gay Mormon suicide story and the Amish forgiveness story.
I am a horrible Christian traditionalist (Eastern Orthodox, actually) who cares about liturgical traditions that are not good for the global economy. I get spooked or even angry when I hear a reggae-musak version of “Here Comes Santa Claus” over the speakers in a hamburger joint and it isn’t even Nativity Lent (think Advent) yet.
Last month Southern Baptist Seminary President Albert Mohler reviewed The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America. While he gave the book a favorable review, he used the review as an opportunity to discuss how Christianity and Hinduism differ and why that’s important. Peter Smith at the Louisville Courier-Journal highlighted Mohler’s review and it created a bit of a firestorm. The Associated Press even ran a story, which I dinged for failing to quote any Hindus on the matter, much less Hindus who agree with Mohler that yoga is a Hindu practice.
Of all the subjects that I write about for the Scripps Howard News Service, columns about trends in worship consistently generate some of the most intense responses from readers.
It’s been quite a few years since I read William McGowan’s Coloring the News: How Political Correctness Has Corrupted American Journalism. It was a surprisingly popular book considering the book does nothing more than discuss some of the basics of modern media bias.
Thanksgiving is all about family traditions. And what could be more traditional than a GetReligion look at a Roman Catholic Womenpriests story? So everyone pull out the blankets and cuddle by the fire as we look through the Atlanta Journal-Constitution‘s recent entry for the Best Worst Roman Catholic Female Priest story. If you look at the headline — “Newnan woman challenges Catholic church: Diane Dougherty pushes to allow women to be deacons” — you’ll see that there’s no way this is the best worst entry.
Here at GetReligion, we respond to the news of the day. Sometimes that means we don’t get a chance to reflect on broader themes. We spent a lot of time discussing how the mainstream media handled the Vatican sex abuse crisis earlier this year. The Ethics and Public Policy Center hosted a gathering of journalists from mainstream secular outlets to reflect on what went right and what went wrong with that coverage.
